Professional Women Research Articles

Unpacking the career transition process of returning women professionals in the Indian workplaces: a qualitative study

PurposeThis study aims to explore the career transition process of women professionals when they return to the workplace after a break and re-integrate with their career aspirations.Design/methodology/approachThis research used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews for data collection. All 20 women participants have returned to their careers after a break.FindingsThe data analysis reveals women’s career transition and re-integration process into the workplace after a career break. Supervisory support, work–life balance practices, role models, coworker support and career success emerged as factors enabling successful transition. The employing organisations’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring strategy emerged as an important mechanism for re-entry.Originality/valueAlthough previous research has studied women professionals returning after a break, the “transition process” that enables re-entry is missing.

Achieving while looking forward: variables influencing performance in the transitory career phases of professional women’s handball

ABSTRACT This paper investigates what variables may influence long-term performance in the transitory phases of a team athlete’s career according to the perceptions of the athletes themselves. Narrative research was conducted with 16 world-class, retired women handball players and the qualitative analysis reveals those factors that influenced their performance in the transitory phases “from development to mastery” and “from mastery to discontinuation” on the individual, interpersonal, organisational, and sociocultural levels. The variables are organised into a systems map to provide a full overview as well as the perceived relationships between them. The practical implication of the paper is to draw the attention of those organisations that aim to improve long-term performance to the leverage points that athletes themselves find important.

The Awakening of Feminist Artistic Expression: A Comparative Study of the Self-Portrait of Frida Kahlo and the Self-Portrait of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

The topic of feminism was not discussed by scholars until the 20th century, but it has become a highly debated issue in today's society. Female portrait artists have been historically marginalized due to the origins of portraiture being intended to please male viewers. In the past, women were predominantly viewed as mothers and housewives within the social context. However, the research has revealed that numerous female artists defied the societal norms of the time and made unique efforts to achieve independence as professional women. In the long history of painting, there have been many female painters who have expressed feminist ideas through their art. This article compares the self-portraits of two portrait painters, Frida Kahlo and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, in terms of painting themes, methods, and the representation of women. This study explores how female artists' paintings were influenced by the rise of female consciousness in different periods. The final result concludes that feminist awakening is depicted in female-themed paintings across different social periods by female artists.

Breaking boundaries in festival programming

In Germany, the modern jazz festival programmer descended from earlier multifaceted roles established during the interwar and war periods as cultivated by both German and international jazz critics, record collectors, and impresarios. While impresarios historically occupied multiple roles as fans, critics, and producers; they often inhabited the quintessential cosmopolitan role of (white) male jazz critic and discoverer of Black musical creativity. This article examines the impact of the legacy of this archetype in the German context, with the case study of JazzFest Berlin. In particular, we trace the particular contours of Joachim-Ernst Berendt’s (1922–2000) embodied enactment of masculinity within the postwar German jazz festival world, beginning with the seminal founder of the JazzFest Berlin. Drawing on feminist initiatives of the first American women jazz organizers, we compare this female-centric legacy with the particular style and ideologies created by Berliner Jazztage programmer Nadin Deventer, the first female programmer of this historic festival, who brings an innovative and socially engaged approach, in part by staging less constrained gender expectations. Through interviews and an examination of publications, programme reviews, and more, we reveal how the figure of the jazz impresario has been disrupted by increased attention to the roles of professional women programmers who consciously embrace diverse competencies and seek greater recognition of the intersectional barriers for women, women of colour, and foreigners within the German jazz scene.

Examining the mediating role of support resources in the self-efficacy and career satisfaction relationship among professional women in a developing economy

This study explored the mediating role of perceived organisational support and social support in the relationship between self-efficacy and career satisfaction among professional women. The participants comprised a non-probability sample of 606 professional women (white = 62%; black women of colour = 38%; mean age = 35.41 years, SD = 8.39 years) in early adulthood and established career stage, employed in the financial, engineering and human resources fields. Professional women completed standardised measures of perceived organisational support, social support, self-efficacy, and career satisfaction. Mediation analysis results showed that perceived organisational support and social support improved the relationship between women’s self-efficacy and their career satisfaction. Support resources from the workplace peers, family, and significant others may promote the interaction between self-efficacy and the career satisfaction of professional women. Findings imply that there is a need for organisations to provide supportive initiatives to promote self-efficacious beliefs and career satisfaction among professional women.

