How Human and Social Capital Influence Careers on the Basis of Gender - Example

How human and social capital influence careers on basis of gender Name Institution Introduction The seclusion of women from the labour market that during the ancient ‘uncivilized’ times assisted immensely to stamp upon the notion that women can not measure up to their masculine counterparts in this industry (Broadbridge, 2010, p. 819). And so they stayed at home and looked after children and homesteads. However, it would be important to note at this point here that the scales used to measure whether these women had the capacity to undertake jobs in same league as men were all designed by the masculinity of the males (Broadbridge, 2010, p. 819). Fast forward to the ‘civilized’ society, what a man can do, even a woman could do and this has been proven many times over. More females have embraced jobs that had initially been the reserve of men, like joining the army, being CEOs of major companies and other managerial positions. Others have gone on to be elected into competitive politics as party leaders, members of legislative assemblies and in some instances being presidents. The major point of reference and discussion in this paper however lies in the determination of how human capital as well as social capital influences career and career growth on the basis of gender. Is career growth dependent on who one knows in the organization? Or the social networks that a person creates in their field? It will be found from the discussion offered in this paper that to an extent, career development does indeed depend on the networks one makes in the organization. This basically implies that one networks inorder to position themselves to be able to get firsthand information as it comes so that they can get the most rewarding aspects of this networks. This paper will discuss the above, with biasness towards the female gender and examine how the variations in human and social capital influence career decisions and growth. The elasticity of women’s labour supply Mainly because of their gender, women have been faced with career patterns that can be described as being elastic, sporadic even (Steiber & Haas, 2012, p.344). This elasticity is brought about by the nature and disposition of their gender. For instance, women are the ones who give birth. In most instances, they are also expected to be central in taking care of the family. As a result of this, there is always a particular disposition towards the female gender that does not favor them when it comes to job hunting and even sometimes promotions. Many employers even in this civilized society still believe that some jobs are meant to be the reserve of men. Valcour & Tolbert (2003, p. 2) believe that gender plays a very key role in the way many organizations handle their employees. For instance, women are more inclined to have more inter-organizational mobility in contrast to men who have more intra-organizational mobility. As their careers and lives progress, for instance they acquire more children, the females solidify their inter-organizational mobility. The males also receive a higher degree of inter-organizational mobility bearing down on the fact that most people want to be near their family. Other organizations believe that women may not have the capacity, physically, to handle some of the jobs that their male counterparts can. For instance packaging of goods, loading and offloading truck and other jobs that require more physical power as contrasted to intellectual power. However, Valcour & Tolbert (2003, p. 2) point out that women are continuing to disapprove this notion daily. More and more women are being absorbed into jobs that were ideally reserved for men. Human and social capital change versus gender The way the community perceives a person makes the person act in such a manner as to ensure that the expectations of the community are fulfilled. This also implies in the same capacity as to the way a person perceives and values himself. The limitation of what a person can do or achieve lies in their belief about their capabilities. The vice versa is also very true. In respect to this and in context of this paper, the society has for the longest time brought about issues aligning to role differentiation along gender lines. The society expects a man to be the head of the house, the provider as well as the caretaker of his household. The woman partner is expected to offer support to her husband and encourage him in all capacities to enable him achieve his goals. This is a widespread expectation that has been embraced on a global scale in relation to this concept and when circumstances force people to act otherwise, it seems quite odd. However, the changes that have been experienced in the human capital and social capital have increasing eroded the perceptions of the society as pertains to who can undertake a certain role depending on gender capacities. Though sometimes human capital goes hand in hand with social capital, there has been much exploration into the human capital field, locking out the social capital aspect. To understand how social change influences the behavioral characteristics and career progression based on gender lines, it is crucial to find understand what the terms mean. By abstract definition offered by Steiber & Haas (2012, p.344), social capital is the worth that an individual creates through a series of networking with other individuals or groups of people. This worth may not be measurable in economic capacities using monetary terms but the implication is that social networking assists immensely in the capacity of people to position themselves for uptake of any opportunities that they might find. Most managers are well linked