Career orientations of women in Russia: The kaleidoscope career model

Abstract

The gender composition of the labor force has changed significantly due to the emergence of a number of new social and economic trends in most countries. Russia is no exception. Nowadays women constitute almost half of the workforce in Russia what emphasizes the importance of understanding their career expectations and professional development paths. Historically, career research was based on investigation of professional activities of men, which did not provide opportunities to objectively assess gender-specific factors affecting the career path of women significantly. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of women's career paths and the features of career orientations, to assess the impact of gender-specific barriers, and to analyze the existing practices used by organizations in Russia to support working women. The kaleidoscope career model is applied as an evaluation tool. The results of the study show that there is a high level of orientation to challenge and authenticity among working women in Russia, a low level of influence of gender-specific stereotypes, as well as an insufficient development of practices directed towards professional development of women in the Russian companies. The conclusions made in the paper present an important addition to the knowledge about the contextual specificity of women's careers and can be employed in the development of effective women-oriented human resource management systems.