Decolonising Career Guidance - BAME women's experiences in the workplace as a Careers Guidance professional

From January 2021 to August 2021, I carried out research as part of my Master’s degree. This was a very large area of research with several and complex strands whereby I was somewhat limited by the word count of only 16,500 words and meeting the required university learning objectives (as part of my Master’s degree) which led to a small-scale piece of research. For this reason, my findings are broad yet significant as it focuses on a niche area. I hope that this can pave the way for further research to be carried out in more depth and provide interesting insights around this topic.

This concise article will aim to summarise my research – if you’d like to learn more and see my literature review and references, my full dissertation can be accessed on the Career Development Institute’s website.?

TLDR: If you’re short on time and want a quick summary, skip to the conclusion!

This article will cover:

1. Aims and Objectives
2. Rationale
3. Decolonising Methodology
4. Reasons for entering the Career Guidance profession
5. General challenges and experiences of Careers Guidance professionals in their role
6. Experiences and challenges of being a female Careers Guidance professional
7. Experiences and challenges of being a BAME Careers Guidance professional
8. Conclusion

Aims and Objectives

My research aimed to investigate the experiences of female identifying BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) Careers Guidance professionals within the UK Career Guidance workplace through intersectionality theory.

The objectives for my research were:

1. To explore and analyse the reasons why female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals enter the Career Guidance profession.

2. To explore and analyse the range of challenges experienced by Careers Guidance professionals working in a school or college in the United Kingdom.?

3. To explore and analyse the range of challenges experienced as a female, BAME Careers Guidance professional working in a school or college in the United Kingdom.?

Seven participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Participants had to identify as female and BAME and be qualified to level 6 or 7 whilst working in schools or colleges in the UK. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews through Microsoft Teams which were recorded, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis.

Rationale

BAME women make up 16% of the female working age population in England and Wales (BITC 2020). 12% of members of the Career Development Institute (CDI) that disclosed their ethnicity are BAME and of these, around 75% are female and so 9% of all disclosed members are female and BAME. The actual figures for all members may be higher as only 42.8% of all members have disclosed their ethnicity and there may be female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals who are not members of the CDI. Despite this, the voices of British female BAME professionals are largely absent in workplace equality and discrimination research and when there is research, it tends to focus on the experiences of White women or White men.

Decolonising Methodology

Decolonising refers to the undoing of colonial rule over subordinate countries but has now taken a wider meaning of recognising and transforming our minds from colonial ideology. In the context of my research, this means listening to people from a minority ethnic background in the careers profession and sharing their experiences as a way to start a discourse. It allows us to recognise the lack of literature on BAME women’s experiences, to question this and finally to start dialogue through shared solidarity of experiences and struggle against oppression, discrimination and racism.?

My research is based on decolonising methodology. This allows for critical reflexivity, transparency and respect for self-determination. Often in research, there is a power imbalance between researchers and participants.?This would be further heightened if White men researched BAME women for example. Additionally, there may be a divide in privilege and access to opportunities. In my research, I recognised this and made efforts to minimise this power imbalance through being open to dialogue and transparency. As a South Asian woman and first-generation immigrant, my experiences of discrimination and racism have acted as motivation for carrying out this research. This also means I am not an “outsider” researching as this research is also very relevant to me and balances the power dynamic. I have been transparent about this to my participants as I believe it is critical for participants to understand my rationale. Consent, ethical considerations and autonomous decision making is crucial as well as being open to dialogue throughout the whole research process. This research was carried out ethically and was approved by the Ethics committee at Nottingham Trent University.?

The purpose of this methodology and research is to ensure each participant’s experiences and struggles are not minimised. I further recognise that due to the limitation of the word count and by conducting a large area of research, I had a lot more data than space to discuss it.?

