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Hakim (1991) suggested that explanations for women’s inferior position must be sought among “dispositional” factors, rather than among “situational” factors – that is, the nature of the work they

do. Thus, while analysing women’s careers, she has urged researchers and practitioners to take into account the lifestyle choices as part of free will, and not only socialization or structural influences. Furthermore, Hakim argued that in modern societies, women’s preferences become a central determinant of life choices – in particular the choice between an emphasis on employment or family life. She presented this view as an example of preference theory, arguing that genuine choices are open to women (Hakim, 2000). She demonstrated that women choosing clear employment

objectives mostly achieved their goals; women who aimed for specific occupations and acquired the necessary skills fared best in the labour market. She argued that, when women chose work as a central life goal, they achieved jobs at higher levels of status and earnings than were obtained by women for whom paid employment was a secondary or peripheral activity.

Contrasting the view of gender essentialism that differences are closely associated with physical, psychological, and/or spiritual differences, Crompton and Lyonette (2005) took an existentialist philosophy approach. Reaffirming the above perspective, they argue that humans are beings that create and define themselves in interaction with others. In particular, the feminist existentialist perspective explicitly recognizes the role of an agency in women’s choices (Wallace, 2009a). Thus, it may be argued that women make conscious choices in reaching decisions, and therefore bear responsibility for those choices.

In addition, Hakim (2004) contended that in order to have access to positions of leadership, it is imperative to give prominence to work. She concluded that women wishing to reconcile family and professional life without a strong emphasis on work will never make it to the top of the hierarchy in organisations. Other researchers have made similar observations that executive positions require an immense commitment of time, energy and emotion, and a singular focus on professional

achievement.

With regard to fewer women at senior levels in the accounting sector, Bernardi (1998) observed that it is a result of their personal choice to prioritize family life at the expense of professional life. Such careers are organised by what Blair-Loy (2009) called a “schema of work devotion”. This requires single-minded allegiance and a firm grasp of one's purpose in life. Blair-Loy further explained that women who pursue demanding, elite careers often find themselves colliding with the “family

devotion schema” that defines marriage and motherhood as a woman’s primary commitment. These personal choices about lifestyles may also influence women’s decision making about career planning (Airini et al., 2010).

Thus, women’s career decisions are also partially affected by their attitudes with regard to work, which leads to their actions and choices about the labour market outcomes (Corrigall & Konrad,

2007). For example, a multinational study of married men and women conducted in 28 countries has identified an association between egalitarian gender-role attitudes and higher individual earnings for women (Stickney & Konrad, 2007). Another study affirmed that women with more traditional

attitudes are likely to focus their time and energy on family responsibilities to meet unpaid family obligations, whereas women with more egalitarian attitudes may hire household services in order to increase paid work time (Schwartz & Rubel-Lifschitz, 2009). This can have a significant impact on their career.

Seabright (2012) further claimed that there is no systematic discrimination against women; anyone who takes a career break suffers from it, and women suffer career-wise as they tend to sacrifice office time for child care and fail to send a signal of this commitment to the boss. Secondly, women are disadvantaged by networking behaviour, as each sex prefers to network with its own kind, and with fewer women at the top, networking opportunities are limited for them.

The above discussion has commented on gendered career patterns, pointing to the fact that individuals who treat career as a secondary life goal, regardless of their gender, will not progress in their careers as well as their counterparts, who give a priority to careers over personal life. However, it may not always be a voluntary choice to give preference to family/career as the socio-cultural as well as institutional beliefs and norms that primarily shape the career orientations of men and women cannot be overlooked. A key policy document by NCWNZ (2015) argues that to achieve gender equality we need to change the way we think and act towards gender issues. It recognises that some of the things that stop women from achieving their potential are ideas, attitudes and beliefs that are not enforced by law, but control what courses they study, what qualifications they seek and what jobs they apply for.

Thus, gender and career has been discussed in depth, as one of the main emphases of this research. The present research project upholds the view of De Beauvoir (1949), who posited that men and women must find reciprocity. Women, she argued, should not take up power against men; no one should try to reduce the other to the status of an object, which would not be ideal.

It has been identified that there has been a paradigm shift in the way people view career success. In seeking answer to Research Questions 6, this research intends to explore the phenomenon of personal success, which is elaborated below.