Great Careers For Women Who Want a Life: How Do Women Make Career Choices Today?

How do women make career choices today? Great career choices for women who want a life may vary because what women call a life, may differ from one woman to another regardless of her age.

“I do not want to be a professor. I would have to bury my head in the books, all the time.”

“Do you want to become a doctor, a lawyer or a minister, then? Perhaps you would prefer to be a nurse, secondary school teacher or a stewardess?” (Note that these were likely career options in her parent’s era.) 

The choice of a professional career only becomes a viable option nowadays, when it is a choice a young woman or an older woman wants to make.

“Maybe I should train as a policeman like my uncle Pete, or a fireman like you, Dad?” Her parents are shocked.

“We want you to have a professional career and we can help to pay for it.”

“But, I want a life,” the young woman tells her stunned parents.

More.com suggests that today, becoming a financial adviser is one suitable career option for a woman who wants a life.

“That used to be a male banker’s career,” comments her mother, as a concerned parent. “Why not become a receptionist, like I did?”

What wanting a life means to one, young woman may not necessarily be what other young women think it means. For example, to one young woman, it may mean an active social life. To another, it could mean a high level of freedom with financial independence. Another young woman’s career may not take precedence at all, simply because what she wants is to be a mother, following her natural instinct as a woman. Motherhood may become her career, if she chooses to go that direction in life. Maybe she will choose another career like being a kindergarten teacher, in conjunction with motherhood. Perhaps she has a high level of intelligence and could do medical research.       

There is no such thing as an ideal career for every woman. A lot depends upon her personal desires, academic ability and her ability to afford a predetermined level of education.

Parents often try to set career goals for their daughters. Many of these are realistic and appropriate. When career goal set by parents do not match the career goals of a young woman, she may feel frightened, threatened and trapped into having to meet her parent’s expectations. Even though she wants to please them, there may be strong resistance on her part. She may be unhappy or even become ill because of it. Over time, her career choice may become a bone of contention between them.

“I’d like to be an artist, a musician or a dancer.”

“Those are not professional careers,” her angry father states.

“That depends,” argues his daughter.

Career counseling for young women is a growing field because there are increasing numbers of open doors associated with potential careers for women. This also includes careers for older women, baby boomers and even seniors.  

No longer are professional career choices limited to what they were years ago, when parents were making their daughter’s career choices. They are not gender-restricted, either. A woman can pursue a career normally assigned to the male gender, as long as she has the appropriate education, training and ability, as well as the desire to do so. 

Career suitability and adaptability is often evident early in a young woman’s life. Exposure to a wide range of options as a child and teenager is important. This may be possible by attending a multiplicity of job fairs or visiting a wide variety of places of employment like different kinds of businesses, employment centers, companies of different kinds, etc. to see what certain careers entail. Sometimes having a role model or mentor like a family doctor, makes the decision easier for a young woman.

“Do you want to be a secretary?”  

“I want to own my own computer games business,” suggests the young woman. “But maybe I should become a geneticist or an astronaut. I could be a spy.”

Rather than being horrified at a young woman’s potential career choices, it is a good idea to encourage her to research them fully. Allowing her to make the decision and encouraging her to work towards her goals realistically, as well as academically, is important.

Remember that career choices change, as do young women and older women.

“I want a life!”

What does that mean? Only she knows what it really means for her. Maybe she is talking about the excitement and fun associated with traveling around the world; maybe to her it means traveling around the world, as in outer space, or in virtual out space through computer games? Who knows?