Previous research into the supply-side causes of gender segregation in the workplace, i.e., career aspirations and choices, has identified that gender, particularly masculinity, can explain some of the variance in aspirations. However, there are several flaws with this line of research, including the measurement and conceptualisation of gender, and in that it does not explain how or why gender is related to career aspirations and choices. Here, I propose a process of ‘dynamic fit’ to explain the relationship between gender and careers, in which individuals choose careers that ‘fit’ with their gender, but gender can also be changed to ‘fit’ with gendered careers. In this thesis, I aimed to examine: a) how contextual information influences the relationship between gender and careers, b) how gender influences careers, and c) how careers influence gender. Over five studies, I found that good ‘fit’ between gender and organisational culture can promote women’s aspirations and expectations, gender norms around work and home can vary this fit, and gender can be influenced by careers-based information. Altogether, this provides some support for the process of ‘dynamic fit’. Therefore, these findings highlight that there is a need for a new theory that explains the process by which gender and careers are linked, and I propose elements that need to be incorporated into this theory, such as a ‘doing’ gender approach, and a reciprocal relationship between gender and careers.

Via the submission of six published papers, this thesis draws together the body of work by Broadbridge on retail management and women’s careers. It reveals the factors that continue to be problematic for women’s careers and why in 2010 they continue to be under-represented in the retail management hierarchy. A contextual background to the selected papers is provided in three chapters which summarise some wider issues for the non specialist reader: an introduction to career development models, the gendered processes in management and a contemporary overview of retail employment in the UK. Of the six papers presented, each adopts a different theoretical perspective and so cumulatively a comprehensive understanding of the reasons for women’s continued under-representation in retail management positions is gained. The overall findings from the papers indicated that the main reasons for women’s and men’s differential experience in the retail management hierarchy can be located in issues of male control. Retail management is male dominated, male identified and male centred. This can present itself in a variety of different ways, and through overt or covert means of behaviour and underlying organisational cultures. Key theoretical contributions to the thesis are located in three sets of theory: the sexual division of labour and the organisation of retail work; the gendered retail career, and work-life balance and multiple role demands. Empirical and methodological contributions come from the corpus of data and the use and refinement of a mixed methods approach to understanding the subject area.