Findings and themes

Reasons for entering the Careers Guidance profession

Working with young people

Working with and supporting young people is a key reason for all participants who demonstrated a passion and enjoyment for working with young people for their reasons for entering the profession. This indicates that this may be a common attribute in Careers Guidance professionals, regardless of gender or ethnicity. However, this would be difficult to conclude due to the small-scale nature of this research.

Mismatch

Five out of seven participants demonstrated their experiences as a mismatch of their interests which pushed them away from an environment they were not satisfied with and pulled towards the Career Guidance sector. For example, one participant was seeking something that fitted around her family life after her son was born. This shows that for a parent, there may be other factors. Another participant revealed a cultural factor of moving to the UK from Jamaica which impacted her decision making in careers. This highlights that beyond the intersection of being female and BAME, there may also be other factors.

Values

Values were revealed as important for four participants. One was particularly passionate about empowerment and wanting to remove barriers for students whilst another participant discussed her own values around her family life and this profession meeting that.?

Another participant felt that being non-judgemental is a crucial value for a Careers Guidance professionals to have. Similarly, it was argued that professionals must hold values around advocacy for young people as they do not even get “paid enough” or “recognised or valued in the profession” so this must be at the core which briefly touches upon some challenges as well as highlighting the importance of values.

Working in Education

Four participants expressed wanting to work in Education in a non-teaching role – two of which moved from teaching whilst two were not teachers. This is also linked to recognising a mismatch of interests and values.?

Impact and light bulb moment

Some participants had already been working with young people having career-related conversations. From this, a theme that emerged in three of the participants was the impact that Careers Guidance had on young people. Participants spoke of “light bulb” moments with young people and the impact this had on them.

Role model

For two of the participants, being a role model was important to them. One participant recognised that her own lived experiences of being pushed to go to university acted as a motivation for being a role model to students in that position. Another participant experienced being told that she is a role model to her students.

Interestingly, one participant recognised that Career Guidance was a “certain demographic” (with regards to age, race and ethnicity) and realised that if she entered this profession as a young Black British woman, she could be a role model to students.

This shows that the lack of diversity in the profession acted as a positive reason and motivator to create change and make a difference to young people which indicates that ethnicity and gender can influence and impact career decision making and previous literature is simply not enough to make conclusions about why BAME women may have entered this field.

Unplanned and unintentional

For two of the participants, entering this profession was unplanned and stumbling upon this profession “accidentally”. Both participants soon realised their passion and enjoyment in working in this profession and with young people emphasizing the positive outcome. The theme of entering this profession unplanned can directly be linked to the theory of Planned Happenstance.?

Professional qualification

All participants reflected and realised that to enter this profession working in schools or colleges, a qualification (either level 6 or level 7) would be required and found it beneficial. Five participants gained this qualification as a step to enter the field whereas two participants gained the level 6 qualification to supplement their work. This emphasizes the importance of the qualification that is required to work in schools.

General challenges and experiences of Careers Guidance professionals in their role

Time, workload and undervaluing of role

Three participants emphasized the challenges of time constraints and high workload. One participant even emphasized not having time to eat sometimes. Another described workload as “crippling” which had an impact on her mental health as she was not valued. Another highlighted the challenge of managing her role as Careers Leader and Careers Advisor which meant she had to “divide” herself which “dampened” the impact further making her feel “exhausted”. She also expressed that not being recognised or valued is a fight or challenge for every Careers professional.?

Changing climate of careers

Two participants illustrated the difficulty in keeping up with the changing world of careers. This raises the question of whether this is a common challenge for professionals.?

Embedding careers into the curriculum

Two participants felt embedding careers into the curriculum difficult as there is a lot of resistance and trying to make sure the careers provision is connected.?

What is interesting is the compounding effects of challenges as this could also be linked to high workload due to managing Career Leadership role as well as Career Advisor role. This shows that these challenges are intertwined.

