Crompton, Rosemary and Lyonette, Clare, 1960-. (2011) Women's career success and work-life adaptations in the accountancy and medical professions in Britain. Gender, Work & Organization, Vol.18 (No.2). pp. 231-254. ISSN 09686673

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This article examines gendered career paths in two feminizing and highly qualified professions. Quantitative data show that in medicine the profession is internally segregated by sex, as women tend to opt for the family friendly but clinically inferior specialty of general practice. In accountancy internal segregation by sex is considerably less evident but women fail to rise through organizational hierarchies. Qualitative interviews with qualified doctors and accountants suggest that sex discrimination is to some extent still an issue but that the major factor underlying these different gendered career trajectories is that women still retain the major responsibility for domestic work and caring. They also suggest that doctors have been able to exercise more control over their working hours than accountants and that even when accountants work part-time, they work longer hours than contracted. Part-time work is also seen as seriously career-limiting. In our conclusions, we briefly examine the gender equality implications of these contrasting self-regulated and market-driven adaptations to occupational feminization.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute for Employment Research
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Work-life balance -- Great Britain, Women physicians -- Great Britain, Women accountants -- Great Britain, Women in the professions -- Great Britain, Hours of labor -- Great Britain, Career development
Journal or Publication Title:	Gender, Work & Organization
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	09686673
Date:	March 2011
Volume:	Vol.18
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 231-254
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00511.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
References:	Adkins, L. (2002) Revisions: Gender and Sexuality in Late Modernity. Buckingham: Open University. Anderson-Gough, F., Grey, C. and Robson, C. (2001) Tests of time: organizational time-reckoning and the making of accountants in two multi-national accounting firms. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 26,2, 99–122. Bergmann, Barbara R. 2008. Long leaves, child well-being and gender equality, available online at http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mscaglio/2006documents/Bergman_ 2007_Gender_Equality.pdf last accessed 11 December 2009. Bianchi, S., Milkie, M., Sayer, L. and Robinson, J. (2000) Is anyone doing the housework? Trends in gender division of labor. Social Forces, 79,1, 191–228. Bradley, H. (1998) Gender and Power in the Workplace. Basingstoke: Macmillan. British Medical Association (2005) Cohort study ofmedical graduates 1995. 10th report, available online at http://www.bma.org.uk/images/BMACohort10th_tcm41- 20466.pdf last accessed 17 December 2009. Burrage, M. and Torstendahl, R. (1990) Professions in Theory and History. London: Sage. Chiplin, B. and Sloane, P.J. (1982) Tackling Discrimination at the Workplace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Coltrane, Scott (2008) Fatherhood, gender and work-family policies, available online http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mscaglio/2006documents/Coltrane_2007_ Fatherhood_Gender_Work-Family.pdf last accessed 11 December 2009. Commission of the European Communities (2001) Employment and social policies: a framework for investing in quality. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions: Brussels: CEC. Crompton, R. (2006) Employment and the Family: the Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crompton, R. and Jones, G. (1984) White-Collar Proletariat. London: Macmillan. Crompton, R. and Lyonette, C. (2006a) Work–life ‘balance’ in Europe. Acta Sociologica, 49,4, 379–93. Crompton, R. and Lyonette, C. (2006b) Arewe all working too hard? Men, women and changing attitudes to employment. In Park, A. (ed.) British Social Attitudes, the 23rd Report, pp. 55–70. London: Sage. Crompton R. and Lyonette, C. (2008) Who does the housework? The division of labour within the home. In Park, A., Curtice, A.J., Thomson, K., Phillips, M., Johnson, M. and Clery, E. (eds) British Social Attitudes: 24th Report, pp. 53–80. London: Sage. Crompton, R. and Sanderson, K. (1986) Credentials and careers. Sociology, 20,1, 25– 42. Crompton, R. and Sanderson, K. (1990) Gendered Jobs and Social Change. London: Unwin Hyman. Crompton, R., Le Feuvre, N. and Birkelund, G. (1999) The restructuring of gender relations within the medical profession. In Crompton, R. (ed.) Restructuring Gender Relations and Employment, pp. 179–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crompton, R., Dennett, J. and Wigfield, A. (2003) Organisations, Careers and Caring. Bristol: Policy Press. Darton, D. and Hurrell, K. (2005) People working part-time below potential. Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission. Davidson, M.J. and Cooper, C. (1992) Shattering the Glass Ceiling. London: Chapman. Dench, S., Aston, J., Evans, C., Meager, N., Williams, M. and Willison, R. (2002) Key Indicators of Women’s Position in Britain. London: Department of Trade and Industry. Department for Trade and Industry and HM Treasury (2003) Balancing work and family life: enhancing choice and support for parents. London: Department of Trade and Industry. Devine, F. (1994) Segregation and supply: preferences and plans among ‘self-made’ women. Gender, Work & Organization, 1,2, 94–109. Elliott, J., Dale, A. and Egerton, M. (2001) The influence of qualifications on women’s work histories, employment status and earnings at age 33. European Sociological Review, 17,2, 145–68. Esping-Andersen G., Gallie, D., Hemerijck, A. and Myles, J. (2002)WhyWe Need a New Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ESRC GeNet project (n.d.) Homepage, available online at www.genet.ac.uk last accessed 17 December 2009. Gornick, J.C. and Meyers, M.K. (2003) Families that Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Harkness, S. (2003) The household division of labour: changes in families’ allocation of paid and unpaid work 1992–2002. In Dickens, R., Gregg, P. andWadsworth, J. (eds) The Labour Market under New Labour. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Hersch, J. and Stratton, L.S. (2000) Household specialization and the male marriage wage premium. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 54,1, 78–94. Houston, D.M. (ed.) (2005) Work–Life Balance in the Twenty-First Century. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Johnson, T.J. (1972) Professions and Power. London: Macmillan. Jones, L. and Fisher, T. (2006) Workforce trends in general practice in the UK: results from a longitudinal study of doctors’ careers. British Journal of General Practice, 1,56, 134–6. Kanter, R.M. (1977) Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books. Kmietovicz, Z. (2002) R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: why doctors are still getting enough of it, BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 324,7328, 11. Lewis, J. (2006) Work/family reconciliation, equal opportunities and social policies: the interpretation of policy trajectories at the EU level and the meaning of gender equality. Journal of European Public Policy, 13,1, 420–37. Lewis, S. (2007) Working time, client time and family time: accounting for time in the accountancy profession’. In Lippe, T. van der and Peters, P. (eds) Competing Claims in Work and Family Life, pp. 143–59. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Lyonette, C. and Crompton, R. (2008) The only way is up? An examination of women’s ‘under-achievement’ in the accountancy profession in the UK. Gender in Management, 23,7, 506–21. Martin, J. and Roberts, C. (1984) Women and Employment, a Lifetime Perspective. London: HMSO. McDowell, L. (1997) Capital Culture: Gender and Work in the City. Oxford: Blackwell. Moen, P. (ed.) (2003) It’s About Time: Couples and Careers. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press. O’Connor, J.S., Orloff, A.S. and Shaver, S. (1999) States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Petchey, R., Williams, J. and Baker, M. (1997) Ending up a GP: a qualitative study of junior doctors’ perceptions of general practice as a career. Family Practice, 14,3, 194–98. Reskin, B.F. and Roos, P.A. (1990) Job Queues, Gender Queues. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Roberts, J. (2005) The feminisation of medicine. BMJ Career Focus, 330, 13–5. Rubery, J. and Grimshaw, D. (2006) Occupational sex typing of jobs. Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission. Ruggie, M. (1984) The State and Working Woman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. CAREERS AND WORK–LIFE ADAPTATIONS IN ACCOUNTANCY AND MEDICINE 253 © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Volume 18 Number 2 March 2011 Soskice, D. (2005) Varieties of capitalism and cross-national gender difference. Social Politics, 12,2, 170–9. Walling, A. (2005) Families and work. In Office for National Statistics (ed.) Labour Market Trends, pp. 275–83. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Wass, V. and McNabb, R. (2006) Pay, promotion and parenthood. Work, Employment & Society, 20,2 289–308. White, M., Hill S., McGovern P., Mills C. and Smeaton D. (2003) ‘High-performance’ management practices, working hours and work–life balance. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41,2, 175–95. Williams, J.C. (2000) Unbending Gender. New York: Oxford University Press. Witz, A. (1992) Professions and Patriarchy. London: Routledge.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/37541

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item