The move towards a different career pattern: are women better prepared than men for a modern career?

This paper challenges the common understanding of the word “career” in relation to the differences in male and female employment and seeks to show that women normally follow a career pattern which has characteristics of flexibility, change, transferable skills, part‐time and temporary working. Some career patterns and theories are challenged in the light of more recent understandings of psychological perspectives and these theories are tested against current thinking on employment needs in the 1990s. The paper concludes that typical female employment patterns are what is required in today’s economic climate and so women are more adaptable to the changes required. However, the down side of typical female careers is recognised as being an issue for discussion on employment values and rewards within society.