In preceding chapters we have seen how managerial work and careers could be described as a rewarding struggle. Frequent and radical job changes are often made, and for most people these provide psychological and material benefits. Yet we have also seen how the patterns and outcomes of change differ according to managers' circumstantial, biographical and psychological characteristics. One of these, gender, has been repeatedly identified as cutting across other dimensions and exerting a major influence on job change and its consequences. We are particularly fortunate here to be able to give this close attention through our access to a large sample of women managers, probably the largest in any detailed survey of this kind in the literature. So now we shall pull together all our main findings on sex differences to try to answer some important questions about women in management. For example, is gender a critical variable in managerial experience, or is it only significant as a ‘carrier variable’, i.e. because it is linked with other significant factors, such as occupation or status. And how do women differ from men in their career situations and orientations?

Much has been written recently about women in employment. They have constituted a growing proportion of the labour force, and are increasingly represented in areas of employment that have been traditionally dominated by males.