Dynamique des processus de développement de carrière en contexte contre-stéréotypique : modélisation de la réussite des femmes militaires aux formations professionnelles

Abstract

Careers in the French Navy are determined by successive certifications allowed military to have more and more managerial responsibilities. Women are unequally represented in the hierarchy. Military identity is deeply associated with male characteristics (Sorin, 2003). Women encounter difficulties to be perceived as military in their own right (Héritier, 2011), but also to articulate their identity as women with their professional identity, de facto in opposition (Toulgoat, 2002). On the one hand women's family life is seen as incompatible with service life (Caraire & Léger, 2000), on the other hand, within the crews of warships, their skills are underestimated (Matthews, Ender, Laurence, & Rohall, 2009). The objective of this study is to model the effects of professional identifications and self-assessment of competences on the success of military women in professional certifications. We interviewed 154 students in training to become “experienced operators” (including 73 women) with an average of 3.32 years of duty (SD=2.11) and 61 students in training to become “team leader” (including 20 women) with an average of 9.28 years of duty (SD=3.30). The questionnaire measures self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977), performance expectations compared to their colleagues (Rosenthal, Crisp, & Suen, 2007), identification to the professional group (Laplante & Tougas, 2011) and identification to the organization (Tougas, Rinfret, Beaton, & de la Sablonniere, 2005). The final score at the end of the training is considered as an indicator of success. While women are as successful as men in the certification “operator”, they are less successful in the certification “team leader”. The structural equation model (path analysis) (χ2(15, n=215)=21.32, p=.13; CFI=.982, GFI=.976, RMSEA=.044) emphasizes the centrality of professional identifications to succeed in training. Women are less identified with sailor than men and feel less able to succeed, they develop lower performance expectations and they underestimate their performance compared to their colleagues, which has a negative effect on their success in training. In parallel, changes in family life are associated with reduced professional identifications, but this effect is independent of the sex of the individuals. Women are therefore exposed to two independent sources of influence limiting their career development: gender, which leads to less professional identifications and to compare unfavorably with their colleagues, and family status. These results highlight the importance of the dynamic of self-realization processes throughout the career.