Women’s Dual Roles and Career Growth: A Preliminary Study of Malaysian Female Talents in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET)

Abstract

The dual roles of women in managing career and family inherently bring them to a crossroads in seeking a balance between home and work. Early career scientists, engineers and technologists are faced with competing demands of time, effort and responsibilities. In juggling the roles, their commitment to career may somewhat be declining, thus hampering them from seizing the opportunity for career growth. This consequently explains the gender gap at top-level management. In an attempt to understand women’s conflicting roles and how they persist in climbing the corporate ladder, semi-structured interviews were conducted with female SET talents from academia and industry. The interviews were structured to discover patterns in women’s career growth and how they manage both professional and family goals. The results offer insights on the importance of growth mindset and lifelong learning to capacitate women in realizing their abilities and potential to embrace both professional and domestic challenges. Although some women are capable of making it to the top in a linear path the furthest and in the shortest time, it is equally important for all stakeholders to recognize and appreciate the reality of non-linear SET career trajectories, in which women may experience decelerating or plateau intervals throughout their professional growth. It was discovered that during the decelerating period, lifelong learners among female scientists, engineers and technologists who are bold enough to take the risk in moving forward would enhance their competitiveness and potentially make a difference to rise to the top management level eventually.