CAREER PATHS IN TRADITIONAL WOMEN’S JOBS: A COMPARISON OF SECRETARIAL PROMOTION PROSPECTS IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND GERMANY

It has been argued that gender segregation within the labour market leads to women being overrepresented in a narrow range of jobs that offer limited promotion prospects. Presents the results of a questionnaire and interview study of women working in one such occupation, secretarial work, in England, France and Germany, and in the sectors of management consultancy and publishing. The results confirmed that secretaries in all three countries experience poor and unsystematic promotion prospects, despite the fact that many secretaries aspire to leave secretarial work. Sectoral differences are not as great as had been anticipated, and barriers to promotion were found to be especially acute in France and Germany. Promotion within secretarial work itself is shown to lack real value, and the implications of this for organizations are discussed.