Does Location Matter? An Econometric Analysis of Stadium Location and Attendance at National Women’s Soccer League Matches

This study examines the impact of stadium locations on attendance in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). We develop a match-level attendance model incorporating control variables such as market factors and consumer preferences to assess attendance for NWSL games. Our results indicate that attendance drops the further an NWSL stadium is from the city center. Specifically, the coefficients suggest an inverse relationship between attendance at NWSL matches and the distance to the city center, indicating that for every mile further an NWSL team was from the city center, attendance declined by about 6.6%. Our findings show that some of the perceived differences in demand for women’s soccer may be due to infrastructural inequalities such as stadium locations. Therefore, one way to boost demand and attendance in professional women’s sport, specifically soccer, is to move away from suburban stadiums and toward downtown locations.

An xG of Their Own: Using Expected Goals to Explore the Analytical Shortcomings of Misapplied Gender Schemas in Football

Although professional women’s football has benefitted from recent surges in popularity, challenges to progress and distinguish the sport persist. The gender-schema theory explains the tendency for individuals to hold female sports to male standards, a phenomenon that leads to negative outcomes in areas such as media representation and consumer perception. One area in which schemas have a more discreet effect is player and team performance, where the assumption that technical metrics developed in men’s football are transferable to women’s football remains unfounded. Using expected goals, a metric synonymous with the probability of a shot being scored, we highlight how variables important to shot quality and shot execution differ across gender, and how attempts to evaluate female footballers with models built on men’s data increase estimation errors. These results have theoretical and practical implications for the role they play in reframing schemas and improving the methods used to evaluate performance in women’s sports.

Environmental education and sustainable tourism for visitors to Peru

This study examined the impact of environmental education on sustainable tourism. A causal and correlational investigation was carried out of a non-experimental and transversal nature, in which 1,000 tourists who visited the city of Arequipa-Peru participated. These were intentionally selected to represent a specific sample. Two expert-validated surveys were used for data collection. The results indicated a moderate level of environmental education, with foreign professional women showing profound environmental knowledge. On the contrary, young national professionals demonstrated a profound commitment to the environment. These results underscore the significant link between environmental education and sustainable tourism. Nevertheless, a definitive conclusion was not reached about the study, as there could be other contributing factors.

Reimagining work but operating with a no off button: experiences of working mothers in India during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study focuses on the work from home experiences of professional, middle and upper middle class married women with children in India during the COVID-19-induced lockdowns. This study aims to examine the experiences of changing nature of work and gendered realities of work–life balance for working mothers while working from home during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with eight working mothers at three different time points during the lockdown in the city of Hyderabad in India.FindingsA thematic analysis revealed changed work practices that required adapting, reinventing and reimagining new ways of working. This was time consuming albeit a satisfying experience for working mothers. At the same time, the blurring between home and work meant working mothers were operating without an off button.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings show that the existing gender inequalities in sharing the domestic burden unravelled fast in the absence of support structures.Originality/valueThe authors give voice to the lived experiences of working mothers of managing both work and home and how they navigated challenges during the lockdown.

Match-Level Uncertainty in Professional Tennis Revisited—A Novel Approach Applied for the Time Between 2010 and 2019

Despite its popularity, outcome uncertainty in professional tennis did not receive much attention from academics in the recent past. This is astonishing because it should be of utmost importance in professional tennis in the following years with the approaching end of the era of the Big 3. This study investigates match-level uncertainty in professional women's and men's tennis between 2010 and 2019 using a logit model with a dataset consisting of 51,054 matches. In the different analyses, the variations in the ranking and quality differences between players are taken into account in addition to differences across surfaces, tournaments, and genders. In the investigated period, women's tennis has relatively higher outcome uncertainty when compared to men's. The results also illustrate that talent seems to be distributed more evenly in women's tennis, whereas men's tennis has high heterogeneity in terms of talent. Moreover, very specific subgroups of matches having the highest and lowest uncertainty in men's and women's tennis are identified. Managerial implications are also presented to show how organizers, policy makers and, eventually, fans can benefit from the insights presented in this study.