to situations which would allow them to take advantage of the networks they create. The important factor to note here is that networks create a pool of information and from this pool, these people in positions of power and management can be able to tap into the most rewarding of deals. Information flow in an organization is usually much filtered. Some people know about something that is happening or is about to happen in the organization way before it does happen. These are the people who usually reap maximum benefit from this kind of positioning. So how does the aspect of gender come in? Social changes have assisted in doing away with the notions that women can’t handle certain positions of responsibilities as better as men could. The basis of recruitment has shifted to look beyond the gender aspect of these individuals. Rather, the emphasis lies on the skills and the competencies that these individuals bring to the table. Women can now enjoy working relationships as men do without the fear of victimization or stigmatization. Social change has also helped many of these women change their career aspirations and prospects. For instance, in the earlier days, flying was a career that was purely locked to men. No women were allowed to fly aircrafts and neither were they allowed to enroll into flying schools. The society did not expect women to be able to handle some of these responsibilities that were considered tasking. The society perception towards social and human capital roles based on gender started changing during the world wars. Many men were out in the fields fighting and the women were left with the prerogative of ensuring that other economic affairs were running smoothly. The successful play of this role by the women in absence of the men led to a gradual erosion of the perception that men were the only people capable of providing for the family and ensuring economic affairs of the nation ran on smoothly. And then changes started being experienced in every aspect. Women joined ranks and careers that have been bookmarked as men fields like the army, politics and business owners. In most schools, women had been advised to choose careers that were not so tasking physically. No wonder most nurses and fashion designers are women. But later, with this social change, even men have been absorbed into this system. Career aspirations for women have been revamped and most women have been given the capacity to undertake any form of career that they feel suits them most. In view of the social networking concept, women have been discovered to have a higher capacity of networking compared to their male counterparts. Women are able to achieve more when it comes to the networking factor as opposed to their male counterparts. This has been arrived at from inferential statistics arising from surveys conducted by several authors and researchers (Steibler & Haas, 2012, p.347; Broadbridge, 2010, p. 817; Cross & Bagilhole, 2002, p.204). The capacity to network has been tagged as a factor that is primarily driven by the skills of the particular personnel. This implies that a person’s capability to create and maintain networks is the single most important aspect that determines their career development or stagnation. Conclusion Social change has been tagged as the single most important aspect that has led to the improvement of the way careers progress. Through a change in the social aspect, people have been able to find careers in fields that they would have otherwise not gained access. The literature offered in this paper lays much emphasis of the issue of gender and social change. With a bias towards the female gender, this paper has shown how women and careers were perceived before social change and after the change. Before social change, women were not allowed to engage in jobs that were perceived as the reserve of men. Nowadays, there is no boundary to the kind of career one can engage in, gender irrespective. What matters is the level of skill and the competency associated with the particular person. The aspect of social networking has also been brought out in this paper. Women have been found to be better social networkers in comparison to their male counterparts. Career mobility of the two parties also differs. For instance, it has been observed that women progress more internally and men have the capacity to have a higher degree of intra-organizational mobility. In most cases, this happens because of the nature of these genders. Women are more elastic since they may take off time to have children and attend to other household chores. The paper concludes by stating that in deed social change has brought about a revolution in career aspirations with respect to gender sensitivity. References Broadbridge, A, 2010, Social capital, gender and careers: evidence from retail senior managers, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Vol. 29 No. 8, 2010, pp. 815-834. DOI 10.1108/02610151011089546 Cross, S & Bagilhole, B, 2002, Girls' Jobs for the Boys? Men, Masculinity and Non-Traditional Occupations, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 9 No. 2 , pp. 204-226. Duberley, J & Cohen, L, 2010, Gendering career capital: An investigation of scientific careers, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 76, pp.187–197. Nadia Steiber, N, & Haas, B, 2012, STATE OF THE ART- Advances in explaining women’s employment patterns, Socio-Economic Review, Vol.10,pp. 343–367. DOI:10.1093/ser/mwr039 Valcour, P & Tolbert, P, 2003, Gender, family and career in the era of boundarylessness: determinants and effects of intra- and inter-organizational mobility, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.14, No.5, pp. 768-787, DOI: 10.1080/0958519032000080794 Read More