IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v28y2021i2p672-700.html

Career constructions and a feminist standpoint on the meaning of context

Author

Listed:
  • Charlotte M. Karam
  • Fida Afiouni

Abstract

This paper explores how context shapes the career constructions of 40 Lebanese female professionals. Starting with career construction theory (CCT), we leverage feminist standpoint theory (FST) to propose a hybrid analytic framework. With this framework, we invite CCT researchers to theorize career constructions as situated. The situatedness of career constructions calls for the exploration of an individual's career choices, coupled with the simultaneous potential constraints on choice emanating from collective experiences of historical and sociopolitical oppression. Theorizing contextual complexities in this way leads to a more nuanced tracing of how the personal experiences of challenge, and for some, the oppressive aspects of collective histories are selectively used to construct a cohesive sense of career storied self, each with distinctive implications for the domains of CCT—Vocational Personality (the what), Career Adaptability (the how), and Life Theme (the why). Our analysis reveals three key patterns: (1) advancing the professional field (vocational expert), (2) seeking self‐vindication (adaptive rebel), and (3) engaging in activism (sympathetic activist vs. epistemically privileged activist). We conclude by discussing the value of our framework, thereby highlighting how acknowledging situatedness helps to inform our understandings of career patterns and of the “politicization” of career trajectories.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlotte M. Karam & Fida Afiouni, 2021. "Career constructions and a feminist standpoint on the meaning of context," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 672-700, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:2:p:672-700
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12607
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12607
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12607?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ., 2014. "Gender bias, gender gaps and population theory," Chapters, in: Vanity Economics, chapter 16, pages 164-170, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Silvio Contessi & Li Li, 2014. "Around the World, Gender Gaps Ebb and Flow," The Regional Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, January.
    3. CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)., 2014. "Gender strategy," IWMI Books, Reports H046341, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Propcom, 2014. "Propcom Mai-karfi Gender &WEE Strategy," Monograph Series, PrOpCom, number 308661, July.
    5. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    6. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Turkey: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/035, International Monetary Fund.
    7. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Japan: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/244, International Monetary Fund.
    8. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Luxembourg: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/122, International Monetary Fund.
    9. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Lebanon: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/021, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Karam, Charlotte M. & Jamali, Dima, 2013. "Gendering CSR in the Arab Middle East: An Institutional Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 31-68, January.
    11. Dolores Pushkar & Dorothea Bye & Michael Conway & Carsten Wrosch & June Chaikelson & Jamshid Etezadi & Constantina Giannopoulos & Karen Li & Nassim Tabri, 2014. "Does Child Gender Predict Older Parents’ Well-Being?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 285-303, August.
    12. Zil-e-huma, 2014. "State of Gender Disparities in Pakistan," International Journal of Management Sciences, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(12), pages 577-579.
    13. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Saudi Arabia: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/318, International Monetary Fund.
    14. International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Spain: Financial System Stability Assessment," IMF Staff Country Reports 2017/321, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Lim, Siew & Wachenheim, Cheryl & Burbidge, Linda D. & Roberts, David & Jackson, Jeremy, 2014. "Gender Differences in Agricultural Economics," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170499, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), 2014. "Gender strategy," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 208758, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sara Corlett & Sarah E. Stutterheim & Lilith A. Whiley, 2024. "“I only wanted one thing and that was to be who I am now”: Being a trans young adult and (re)negotiating vocational identity," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1786-1811, September.
