The tenets of representative bureaucracy suggest that the composition of the bureaucracy should mirror the people it serves including women in order to influence the name, scope, and implementation of public policies. Women are still underrepresented in mid-to-upper management in male-dominated occupations. When women are under-represented in mid-to-upper levels of management in government, there are implications regarding representative bureaucracy. This study examined the career progression experiences of women who were successful in reaching mid-to-upper levels of management in male-dominated occupations in state government. Specifically, the study explored how women perceive various occupational factors including their rates of participation, experiences, gender, roles within the bureaucracy, interactions with their coworkers, leaders and organizational policies, personal influence, and decision-making abilities. The findings revealed that women experience various barriers to career progression in male-dominated occupations, but find mechanisms to navigate obstacles imposed by the negative consequences of tokenism. The findings indicate that although women have been successful in reaching mid-to-upper level management in male-dominated occupations, they do so in institutions, regional, district, field or offices with fewer overall employees where they have less opportunity to have influence on overall agency-wide policy decisions. The decision-making power is limited to implementation strategies of agency-wide policies within their smaller domains or geographical area of responsibility.

Text in English / The purpose of this study was to explore the work-life balance experiences of female engineers as they progress through various career life stages. Research has demon-strated that female engineers experience unique challenges as a result of gendered norms within male-dominated occupations, with changing life-roles, needs and ex-pectations across the various career life stages, impacting how they negotiate and perceive work-life balance. A qualitative research approach was followed using a her-meneutic phenomenology paradigm that employed a multiple case study approach consisting of semi-structured interviews with nine female engineers across three career life stages. The findings of the study confirmed current research into work-life balance, highlighting that work-life balance needs and expectations are different across the lifespan and are particularly affected by the changing nature of the work role within the lives of female engineers. Companies should consider changing their organisational culture to acknowledge the needs of female engineers in both family and work domains. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)