Soccer above all? Analysis of academic and vocational education among female soccer players in the German women's Bundesliga and 2nd women's Bundesliga.

Career-related (financial) reasons as well as advantages in terms of expanding social support systems, promoting a balanced lifestyle and personal development suggest that female soccer players should pursue academic or vocational education in parallel to elite sport. However, dual careers are fraught with challenges, mainly due to simultaneity in time and the associated conflicting goals. The aim of this article is to analyze the vocational or academic educational careers of professional female soccer players. To generate the data, an online survey was conducted among soccer players in the German Women's Bundesliga and 2nd Women's Bundesliga. A total of n = 200 questionnaires (German: n = 191; English: n = 9) were included in the analysis, which corresponds to approx. 29.6% of the population addressed. 90.6% of the players are pursuing or have already completed academic or vocational education. The majority (71.2%) of female soccer players choose to study. 81.8% of players report no impact or even a positive impact of soccer on their performance in academic or vocational education. Willingness to pursue and complete academic or vocational education is influenced by membership of the A-National Team, time spent playing soccer, form of school-leaving qualification, nationality and age. This study increases the visibility of professional women's soccer as an object of analysis in sports science research, follows up on demands for a more athlete-centered approach and generates further insights for research and practice with regard to the success of dual careers in elite sport.

Women of Color in the Health Professions: A Scoping Review of the Literature.

Women of color (WoC) in the health professions encounter challenges in advancement to higher positions, disparities in wages, discrimination, lack of expectation to achieve leadership positions, and absence of extensive support networks. Articles in the literature have addressed race and/or gender in the context of professional development. However, applying an intersectional lens or framework to better understand the contextual issues of professional development for WoC remains to be addressed. Thus, this scoping review aimed to (i) identify health professions literature that addresses disparities affecting WoC, and (ii) describe strategies and approaches to support WoC in the health professions. Methods: The literature searches were conducted in multiple databases, including PubMed and MEDLINE (Ovid); and Google and Google Scholar were used to "hand search" further articles including gray literature. Three independent reviewers reviewed and screened articles for inclusion in accordance with a guide. Search included articles on pharmacy or healthcare professions, published in English, and which met three content criteria: racial disparities/inequities, professional development/career advancement, and women or gender disparities Results: A total of 31 articles were included-medicine (17), nursing (1), pharmacy (7), other (4), and multiple health professions (2). Key findings included underrepresentation of women and minority groups, inequities in professional advancement and leadership positions for WoC, and greater dissatisfaction and attrition among minority and women professionals. Conclusion: WoC face unique and distinct challenges and barriers in their professional careers resulting from the intersectionality of not only race and gender, but also lived experiences and opportunities. Strategies to improve diversity and representation should include an intersectional framework or lens and be critically evaluated.

The incidence and characteristics of heading in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup™

ABSTRACT Introduction To quantify the incidence and characteristics of purposeful heading and other head impacts in professional women’s football at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup™. Methods This cross-sectional cohort study analysed purposeful headers (uncontested and contested) and their characteristics (e.g. playing position, match situation, field location, and distance ball travelled), and other head impact events using video analysis. Total headers and head impact events, and incidence rate (IR) per 1000 match-hours were calculated for countries, positions, and other characteristics, such as location on the pitch. Results Purposeful headers accounted for 76% of all coded events (uncontested: 71%; contested: 29%), followed by attempted headers (21%), unintentional ball-head impacts (2%), and other head impacts (1%). Headers ranged from 0 to 22 per player, per match with a mean of 4.8 [±1.2]. Of all field positions, centrebacks had the highest heading rates and wingers the lowest. Strikers performed significantly more contested headers than any other position, and significantly less uncontested headers. Most headers occurred in the middle third (48%), from free game play (72%) and from long balls (>20 m) (68%). Conclusion The findings of this study could assist the development of player heading risk profiles, sex-specific heading guidelines, and coaching practices.

‘Women play football, not women’s football’: the potentials and paradoxes of professionalisation expressed at the UEFA women’s EURO 2022 Championship

This article examines the potentials and paradoxes of professionalisation in women’s football expressed at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Championship. Through an event ethnography during the semi-finals of the championship, five potentials related to the professionalisation of women’s football are identified, each of which are accompanied by a paradox. First, UEFA’s marketing raised expectations of the event despite the lack of visibility of the championship in the host cities. Second, record-breaking attendance signalled increased popularity, while UEFA’s choice of smaller stadiums and lower ticket prices limited any commercial potential. Third, increased commercialisation efforts align with developmental trends in men’s football, while gender stereotypes portrayed in commercialised products pose an equality-related paradox. Fourth, the implementation of VAR highlights a commitment to the professionalisation of women’s football, but limited resources impact the quality of the technology. Finally, the diversity of spectators fosters inclusivity, yet stadium designs do not support such diversity. Collectively, these potentials demonstrate a growing recognition and investment in women’s football and reflect the development of commercialisation and professionalisation. However, the paradoxes associated with these potentials indicate that there is still some way to go in terms of providing equal opportunities for men and women football players in Europe.

Women’s Perceptions Of Glass Ceiling In The Accounting Profession In Indonesia

This research aims to investigates the women’s perceptions of glass ceiling in the accounting profession in Indonesia. This research employs the logistic regression method. Using an online-based survey, resulting 133 respondents working in public accounting firms and private companies. This research finds that women’s perceptions about the occurrence of glass ceiling are driven by bias effects (formal performance evaluations), structural effects (professional advancement), and cultural effects (the support level from male senior leaders). Demographic variables, such as marital status and children ownership also determine the perceptions of glass ceiling. However, there is no difference between female public and private accountants regarding the perceptions of glass ceiling. This research contributes by adding empirical evidence regarding the perceptions of glass ceiling on accounting professional women in developing countries. The results of this research will helps companies focus their efforts on addressing the most influential factors to save resources by not letting talented women employees leave the companies. Furthermore, policy makers are suggested to create regulations that favor women to improve gender equality.

Work–family conflict and work engagement among construction professionals: role of psychological contract breach and gender

Purpose Work–family conflict (WFC) is rife among construction professionals, leading to a significant negative impact on their work engagement. Building on an extant body of research, this study provides nuanced insights into the link between WFC, work–life balance (WLB) and work engagement and identifies the boundary conditions of these relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 257 dyads of construction professionals and their immediate supervisors from a sample of five construction firms based in India using an online survey.FindingsThe results found that WLB mediates the relationship between WFC and work engagement, and the relationship is controlled by professionals' gender and perceptions of psychological contract breach (PCB). An important finding is that PCB accentuates the negative influence of WFC on work engagement via WLB. The study also reveals that the negative impact of WFC on WLB is stronger for women.Practical implicationsThe findings are relevant for construction firms since they are primarily dominated by men and continue to struggle to attract more women professionals. The study insights provide avenues to expand existing research on the relationship between WFC and work engagement and offer managerial implications for improving construction professionals' work engagement in the high-pressure context of the construction industry.Originality/valueThe study significantly advances the underdeveloped literature on work–family interface, especially in the unique work settings of the construction industry, by establishing WFC as a predictor and revealing how engagement at work is affected. It highlights the importance of boundary conditions such as gender and PCB. It is one of the first to assess the relationship between WFC, WLB, PCB and work engagement among construction professionals in India.

