Citation:
Newhouse-Maiden, Lesley Patricia. 2002. HEARING THEIR VOICES: BUILDING A CAREER DEVELOPMENT
MODEL FOR WOMEN IN ENGINEERING. PhD. Curtin University of Technology, Science and Mathematics
Education Centre.
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SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION CENTRE
HEARING THEIR VOICES: BUILDING A CAREER DEVELOPMENT MODEL
FOR WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
LESLEY PATRICIA NEWHOUSE-MAIDEN
This thesis is presented as part of the
requirements for the award of
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of
the Curtin University of Technology
JUNE 2002
ABSTRACT
This study is an interpretive investigation of the life-career histories of 53 women in
engineering; and a case study of one woman's account of present-lived career and her
quest for identity in engineering over an eight year period (1992-1999). This study had
two broad aims. First, it aimed to give voice to women's stories derived from their own
reflective accounts, and to compare and contrast their perspectives with feminist writers'
reviews of non-traditional girls' and women's career experiences, and with the
organisational career story of itself. Second, it aimed to evaluate the adequacy of my
convergence of a socialist feminist "unified systems" theory of social relations (Jaggar,
1983, 1989; Jaggar & Rothenberg, 1984, 1993) with Super's segmental life-span, lifespace theory (Super, 1980, 1990, 1994) to explain women's career and personality
development. Further to this theoretical convergence, I elaborated on Super's original
models and evaluated their usefulness for my gender analysis of career from four
perspectives. I conceptualised "career" as both "subjective" and "organisational" (Dale,
1972; Hughes, 1937) and, using Benhabib's (1986b) terminology, created four
perspectives by further differentiating career into either "generalised other" or "concrete
other" (see Figure 1.1).
Drawing on the findings of my exploration of the women's careers, I extended the range
of Jaggar's/Super's explanatory theories of career and personality development (Figure 2.
2) in an elaboration of Super's archway model (Figure 8.1). I found that my combined
Jaggar/Super career archway and spider web model (Figure 2. 3) represented the lifespace tensions in each individual woman's career decision-making in engineering. The
life-career rainbow was a valuable subsidiary model (Figure 2. 4) in highlighting the
complexities of gender as an overarching socio-cultural factor for theoretical and
conceptual analyses of career and its effect on salient role relationships and personality
development at each life-stage. My convergence career ladder represented the
organisational career statuses and the successive development of the subjective career
and identity through the completion of developmental tasks (Figure 2. 6).
My case study Cecilia, in common with other participants, I found to be an
accomplished "feminine ambivalent" (Douvan & Adelson, 1966) and "paver of the way"
(Josselson, 1987), yet she (like several others) floundered in the milieux of engineering.
Her story indicates the continued need for engineering educators: to acknowledge the
significance of women's subjective constructs of career to effect transformative change
by promoting equity and excellence; to recognise ways in which the subjective and the
organisational constructs of career can complement one another; and to implement
changes which facilitate such complementarity. This study fills a space in the research
literature on non-traditional girls' and women's career development. It also has potential
to assist those who wish to gain a better understanding of the career pathways of women
in engineering.
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Professor Lesley Parker, my supervisor who extended me beyond what
I thought I was capable of, and therefore helped me to increase my knowledge and
understanding of feminist methodology and the study of women's life-careers in
engineering.
My thanks to the women participants, especially Cecilia, who were so open about their
lives, past and present and their hopes and dreams for the future. It was a joy to touchbase with them over the years, as "pavers of the way" in engineering for the 21st
century.
I wish to thank family, friends and colleagues, who cajoled, enthused, prayed for me,
and motivated me to persevere. I especially wish to thank Peter, my husband for his
loving patience, understanding and active encouragement throughout this research
endeavour.
My friend Janina too was selfless in placing anything to do with engineering on my
desk, reading my thesis, and helping to maintain my sense of humour and well-being.
Thanks to my son Tim for his assistance with computer modelling.
My thanks to the Deans for their generosity in providing the contexts for this study, to
the WISE co-ordinators who initiated introductions to the women participants and
provided support, and to the heads of department who lent their voices to the
construction of the organisational career.
My appreciation of the late Donald Super, educator and counsellor, whose theory and
models of career I used as a springboard to build a more gender inclusive theory of
career and personality development.
