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Career management research and literature has been slow to respond to the rise of the gig economy. Perhaps in part due to the temporal, flexible and shifting nature of the gig economy, there could be an assumption that the boundaryless and protean career management models that have dominated careers thinking for nearly 30 years retain and extend their applicability. However, whilst there is clear resonance with discourses such as boundaryless, portfolio and protean careers within the gig economy, this chapter will argue these models cannot adequately address female career management experiences. Through a feminist poststructuralist and intersectional lens, the concept of the frayed career is advocated as a more useful approach for understanding the impact of gender and intersecting subject positions on career management experiences. With growing numbers of women employed in the gig economy and in addressing calls for a greater focus on gender and intersecting identities on the experiences of gig work, this chapter analyses the role of gender, ethnicity and class and career management outcomes in the gig economy amongst Human Resources professionals. The frayed career concept is used to demonstrate how gig work can be incorporated into the rhythmicity of a career and how shifting intersectional positions can reveal alternative discourses of privilege and precarity from the otherwise assumed position of multiple disadvantage. In doing so there is an opportunity to reflect on appropriate career management guidance for women in the gig economy beyond the dichotomous positions of privilege or disadvantage and career solutions based on Westernised linear career ideals.

Gender inequality and age discrimination persist in the Higher Education (HE) sectors. The significance of gendered health at middlescence, including peri/menopause, is often negated. This article explores women’s lived experiences of gendered health issues at middlescence in the neoliberal academy through an intersectional lens.

Two female academics engaged in dialogic narrative using duoethnography addressing their experiences of gendered health issues in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). They recorded intentional written reflections and met to explore their experiences over a four month period. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse their responses.

Both women considered how they self-advocated for their own care at the stage of middlescence whilst seeking health support and in accessing accommodations in the HE workplace. This process impacted on the construction of their professional identity and on their self-concept as social work academics at the dynamic intersection of age, gender, ethnic, social and professional status.

This article uniquely foregrounds two female academics’ lived experiences of middlescence in a UK HEI conceptualised through an intersectional lens. Their experiences are explored in the context of gendered age discrimination in HE sectors that are perpetuated through masculinized forms of career progression and management. The concept of the ideal academic, a white male, unencumbered by domestic responsibilities, is contested through consideration of care ethics. We acknowledge that forms of epistemic injustice silence women’s narratives in the neoliberal academy but highlight recommendations to enable their stories of gendered health discrimination to be heard.

The purpose of this integrative literature review was three-fold: to explore the phenomenon of women’s career interruptions as revealed by publications in the past two decades, to propose a new career decision tree model (CDTM) and to outline an agenda for future research.

The authors adopted the integrative literature review approach proposed by Torraco (2005, 2016) and used a mind mapping application called MindMeister to synthesize 64 identified articles.

The proposed CDTM can assist those who are interested in exploring individuals’ career decisions to think systematically about career influencers at different levels.

The CDTM is significantly different from existing career models and theories in that it explains women’s career interruptions in a context-sensitive manner. This model can assist human resource development professionals in analyzing the influencers of women’s career decisions and tackling individual problems level by level.

In this chapter the authors analyse different forms of gender and class discrimination in Spanish academic institutions. Androcentrism in terms of the structures of academic institutions, the meritocratic system, the rhythms and contents of work present barriers for women advancing into positions of leadership. The intersectionality of gender and class provides different kinds of hurdles and possibilities for women and men from middle-class and working-class backgrounds. Relationships between (mostly male) supervisors and men and women researchers tend to strengthen men's capabilities of developing their own scientific aspirations and claims to leadership, while women tend to become subordinated supporters of their supervisors' objectives. Power structures dominated by men's values have the effect that some women do not perceive leadership positions as desirable.

This study aims to explore the career transition process of women professionals when they return to the workplace after a break and re-integrate with their career aspirations.

This research used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews for data collection. All 20 women participants have returned to their careers after a break.

The data analysis reveals women’s career transition and re-integration process into the workplace after a career break. Supervisory support, work–life balance practices, role models, coworker support and career success emerged as factors enabling successful transition. The employing organisations’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring strategy emerged as an important mechanism for re-entry.

Although previous research has studied women professionals returning after a break, the “transition process” that enables re-entry is missing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why workers remain in long hospitality careers and to challenge the frequent portrayal of careers in the sector as temporary and unsatisfactory.

The study took an interpretative social constructionist approach. Methods used were memory-work, semi-structured interviews and intersectional analysis.

A key finding in this study is that career longevity in hospitality is not solely dependent on career progression. Strong social connection, a professional self-identity and complex interesting work contribute to long careers.

The study contributes detailed empirical knowledge about hospitality career paths in New Zealand. Conclusions should be generalised outside the specific context with caution.

The findings that hospitality jobs can be complex and satisfying at all hierarchical ranks hold practical implications for Human Resource Managers in the service sector. To increase career longevity, hospitality employers should improve induction and socialisation processes and recognise their employees’ professional identity.

This paper significantly extends the notion of belonging and social connection in service work. “Social connection” is distinctly different from social and networking career competencies. Strong social connection is created by a fusion of complex social relationships with managers, co-workers and guests, ultimately creating the sense of a respected professional identity and satisfying career.

The contemporary concept of a successful hospitality career is associated with an upwards career trajectory; however, this paper suggests that at the lower hierarchical levels of service work, many individuals enjoy complex satisfying careers with no desire for further advancement.

Purpose: This study examines the relationship between gender, nationality, care responsibilities for children, and the psychological work climate of researchers.

Basic Design: Based on a dataset of approximately 2,900 cases, the main effects of gender and nationality, their interaction effect and the interaction effects of gender with care responsibilities for minor children, and with hierarchical position are considered in relation to work climate. Dummy regressions and t-tests were performed to estimate and compare the means and regression parameters of the perceived group climate and the view of leaders as evaluated by researchers. The dataset used was taken from a full survey of employees of the Max Planck Society, which is one of Germany’s largest research organizations with over 80 facilities and institutes in various disciplines and a focus on basic research.

Results: Gender differences concerning the evaluation of the work climate are particularly pronounced among doctoral candidates and researchers who have a non-EU nationality. Gender gaps increasingly level out with each successive career step. Additionally, a main effect of gender and a weak interaction of gender and care responsibility for minor children was supported by the data. A main effect of nationality on work climate ratings was found but could not be meaningfully interpreted.

Interpretation and Relevance: The interaction effect between gender and the position of a researcher can be interpreted as being a product of the filtering mechanism of the research system. With this interpretation, the results of the study can plausibly be explained in the light of previous research that concludes that female researchers face higher career hurdles than male researchers.

This chapter deals with the perception of (sensed) discrimination and the coping strategies of Russian-speaking female scholars in Germany and applies an intersectional approach between culture, migration, gender and social background. Based on telephone interviews, the study aims to contribute to the discussion on discrimination in research environments and individuals’ professional integration by exploring narratives of migration and work in 13 women who migrated from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to Germany from 1990s to 2010s. Based on the findings, the author derives implications for policy and practice, such as a recommendation to implement introductory conversations with newcomers to reduce culture clash in competitive work contexts.