Lone working, COVID-19 and comparison with others

One participant raised the challenge of working alone and not having a team to share ideas with and the impact of this is an isolating experience. COVID-19 was raised as a significant challenge for this participant as they felt isolated and found it difficult to “pick up cues” when speaking with students. They felt under pressure and the impact led them to question whether they wanted to continue with this role. This significant impact on mental health shows the extent of this challenge of feeling burnt out due to the impact of COVID-19 and online working. As the pandemic is ongoing, it is difficult to see long-lasting effects and impact on Careers Guidance professionals. Therefore, further research should be done to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on Careers Guidance professionals.?

Another challenge that emerged from this is the impact on self-esteem. A participant shared seeing professionals’ posts on social media with their ideas and successes impacted her mental health leading her to compare her practice with others and low self-esteem further highlighting the compounding challenges of COVID-19 and feelings of isolation.

Positive experiences

The most enjoyable aspect for all participants is working one-to-one with students and supporting them. For more than half the participants, working with young people seemed to overcome the general challenges they described as they demonstrated their passion for this which further aligns with their reasons for entering this profession and indicates overall positive attitudes. Positive experiences such as being in a “good profession” with continuing professional development and “light bulb” stories with young people raising their thinking and seeing the impact seemed to overpower general challenges.?

In contrast, two of the participants left their roles. One left due to their compounding challenges of little support, feeling undervalued and the workload which led them to leave. Despite this, they highlighted that they would like to stay within the Career Guidance sector as they enjoy it. Another left the school she was working with due to a lack of progression opportunities in schools and moved to higher education. Both participants recognised that if an institution is not forward-thinking, it can be very challenging.?

Experiences and challenges of being a female Careers Guidance professional

Female dominated environment

Five participants acknowledged that they work in a female-dominated role (and sector) and that people expect the role of a Careers Guidance professional to be a woman. Because of this, there has been little impact of being a woman on some participants’ roles.?

In contrast, one participant describes her experiences of being in a predominantly female environment in her school to be challenging as people are “waiting for me to have a bad day. So, I feel like I can't”. This illustrates the pressure she feels she is under noting that in a school, there are usually only one or two people working as Careers Guidance professionals so there is a lot of focus and attention on them.

These findings coincide with literature which shows that the Career Guidance sector is largely a female-dominated environment but further shows that the impact of this on professionals varies.

Unconscious bias

One participant described experiences with a male member of staff where they said certain things that indicated she is a “frail woman” but had little impact on her recognising that it was not his intention. Similarly, another participant describes feeling talked down to by older white male employers and male staff in schools who often interrupt her. This has little impact on her due to her confidence and the choice she has in what work she does and being in leadership positions. Despite these instances, both participants have not experienced discrimination with regards to being a woman and do not believe their professional experience is different to male colleagues.?

In contrast, a participant believes her professional experience as a woman is different to male colleagues. She describes working with senior male staff, as a junior female member of staff, challenging. It could be argued that this could be due to her being young and in a junior role however she highlights that had she been male, she would have been respected and listened to as opposed to being stereotyped as thinking “emotionally”. This indicates that perhaps there is an intersection of being young, female and in a junior role indicating there may be other factors other than gender creating compounding challenges. The impact of this were feelings of anger and difficulty in embedding careers into the curriculum. This is interesting as embedding careers into the curriculum was initially identified as a general challenge however it seems to be worsened due to the impact of being female and unconscious bias.

Another participant described experiences with a male parent who was doubting her advice and she felt that if she was male, this would not have happened. This demonstrates that both participants were not taken seriously.?

Another participant further describes attending an interview and her appearance was “pitted” against her emphasizing that unconscious bias may also exist in the hiring process in the Career Guidance sector. A different participant emphasizes this and believes that unconscious bias plays a role in who is promoted. Another participant further noticed stereotyping in the hiring process where senior male staff wanted someone “caring, sweet and friendly” as opposed to a more “forthright” candidate, both of whom were female and qualified.?

