女子大学生における職業選択のメカニズム-女性内分化の要因としての女性性-  [in Japanese] Job Selection of Women University Students : Femininity as a Factor of Intra-Gender(Women) Differentiation  [in Japanese]

"In the interview, I felt a lot of emphasis was being placed on attractiveness, cheerfulness, and submissiveness. I had hoped that my actual job performance would be recognized." (University, H 1990) This statement is taken from a description of job hunting experience written by a university student. We need not ask whether the student is male or female, for the answer is readily apparent. Through the job selection process, Japanese women students who elect to finish university are not faced directly with society but themselves as woman : "another self." This study begins by investigating the relative nature of "marriage vs. job" life strategies, as discussed on an intra-gender (women) differentiation. While recognizing the diversity of paths open to women, the dichotomy does not address the complex issue of job selection and life course selection. In this analysis, the relation between women's views on marriage and careers must be seen as the central issue in choosing a career pattern, but the intention of this study is not merely to describe the great diversity of women. Rather, the intention is to clarify the factors which connect the private world of women with society at large when women make decisions about marriage and careers. This analysis is followed by a discussion of the unique characteristics of the occupational identification process facing Japanese women university students. Data obtained from questionnaires about the attitudes of women university students and descriptions of job hunting experiences are used for the subsequent analyses. A woman's choice of jobs is inextricably bound up with her choice of a career patterns within the larger context of her life course. Therefore the occupational identification process is discussed with emphasis on the conflict between a woman's personal identity and her gender identity. The discussion of the process of occupational identification on career pattern selection ends with the conclusion that the factors creating identity complications are clearly none other than femaleness and femininity itself. The important point is that not only women's consciousness but also the job hunting experience itself forces them to become aware of female identity, which is keenly felt during the transition from university to the workplace. The thesis ends with speculation on the close relationship between intra-gender (women) differentiation on career pattern selection and inter-gender differentiation in the job market.