Chapter 7

            Chapter 7 discussed the issues that women and members of the LGBTQ community face while in the workforce and participating in career development.  Brown discusses that there are issues that are unique to women in the workforce, specifically pregnancy (whether it be planned or unplanned).  Pregnancy is something that affects women significantly greater than men, especially in our culture where we do not have paid maternity or paternity leave.  Women tend to stay away from STEM careers, and sacrifice their own career advancements so their spouses can advance themselves (Brown, 2016).

            Pregnancy in the workforce is something that I had to deal with myself, and something that has come in to play in my career decision.  I had to give up my previous position as a manager after I had my son.  I did not have any paid maternity leave and only because of FMLA was I allowed to take a full twelve weeks off.  I knew that I could not go back to that position full time because I had to be home at night to take care of my son since child care is traditionally 8-5 and my husband is not always home at night.  Thankfully my husband is in a position that we did not have to financially struggle for me to do this, but most women are not so lucky.  I knew that when I was reassessing my career options, I had to take into account my child and possible future pregnancies.  It is not something that I can just fly with and see what happens.  I need to plan accordingly in order to not interfere with school, an internship, or the beginning of a new career. 

            This seems to be a cultural issue.  The lack of maternity leave and employer understanding is not something that women have to fear in many other countries.  We have friends in Denmark and they get maternity AND paternity leave.  The dad’s actually get to take time off to be a part of their child’s lives- and get to do so over a span of 5 years or so.  Women do not have to fear that their jobs will be gone if they take 25-30 weeks off, or that they will not be able to pay their bills.

            Brown then goes on to discuss women’s career development from a sociological perspective.  Women are overall more educated than men.  They hold more degrees than men in all levels of higher education.  I wonder how much this has to do with the education structure.  During our Child Development class we discussed how the education system is structured mainly towards female learning and how males tend to struggle.  Brown also advocates for adolescent employment and how, if done correctly, can begin the career development path.  I worked all through high school and college, and I feel like it helped me develop a fantastic work ethic- whereas my sister did not and it took her a while to feel any type of loyalty towards a job (Brown, 2016).

Brown, D.  (2016).  Career information, career counseling, and career development (11^th ed.). 

Boston, MA: Pearson.