This coincides with literature which found that BAME women were not taken seriously, experienced sexist remarks and that workplace gender inequality exists. It may also be difficult to separate being BAME and female to understand what may be causing this unfair treatment.

Progression and gender pay gap

Two participants expressed a challenge in trying to progress in the Career Guidance sector. One argued that when looking upwards to progress, those in higher positions were predominantly male. She further notes that if she was male, she would be promoted easily.

Similarly, another participant argues that when it comes to progression, male colleagues move up the ladder lot quicker indicating the disparity. It was also noted that unconscious bias plays a role in who is promoted and the impact of this is making her feel disvalued especially seeing male Careers Guidance professionals with less experience than female professionals being promoted. She further emphasized that the gender pay gap as a Careers Guidance professional is non-existent but it starts existing higher up the ladder.

This highlights a need for research and transparency into organisations to investigate the pay gap, the barriers in progression for women in Career Guidance and the role of unconscious bias in recruiting and promoting women. Further research should be conducted to understand whether this is schools specific or exist elsewhere in Career Guidance.

Discrimination and unfair treatment

One participant experienced discrimination and unfair treatment due to being a woman in her role as she described feeling unsafe in her workplace leading her to feel very isolated and vulnerable. She argues that this was dealt with very well by the school she works at however believes her professional experience as a woman is different to male colleagues. She further describes being treated unfairly on her Master’s course by peers. This highlights the need for research on this to investigate this on a larger scale.

Positive experiences

A significant finding is that for five participants, being a woman in their role is helpful as being in a predominantly female sector and students open up more to them than they would if it was a male professional. One participant believes that she is seen as a role model to female students particularly due to seeing her journey. For two participants, being a woman in their role has not helped as it has had little impact on their role.?

When asked about overall experiences of being a woman in their role, three participants expressed it being positive whilst three expressed it being neutral having little impact on them and one participant expressed negative experiences.

These positive and negative experiences highlight a contrast as well as the complexity of women’s experiences in the Career Guidance workplace.

Experiences and challenges of being a BAME Careers Guidance professional

Racism and discrimination

Two participants described experiences of racism or discrimination. One described instances where parents did not want to work with her because of the colour of her skin but noted little impact on her as it was handled well by the organisation.?

Another participant described several instances of racism including during her Master’s course by peers and in the workplace by external people (on a trip to a college and employers). She described the devastating impact on her where she felt she was unwanted in her community and that she still had to maintain professionalism whilst feeling this way. She further felt these experiences were due to her being BAME, female, young, educated and in a middle-class White school emphasizing that there is a range of factors at an intersection making it difficult to separate it.?This coincides with intersectionality theory which highlights that different dimensions of someone’s identity can result in compounding layers of disadvantage.

These findings echo the general literature which found that BAME women experience unfair treatment, racism and discrimination in the workplace suggesting that this may exist in the Career Guidance sector. Whilst the impact of this was little for some, there was a huge impact on some due to the intersections of being female, BAME and other factors. The varying levels of impact show that there is no one size fits all model for BAME women and there are varying levels of sexism and racism in different ethnic groups as well as within.?

Standing out/feeling different

Four participants experienced the shock of other people’s reactions to seeing a person of colour. This has little impact on some participants as they recognise their confidence helped to navigate this or it was perceived as an opportunity to educate.?

There was little impact on one participant as she grew up in Jamaica and does not “wear my colour on my sleeve”. She notes that the experiences of those growing up in the UK “under the thumb of racism” may be different and recognises her privilege of being educated and having confidence.

However, what about professionals who may not have the same confidence or privilege or are deeply impacted by this??

Unconscious bias, being underpaid, appearance and voice

Participants described instances which they did not label as discrimination and racism which implied instances of unconscious bias as it is subtle and difficult to label.?

One participant questions instances and whether it is because she is Black, a woman or young causing it indicating the difficulty in labelling, self-doubt and compounding intersections. She further questions if she is in her role as a “diversity tick” making her feel she may not deserve it.?