Finally my admiration of Alison Jaggar's ability to synthesise feminist perspectives and
her unified systems approach to changing conditions for women worldwide.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iii
LIST OF FIGURES
vii
LIST OF TABLES
viii
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
ix
CHAPTER ONE
1
INTRODUCTION
1
OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
3
MY ADOPTION OF JAGGAR'S PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN'S CAREERS
8
MY PERSPECTIVE IN RESEARCHING WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
13
THE PARTICIPANTS' CONSTRUCTION OF CONTEXTUALISED CAREERS
17
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY
25
LIMITATIONS
27
SUMMARY STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
28
CHAPTER TWO
30
JAGGAR/SUPER "UNIFIED SYSTEMS" APPROACH - A SOCIALIST
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
30
PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
30
JAGGAR'S AND SUPER'S THEORIES OF CAREER AND IDENTITY
31
SUPER'S SEGMENTAL THEORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT
40
CONVERGING JAGGAR'S FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
55
WITH SUPER'S THEORY OF CAREER
55
ADDITIONAL SUBSIDIARY MODELS WITH EXPLANATORY VALUE
67
iii
CONCLUSION
75
CHAPTER THREE
76
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON WOMEN AND NON-TRADITIONAL
CAREERS
76
THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER
76
OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
77
GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES (LATE 1960'S-1990'S)
78
WOMEN'S PRESENT CAREER IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION:
93
GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES IN THE 1990’S
93
WOMEN’S FUTURE CAREER IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE:
107
GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES (LATE 1960'S-1990'S)
107
CONCLUSIONS
115
CHAPTER FOUR
119
A SOCIALIST FEMINIST METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS OF THE LIFECAREERS OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
119
PREFACE
119
DETAIL OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
119
PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
120
NARRATIVE AS A PARADIGM FOR FEMINIST CAREER RESEARCH
123
PROCEDURE - CONSTRUCTING WOMEN'S LIFE-HISTORIES
128
METHODS, INSTRUMENTS AND SUPER'S HEURISTIC DEVICES
137
(A) THE WOMEN AND THE CONCRETE OTHER SUBJECTIVE CAREER PERSPECTIVE
137
(B) THE PROFESSORS AND THE CONCRETE OTHER ORGANISATIONAL CAREER
PERSPECTIVE
147
NARRATIVE CRITICISM AND COMPARISON
151
CONCLUSION
155
iv
CHAPTER FIVE
157
THE ORGANISATIONAL PRESENT CAREER OF ENGINEERING: THE
GENERALISED OTHER AND CONCRETE OTHER PERSPECTIVES
157
THE PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
157
ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S PAST CAREER
160
ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S PRESENT CAREER
165
ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S FUTURE CAREER
195
CHAPTER SIX
203
WOMEN "EXPLORING" ENGINEERING - THE CONCRETE OTHER
SUBJECTIVE COLLECTIVE CAREER
203
PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER
203
OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
204
PARTICIPANTS' "CONCRETE OTHER" PAST CAREER (1967-1992)
205
CONCRETE OTHER" PRESENT/FUTURE CAREER PERSPECTIVE OF RECENT GRADUATES
(1992-1996)
248
CHAPTER SEVEN
259
CECILIA'S QUEST FOR IDENTITY: WOMAN IN ENGINEERING IN POSTMODERN AUSTRALIA, USING JAGGAR/SUPER MODELS OF CAREER 259
PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
259
CECILIA'S STORY
262
CECILIA'S EXPLORATION IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION
271
FEBRUARY 1992-DECEMBER 1997
271
THE ESTABLISHMENT STAGE OF CECILIA'S LIFE-CAREER
296
JANUARY 1997-NOVEMBER, 1998
296
SUBSTANTIVE AND METHODOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS
304
v
CHAPTER EIGHT
313
COMPLEMENTARITY OF PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN IN ENGINEERING:
BUILDING A CONVERGENCE MODEL OF CAREER AND DISMANTLING
THE DIVIDE
313
PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER
313
SYNTHESIS OF CAREER PERSPECTIVES AND DISTILLATION OF ISSUES
314
JAGGAR/SUPER CONVERGENCE THEORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT
328
JAGGAR/SUPER CAREER MODELS AS GRAPHIC HEURISTIC DEVICES
341
CONCLUSION
359
EPILOGUE
361
REFERENCES
364
APPENDICES
415
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Framework of Career Perspectives
5
Figure 2.1: Super's (1990) Archway of Career Determinants
44
Figure 2.2 A Segmental Archway Model of Women's Career Development
57
Figure 2.3: Woman in Engineering
59
Figure 2.4: The Life Career Rainbow: Six Life Roles in Schematic Life Space
68
Figure 2.5: Super's (1990) Ladder Model of Life-Career Stages, Developmental
Tasks and Behaviours
72
Figure 2.6: Convergence Ladder Model of Life-Career Stages, Developmental
Tasks and Behaviours (Rungs of Organisational Status)
74
Figure 8.1: A Super/Jaggar Convergence Archway Model of Women's Career
Development
350
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table A: Collective Subjective Past Life-Career Rainbow – Institution A
456
Table B: Collective Subjective Past Life-Career Rainbow – Institution B
457
Table C: Collective Subjective Present Life-Career Rainbow – Institution A
458
Table D: Collective Subjective Present Life-Career Rainbow – Institution B
459
Table E: Personal Determinants of Present Life-Career – Institution A
460
Table F: Personal Determinants of Present Life-Career - Institution B
461
Table G: Cecilia – Key Events in Growth and Exploration Stages of Life-Career
Rainbow
462
Table H: Cecilia – Key Events in Exploration Stage of Life-Career Rainbow
463
Table I: Cecilia – Key Events in Establishment Stage of Life-Career Rainbow
464
viii
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Jaggar’s "Unified Systems" Theory of Social Relations (Jaggar, 1983, 1989; Jaggar
& Struhl, 1978: Jaggar & Rothenberg, 1984, 1993; Tong, 1992)
Jaggar viewed women’s careers as a dialectically constructed and
linked to the "on-going historical dialog" within the social order
(Jaggar & Rothenberg, 1984). Her revised version of the Marxist
theory of "alienation" attempted to inter-relate the myriad forms of
women's recent oppression under the unifying concept of
alienation (Jaggar, 1983, 1989; Jaggar & Rothenberg, 1984; Tong,
1992). She provided an interpretation for women's careers under
patriarchal capitalism where "each and every woman is, in special
gender-specific ways, separated from all those processes she needs
to achieve wholeness as a person" (Tong, 1992, p. 187). Jaggar,
like Super (1990), conceptualised career as past, present and
future. She advocated three principles of action to counter
women's "alienation" and to promote personal agency in women
by encouraging them to deconstruct past career, reflect on present
career, and voice future aspirations. She has also worked
assiduously to make changes to the gender order and gender
regimes of institutions.
Feminine Ambivalent
Douvan and Adelson (1966) defined "feminine ambivalents" as a
newly emerging group of adolescent girls in the United States of
America. These girls of ability characteristically scored "high on
femininity" but choose masculine jobs in moves to improve status.
Josselson's (1987) Four Typologies of College Women’s Career Pathways to Attain
Identity
"Identity Foreclosers" live by the traditional domestic ideology of
their mothers as "purveyors of heritage" with "little sense of self
creating itself" (p. 68).
"Pavers of the Way" or identity achievers show a balance between
"agency and communion" (p. 171) and achieve identity by healthy
"separation and individuation" and connecting to a "new anchor"
(p. 175).
"Daughters of crisis" or "Moratoriums" are full of contradictions,
continue to be "alive to inner conflict" (p. 139), and lack
"supportive others" to help them to "consolidate an independent
identity" (p. 138).
"Identity Diffusers" are part of the most diverse and
psychologically unhealthy group. They display neither crisis nor
commitment to the finding of self and signify an "ego in distress"
(p. 167).
ix
Super’s "Life-Career" and "Life-Span, Life-Space" Career Development
The life course of a person encountering a series of developmental
tasks and attempting to handle them in such a way as to become
the kind of person he or she wants to become, with a changing self
and changing situations, the matching process is never really
completed ... (Super, 1990, pp. 225-226).
Career
Hughes (1937), Barley (1989) and Dale (1972) conceptualised
"career" as both "subjective" and "organisational": "…
subjectively, the moving perspective in which a person sees
her/his life as a whole, and interprets her/his attributes, actions and
things which happen to her/him ... objectively, it is a series of
statuses and clearly defined offices ... typical sequences of
position, responsibility, even adventure" (Dale, 1972, p. 409 italics
are my additions).
"Concrete Other" (CO) and "Generalised Other" (GO) Perspectives of Career
Use of Benhabib's (1986b) terminology to denote the way in which
the "concrete other" subjective career of women participants may
be placed in a broader socio-historical context of the "generalised
other" review of the literature on non-traditional women’s careers.
Likewise, the terminology is used to clarifying how the women’s
careers are also constructed within the opportunity structure of the
"organisational career" of their professors at the “concrete level”
and within the broader context of the "generalised other" of
engineering in Australia.
Gender as a Key Social Construct and for Analysis of Women's Careers
It is a concept that encompasses the notion of power relations and
patterns of separation between males and females. These gender
relationships are socially defined and constructed and are not
biologically given. Hence gender is differentiated from sex which
is based on biological determinants (Tardif & Atkinson, 1989, pp.
145-146). This definition does not discount that gender "power
over" relations are the "property" of individuals, as well as
institutions and "historical processes", and are fostered and/or
changed by human agency (Connell, 1987; Gilbert & Low, 1994,
December; Jaggar, 1983; Matthews, 1983; Walby, 1986, 1990).
x