Reconciling Competing Theoretical Explanations for Women's Employment Experiences: Implications for Human Resource Management

Abstract

While evidence of the existence of gender‐based inequality in employment outcomes such as career grade and pay, abounds, theoretical disputes over the explanation for this phenomenon remain unresolved. Broadly, writers are divided over those who believe that unequal employment outcomes for women are the result of their individual choice (for example see Becker, 1975 and 1985; Lord, 1979; Hakim, 1991, 1993 and 1996), and those who believe this to be the result of the constraints placed on women (for example see Davies and Rosser, 1986;Curran, 1985and 1988; Collinson et.al., 1990; Vogler, 1994).

Citation

Lane, N. (1997), "Reconciling Competing Theoretical Explanations for Women's Employment Experiences: Implications for Human Resource Management", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb010689