Social support during unemployment: are women managers getting a fair deal?

Aims to present the findings of a recent study into the availability of social support to unemployed female managers. It is widely recognised that social support is an important factor in determining well‐being during unemployment, yet its role in managerial unemployment has received very limited attention. Previous research has demonstrated that social support is of particular importance to women, with a strong emphasis on emotional support. This paper investigates the experiences of 115 unemployed female managers in terms of social support, an area which, despite its importance, has to‐date received no specific attention. The findings indicate that the social support available to unemployed female managers is not only unsupportive but is severely restricted because of their unique position in society.