Dual-career couples’ perceptions of career barriers
type: CreativeWork
description: Research indicates that approximately fifteen years ago there were over three (3) million dualcareer couples representing 20% of dual-worker couples. It is expected that the amount of dual-career couples will continue to increase, as most college students, both men and women, anticipate participating in a career as well as in a family (Spiker- Miller & Kees, 1995).Individuals and organizations are confronted with a hyper turbulent environment and individuals are also faced with a myriad of challenges and adversity in their work and personal lives. Due to the economy and the changing needs of individuals, today very few families reflect the configuration of a typical family (a husband who worked outside the home, a wife who fulfilled the duties of homemaker and child-carer), as both partners are normally employed. The dual-career couple phenomenon has added to the pressure of managing multiple demands and has a considerable impact on the nature of people's careers(Greenberg & Baron, 2003). Dual-career couples‘ career advancement is largely affected by the career barriers they perceive to encounter. The perceptions of career barriers encountered differ from one couple to another based on factors such as: age, race and parental demand(children). Differences may also exist between partners in a dual-career relationship based on their gender.Most studies that have been conducted have looked at work-life balance of dual-career couples or have focused on the problems dual-career couples face solely from the woman‘s perspective. The aim of this study is to look at dual-career couples not only from female‘s perspective and to tap into their perceptions regarding career barriers encountered in the workplace. The findings could help organisations realize the importance of assisting dualcareer couples and how they could improve their career development. Dual-career couples therefore warrant attention as a special group seeing as the career salience, strategies and transitions o…
abstract: Research indicates that approximately fifteen years ago there were over three (3) million dualcareer couples representing 20% of dual-worker couples. It is expected that the amount of dual-career couples will continue to increase, as most college students, both men and women, anticipate participating in a career as well as in a family (Spiker- Miller & Kees, 1995).Individuals and organizations are confronted with a hyper turbulent environment and individuals are also faced with a myriad of challenges and adversity in their work and personal lives. Due to the economy and the changing needs of individuals, today very few families reflect the configuration of a typical family (a husband who worked outside the home, a wife who fulfilled the duties of homemaker and child-carer), as both partners are normally employed. The dual-career couple phenomenon has added to the pressure of managing multiple demands and has a considerable impact on the nature of people's careers(Greenberg & Baron, 2003). Dual-career couples‘ career advancement is largely affected by the career barriers they perceive to encounter. The perceptions of career barriers encountered differ from one couple to another based on factors such as: age, race and parental demand(children). Differences may also exist between partners in a dual-career relationship based on their gender.Most studies that have been conducted have looked at work-life balance of dual-career couples or have focused on the problems dual-career couples face solely from the woman‘s perspective. The aim of this study is to look at dual-career couples not only from female‘s perspective and to tap into their perceptions regarding career barriers encountered in the workplace. The findings could help organisations realize the importance of assisting dualcareer couples and how they could improve their career development. Dual-career couples therefore warrant attention as a special group seeing as the career salience, strategies and transitions o…
author: September, Lynn
keywords: Dual-career couples, Career barriers, Perceptions, Career development, Workfamily conflict, Work-family balance gender, Children (parental demands), Age group, Racial group
license: https://uwcscholar.uwc.ac.za/bitstreams/a324c6db-4ae8-40ff-a256-1e330ce74c06/download
date published: 2010
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:00:50Z
provider: University of the Western Cape
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of the Western Cape