TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose While previous research on opting out has been mainly about women who leave their careers altogether, the purpose of this paper is to follow a broader definition of opting out to investigate the process and experience of women developing agency as they leave masculinist career patterns to adopt alternative career solutions.Design/methodology/approach Building on an interdisciplinary framework and a narrative approach, this paper analyses the opting out and in processes of women managers in Finland and the USA.Findings This paper demonstrates four micro-strategies that the women used to develop individual agency in their processes of opting out of masculinist career models and opting in to alternative solutions for work. These micro-strategies are redefining career success, transcending boundaries, renegotiating working conditions and keeping in touch with professional networks.Practical implications Organisational leaders can use the knowledge of the strategies that empower women in their opting out processes when making decisions regarding working practices. In order to retain their employees, organisations should be supportive of employees’ individual agency and their participation in developing work structures, as well as providing more opportunities for two-way blurring between work and family instead of the current one-way blurring where work spills over to family life, increasing work-family conflict.Originality/value This paper develops a framework to better understand women’s agency during the process of opting out of corporate careers and opting in to solutions like part-time work and self-employment, deepening the current understanding of these solutions and presenting the micro-strategies they use to develop reflexive agency.
VL  - 38
IS  - 6
SN  - 2040-7149
DO  - 10.1108/EDI-06-2018-0097
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-06-2018-0097
AU  - Biese Ingrid
AU  - Choroszewicz Marta
PY  - 2019
Y1  - 2019/01/01
TI  - Opting out: professional women develop reflexive agency
T2  - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 619
EP  - 633
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -