A discourse analysis of career experiences of women in the developing country

Abstract

The efforts to reduce the widened effects of structural inequality for women in South Africa have resulted in varied experiences (Burns, Tomita, & Lund, 2017). The study problematised the unresearched and not well articulated social construct within the career experiences of women working in a telecommunication company in South Africa. This article argues that the meaning ascribed to the socio context and equity policy can better describe the dimension of the broader issue of gender inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. The study contributes to discourse analysis methods where discourse analysis was used to explain the experiences of three women who are senior managers with at least ten years of experience. The discourse-based understanding of the experiences of women in this study was reframed into and within the interactions of equity policy deliberation, societal factors and the organisational context model. These interactions allowed interpretation of the career choice for women and what it means for personal development. The model of career experience depicts strong alternative views on a career path for women. The results of this study provide unique findings for justice regulation in the workplace for women in South Africa.