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Gendered interpretations of job loss and subsequent professional pathways

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  • Rao, Aliya

Abstract

While we know that career interruptions shape men’s and women’s professional trajectories, we know less about how job loss may matter for this process. Drawing on interviews with unemployed, college-educated men and women in professional occupations, I show that while both men and women interpret their job loss as due to impersonal “business” decisions, women additionally attribute their job loss as arising from employers’ “personal” decisions. Men’s job loss shapes their subsequent preferred professional pathways, but never in a way that diminishes the importance of their participation in the labor force. For some women in this study, job loss becomes a moment to reflect on their professional pathways, often pulling them back from paid work. This study identifies job loss as an event that, on top of gendered workplace experiences and caregiving obligations, may curtail some women’s participation in paid work.

Suggested Citation

  • Rao, Aliya, 2021. "Gendered interpretations of job loss and subsequent professional pathways," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111866, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:111866
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/111866/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Titan Alon & Matthias Doepke & Jane Olmstead-Rumsey & Michèle Tertilt, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_163, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    2. Joanna R. Pepin & Liana C. Sayer & Lynne M. Casper, 2018. "Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 107-133, February.
    3. Rebecca Glauber, 2018. "Trends in the Motherhood Wage Penalty and Fatherhood Wage Premium for Low, Middle, and High Earners," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1663-1680, October.
    4. Gershon, Ilana, 2017. "Down and Out in the New Economy," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226452142, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    careers; gender inequality; job loss; professionals; unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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