Another participant described an instance whereby she was praised for something in an almost patronising way illustrating unconscious bias whereby she was not expected to do well linking this to literature that showed negative assumptions about how BAME women should behave.

Another participant discussed an instance where she was underpaid whilst a White colleague was paid more despite her working harder. This had a huge impact on her leading her to feel undervalued and hurt demonstrating an example of discrimination.?

Another participant, Black British, has experienced comments regarding her hair, both positive and negative. She also described an instance, in school, of someone asking to touch her hair and then proceeding to touch it without permission showing how demoralising this is and that this form of racism still exists in the Career Guidance sector. Another participant further described as feeling more comfortable whilst working from home as she could style her natural hair the way she wanted to. She feels worried that people will perceive her to be unprofessional because of the way she looks causing extreme anxiety.?

She further feels that she expresses herself differently in the way she speaks. Similarly, another participant feels she has a “posh” accent and so she feels she is “white enough to be accepted”. She identifies her privilege of being privately educated and the way she speaks which makes it is easier for her compared to other people who may be Black.

Both participants are Black indicating that this may be a barrier specifically for Black professionals with regards to appearance and unconscious bias impacting on mental health. This further coincides with literature that showed BAME women’s appearance was seen as unprofessional and they felt they needed to change their appearance or voice. Further research highlighted that a westernised way of speaking was advantageous which aligns with how one participant felt about her accent. However, what about those who may not have a “posh” accent??

The need to work harder and confidence

Three Participants have also felt that they needed to work harder because of being BAME. One participant described the need to put her “best foot forward” demonstrating that she feels she needs to work harder to prove herself in fear of something going wrong and ensure she is seen as a professional. Similarly, another participant also feels the need to work harder and “over qualify” herself to prevent people from thinking less of her. Another participant further feels that being BAME means she must work twice as hard.?

These findings coincide with literature in that BAME people are more likely to feel they need to work a lot harder for the same recognition.

Additionally, one participant is also conscious that English is not her first language so she has to think carefully about what she says in case it is misinterpreted. This illustrates that other factors that can also influence BAME professionals’ experiences in the workplace and aligns with intersectionality theory in that there may be factors beyond the intersection of being female and BAME which can create compounding challenges and additional mental work.

Confidence is a theme that emerged from participants’ experiences and was perceived as something that is needed for a BAME person in the workplace. One participant recognised that navigating careers is difficult and that confidence is needed for BAME people. She further illustrated that confidence is needed tenfold if someone is BAME and a woman which aligns with intersectionality theory and compounding challenges.?

Another participant highlighted that BAME professionals must be confident or they may be judged or misunderstood and that the fear of something going wrong is very apparent. A different participant recognises her self-confidence as a privilege in navigating these instances.?

Challenges of unconscious bias and discrimination can cause a lack of confidence as literature found. This can act as a barrier as it can manifest into low self-esteem and having low expectations from their career indicating the damage this can have on career and wellbeing outcomes. This is significant as it suggests a certain level of confidence may be needed to navigate situations of unconscious bias and if it is not present, it can cause further barriers or challenges.

Progression and lack of role models

One identified a barrier for progression as she does not see anyone like her in higher roles, so questions why she would want to go for it. She expressed that if there is more diversity in higher roles and mentors who are “pulling you up” and not “slamming the door shut” then those barriers fall away as it can increase confidence and belief that they can also progress. These are aligned with literature discussed in that BAME people face huge barriers in advancing in their career and this can be made worse due to a lack of role models of mentors. The Career Guidance sector is not diverse and so the implication is that it may be difficult for BAME women to have access to role models in higher-up positions hindering opportunities to advance in their careers.?

