Women's career patterns: A study of Swedish women born in the 1950s

Abstract

Patterns of career development have been found to be an important factor for long‐term career rewards and well‐being. However, existing career models excessively focus on men or elite women and upon paid work, typically without considering other roles. Based on a life course perspective, this study aimed to identify women's career development patterns by examining the dynamic interactions between individuals' involvement in working life and other career‐related domains of life. Career biographies, from the ages of 16 to 43, were recorded through retrospective reports from a representative sample of Swedish women (N = 549) participating in a longitudinal programme on individual development. Seven career‐related activities were coded and combined into career sequences covering the entire period. Data were analysed using optimal matching, and nine distinct career patterns ‐ disparate in terms of the timing, ordering and duration of activities ‐ were identified. There were significant differences between the career patterns in early educational aspirations and early sexual experiences, as well as in life‐role values and socio‐economic status in middle age. With respect to the consequences of career patterns for well‐being, there were significant differences in self‐rated health but not in job satisfaction or life satisfaction. The diversity of patterns is discussed from a perspective that takes account of both life course theory and the choices made by individual women in a society that provides childcare facilities, parental leave and other types of support to working parents.