Novel Perspectives on Women’s Careers: A Review and Directions for Future Research

Abstract

Despite important advances in women’s career development over the past few decades, recent data suggest that the progress toward closing the gender career gap remains slow and might even be scaling back. Over the last decade, and in the recent context of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have witnessed a shift in workplace practices that are associated with potentially harmful consequences for women’s careers. These developments motivated us to take stock of the current state of the literature on women’s careers. Obtaining a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms placing women at a career disadvantage and unveiling the unanswered questions on this important topic are critical to reducing gender career inequality in the future. In the present research, we review 178 articles on the topic of women’s careers from top-tier journals in the management, applied psychology and career disciplines and categorize them into five distinct perspectives, namely, relational, decision-making, gender bias, temporal and intersectional. We present the perspectives’ premises, summarize the key findings for each perspective and highlight their associated major research gaps. Based upon an analysis derived from these perspectives, we delineate four directions for future research to advance the field on women’s careers.