‘They are doing it because they love it’: U.S. and English fan perceptions of women footballers as ‘role models’

We draw from 102 interviews with American and English adults who attended the 2019 Women’s World Cup to examine how fans perceive women footballers as ‘role models’, with attention to the operations of gender ideology. Despite the recent professionalization and commercialization of women’s football, there is a dearth of research on fan perspectives of players as role models. Our findings show that most fans perceive role modelling as women’s accessibility and authenticity in interaction. Fans naturalize women’s often uncompensated labor as role models through a supposed love for their sport and desire to see its future growth, endorsing a gender essentialist view of women as notably caring and giving in comparison to men. However, a minority of fans embrace a more critical view by identifying role modelling as an expectation placed disproportionately on women within an already unequal resource environment. We conclude that role modelling is a gendered expectation for elite women footballers and that fans can be a source of pressure towards its enactment.

We see symbols but not saviors: Women's representation and the political attitudes of working‐class women

AbstractHow does women's representation in politics affect working‐class women's attitudes toward political processes? Despite their increasing presence in the workforce, many women continue to concentrate in occupational sectors characterized by high economic vulnerability and low social status. This dynamic has important implications for the politics of representation. Previous studies suggest that women politicians positively affect women voters' political attitudes, but women's representation in politics is likely to have differing impacts on the political attitudes of working‐class and professional women. This study demonstrates that women's representation has a large class impact among women voters. In particular, using cross‐national data from 31 OECD countries as well as panel survey data from the British Election Study, we show that in countries with a higher degree of women's representation, there is more skepticism among women in low‐skill sectors toward voting and leadership than among those in white‐collar sectors. This is because there exist higher standards of accountability and relatability for women representatives among women voters. Given such high expectations, there is greater room for dissatisfaction among working‐class women than among their white‐collar counterparts when they constantly experience occupational segregation despite a high share of women in politics. In these settings, by contrast, women voters with high‐skill jobs are more likely to believe that voting and leadership matter, as they can better associate themselves with women political elites. Since men voters do not have strong expectations for relatability and accountability for public officeholders, the class impact of women's representation is weak among men. These findings have important implications for the symbolic representation of marginalized groups and democratic accountability.

Navigating the Role of Emotional Health and Positive Life Outlook on Work‐Life Balance in Professional Married Women

A diverse workforce is innovative and women are equally contributing to the country’s economic development along with men. In a dynamic business community, women are more enthusiastic and progressively using their potential for financial growth and providing benefits to their families as well. In the subcontinent, women also participate in the workforce and contribute to improving their quality of life and financial responsibilities. The objective of current research is to find out the relationship between emotional health, positive life orientation, and work‐life balance in professional married women. A correlational research design and purposive sampling strategy were utilized to conceptualize the study. A total of 300 professional married women who served in various positions in different organizations were selected. Standardized instruments were used to measure study variables along with sociodemographic Performa. Statistical findings of the study revealed a significant positive relationship between emotional wellness, positive life orientation, and work‐personal life enhancement ( ∗∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.1, ∗p < 0.05) by using Pearson product‐moment correlation. Mediation through PLS revealed that positive life orientation mediates the relationship between emotional wellness and work‐life balance. Independent Sample T‐test results also revealed that working women living in the nuclear family system have higher work interference with personal life and personal life interference with work than those women who live in a joint family system. This research will be helpful for organizations to design a conducive and women‐friendly job environment and use women’s potential for constructive and productive professional growth and organizational progress.

Women agronomists and their work experiences

Women who work in the field have experienced and continue to experience situations that are very rewarding due to theactivities they perform in their profession. However, the work of a woman professional in agricultural production areas hasfaced obstacles that have limited its development due to issues of gender. Professionals, such as women Agronomists, havebeen increasingly assuming technical responsibilities in various areas, such as production areas in open systems, greenhousesor hydroponic crops. Also carries out activities as a consultant in different areas such as phytopathology, analysis of soils,audits and certifications contributing to the primary sector and in the area of teaching, preparing students to be morecompetitive. An investigation was carried out through surveys structured and direct interviews with women who performagricultural activities and currently working in an Educational Institution as well as other professionals who work directlyin the field. The objective of this study is to identify the experiences they have had as professional women and what have been their main impediments.