| dc.description.abstract | The prevalence of career-breaks amongst professional women, mainly due to childcare, is a widely acknowledged and researched area. Yet most of the research undertaken about the career-break and return experiences of professional women is limited to career interruptions taken for the duration of statutory or negotiated maternity leave. While women on extended career-breaks constitute a significant segment of the workforce in the UK and beyond, the phenomenon of extended career-breaks and return to work afterwards remains an under-researched area. This thesis aims to investigate and contribute to understanding extended career-breaks and return-to-work among professional women in the UK. In doing so, it draws on Giddens’ theory of duality of structure (1984), Barley’s career model (1989), gender theories and time for analytical framework. It recognises the interdependence of structure and agency and builds on the meanings that individuals bring to their experience, accessing them through qualitative research methods. Interviews with 42 professional women constitute the primary data for this study, covering their experiences in the spaces of the workplace and home. In addition, the thesis engages with secondary quantitative data to situate professional women in their domestic and workforce context in the UK. The thesis demonstrates the interlinkages of structure and agency and that both are a medium and outcome of practices involving gender and time. Furthermore, while recognising women’s agency in their career decisions, the thesis exhibits that structural components outweigh agency. The thesis elaborates the specific situation of women returning from extended career-breaks and makes a case that a strong intent, willingness and support from the government and organisations towards re-insertion and retention of women returners is a potential game-changer for their second chance at building their interrupted, but not abandoned, careers. | en_US |
