Taking the Reins of a Career
Not always forethoughtful about their career direction, women later become aware of influences that have moved them one way or another. While the work itself is engrossing, an awareness of its meaning in relation to organizational structure gradually unfolds. Women who are untutored in the plotting of a career are also unaccustomed to the informal communication that can shape direction and opportunity. At first, others in the organization might be doing the engineering for them. Women whose careers were unanticipated began with a focus on the work itself and later attended to corporate climate and structure. In retrospective reflection they realize that forces aside from their performance propelled them on their paths without their full awareness. Other woman observations about covert planning by others are echoed by Rebecca, a contemporary whose technical training prepared her for a more straight-line path to her current position as systems supervisor in transportation. Content with her direction to date, woman wants to become more actively instrumental in her career path.

Women are still in the process of discovery. The first discovery is that they can work effectively in the corporate world. Once the newness of professional employment in business has worn off and they are established in relation to the job itself, they learn that they are entitled to plan a career path that stretches beyond the task at hand. Making this cognitive leap takes time and experience, which includes interaction with others who prompt and stimulate it. Some women, for example, are encouraged to enter a dialogue with a superior, exploring possibilities for career direction.

At forty-three, woman recognizes that both her frustration and selfblame reflect a female stereotyping by society that became a part of her. research writing services - buy original research paper prepared from scratch by trusted writers! Her superior's help strikes a disingenuous chord because exposure to choices is insufficient as long as she lacks information about them, about the larger organizational structure, and, more importantly, about herself in relation to them. The choices are foreign to her; they can become meaningful when she is able to see some degree of fit between what they offer and the person she has become. Woman, like other accidental careerists, is in the process of revised selfperception simultaneous to her negotiation of a career. Social ideology about women has been dramatically altered in the course of her development, and she finds herself with one foot in each camp. Though her behavior is in line with the new female image, her attitudes about self and life direction lag behind.