Positive experiences

Participants have also emphasized positive experiences of being a BAME professional. One participant is passionate about being a role model to other BAME students as she sees this as an impactful and powerful experience. She recognises that BAME students are likely to be more eager and speak with her. This overpowers the challenges of being BAME and has highlighted a need for more BAME Careers Guidance professionals. Another participant has also demonstrated positive experiences being a role model to BAME students.?

Another participant believes she can tap into a community of BAME people and that BAME students may be more comfortable approaching her. Similarly, three other participants described positive experiences working with BAME students.

These findings can be linked to literature which found positive experiences of being BAME can help to have access to cultural knowledge and being able to relate to other cultures. They are insightful as it reveals that there are positive experiences as well as negative experiences indicating the complexity of these experiences.

Conclusion

When I started this research and conducted my literature review, I had little idea of what could come of this as there was a lack of literature on female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals. The literature conducted was general due to this and so I questioned whether findings would align with it. My own experiences and challenges were motivation to conduct this research and I questioned whether I was alone in my experiences. I wanted to explore female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals’ experiences through a journey of their reasons for entering this profession, how much they enjoy their role, the general challenges they face and challenges and experiences in relation to being female and BAME.?

Participants showed a range of reasons for wanting to enter this profession some of which aligned with literature conducted such as working with young people and mismatch of values and interests. However, new findings also emerged such as cultural factors of moving country and the direct impact of being BAME on a participant as a core reason to diversify the profession and be a role model to BAME students. These findings are significant in that they indicate that current literature is simply not enough to explain the reasons for female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals’ experiences.?

Participants demonstrated a range of general challenges which also aligned with the literature conducted such as high workload, time constraints and being undervalued. However, there were also new findings such as the impact of COVID-19 on one participant and a challenge of social media and comparing other professionals’ successes and the impact on mental health. These compounding challenges showed that literature conducted is simply not current enough and thus these findings were significant in exploring the general challenges of participants. It also shed light on why two participants left their roles which was further not found in the literature. It was further found that overall, participants enjoyed their role despite these challenges which align with their reasons for entering the profession showcasing their journey through reasons, challenges and experiences. This is also significant as female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals’ journeys and experiences have not been explored.

Finally, new findings emerged from experiences of being female and BAME. Literature conducted for this was not specific to the Career Guidance sector so this is significant in illustrating female, BAME Careers Guidance professionals’ experiences. Whilst positive experiences of being female and BAME were noted such as being able to support female and BAME students, negative experiences seemed to be more prevalent. For example, unconscious bias, discrimination, racism, difficulty in progression, lack of role models, the need to work harder and impact on mental health indicates the compounding challenges of being female and BAME. The intersection of these means higher levels of disadvantage. Further, many of these challenges snowballed onto one another and for one participant, a general challenge was made worse due to her being female. There were varying levels of impact and when there was little impact, this was due to privileges of confidence and being educated. What about those who may not have this level of confidence??

These were key significant findings as they illustrated that gender inequality, racism and discrimination persist in the Career Guidance sector as demonstrated by these participants’ experiences. Whilst I recognise the limitations of this research being a small-scale study and thus may not be generalised to the larger population, I believe these findings are significant and insightful.?

The McGregor-Smith review (2017) indicated that BAME people are discriminated against at every stage in their careers. This holds true to my findings and is worsened due to the intersection of being female and BAME. This highlights a need for further research into this to investigate if discrimination and racism exist not only in the workplace but also in the hiring process. There needs to be further research on a larger scale to investigate the prevalence and impact of this. Are there unconscious biases preventing BAME women from progressing? If they do exist, as my findings have revealed, how can we ensure that BAME women are supported and have access to role models? How can we remove barriers to ensure progression and improve wellbeing and career outcomes? Further, how can we support BAME women’s career decision making? After all, BAME women are clients in their own journey and make up 16% of the female working age population in England and Wales (BITC 2020) and 9% of all disclosed CDI members.

References: The reference list is available through my full dissertation which can be accessed on the CDI website.

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