    2. Zianatul Makwa & Ketut Ima Ismara & Putu Sudira & Totok Heru Tri Maryadi, 2025. "Career Adaptability for Sustainable Workforce Development: A Systematic Review in Vocational Education," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(3s), pages 3054-3070, April.
    3. Wojdan Omran & Shumaila Yousafzai, 2024. "Epistemic Injustice and Epistemic Resistance: An Intersectional Study of Women’s Entrepreneurship Under Occupation and Patriarchy," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(4), pages 981-1008, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natasha Kalara & Lu Zhang, 2018. "The changing landscape of firm financing in Europe, the United States and Japan," CPB Discussion Paper 383, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Calice, Pietro & Leonida, Leone & Muzzupappa, Eleonora, 2021. "Concentration-stability vs concentration-fragility. New cross-country evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Lee, Emma, 2017. "Performing colonisation: The manufacture of Black female bodies in tourism research," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 95-104.
    4. Maximilian Julius Krome & Ulrich Pidun & Dodo Knyphausen-Aufseß, 2025. "Investigating the strategic choices of business ecosystem orchestrators: evidence from sports aggregation ecosystems," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(11), pages 3457-3493, November.
    5. Nchanji, Eileen Bogweh & Chagomoka, Takemore & Bellwood-Howard, Imogen & Drescher, Axel & Schareika, Nikolaus & Schlesinger, Johannes, 2023. "Land tenure, food security, gender and urbanization in Northern Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    6. Chen, Zhuoqiong (Charlie) & Ong, David & Segev, Ella, 2017. "Heterogeneous risk/loss aversion in complete information all-pay auctions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 23-37.
    7. Jetter, Michael & Walker, Jay K., 2015. "Game, set, and match: Do women and men perform differently in competitive situations?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 96-108.
    8. Małgorzata Pańkowska & Anna Sołtysik-Piorunkiewicz, 2015. "Conceptualization of prosumption system architecture in e-health," Collegium of Economic Analysis Annals, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, issue 38, pages 425-436.
    9. Mateusz Kabut, 2015. "Methods of the prevention of conflict in the family business - the case study (Sposoby zapobiegania destrukcyjnym konfliktom w firmie rodzinnej – studium przypadku)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(18), pages 72-82.
    10. Lucifora, Claudio & Vigani, Daria, 2016. "What If Your Boss Is a Woman? Work Organization, Work-Life Balance and Gender Discrimination at the Workplace," IZA Discussion Papers 9737, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Barlow, Euan & Tezcaner Öztürk, Diclehan & Revie, Matthew & Akartunalı, Kerem & Day, Alexander H. & Boulougouris, Evangelos, 2018. "A mixed-method optimisation and simulation framework for supporting logistical decisions during offshore wind farm installations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(3), pages 894-906.
    12. Ellwood, Sheila & Greenwood, Margaret, 2016. "Accounting for heritage assets: Does measuring economic value ‘kill the cat’?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-13.
    13. Barteková, Eva & Kemp, René, 2016. "National strategies for securing a stable supply of rare earths in different world regions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 153-164.
    14. Horio, Masayuki & Shigeto, Sawako & Ii, Ryota & Shimatani, Yukihiro & Hidaka, Masato, 2015. "Potential of the ‘Renewable Energy Exodus’ (a mass rural remigration) for massive GHG reduction in Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 623-632.
    15. Sawssen Khlifi & Ghazi Zouari, 2021. "The Impact of CEO Overconfidence on Real Earnings Management: Evidence from M&A Transactions," Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 402-424, September.
    16. Lu, Yun & Ntim, Collins G. & Zhang, Qingjing & Li, Pingli, 2022. "Board of directors’ attributes and corporate outcomes: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Krishnan Nair & Waqas Haque & Steve Sauerwald, 2022. "It’s Not What You Say, But How You Sound: CEO Vocal Masculinity and the Board's Early‐Stage CEO Compensation Decisions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1227-1252, July.
    18. Jasmine Yur‐Austin & Ran Zhao & Lu Zhu, 2024. "Unraveling the impact of female CEOs on corporate bond markets," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 391-423, June.
    19. Afsaneh Bagheri & Golshan Javadian & Pardis Zakeri & Zahra Arasti, 2024. "Bearing the Unbearable: Exploring Women Entrepreneurs Resilience Building in Times of Crises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 715-738, September.
    20. Kamer Karakurum-Ozdemir & Melike Kokkizil & Gokce Uysal, 2019. "Financial Literacy in Developing Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 325-353, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:2:p:672-700. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.