Maintaining the gap: women’s early career experiences of entry into the UK graduate labour market

ABSTRACT

Gender inequality in the workplace remains a persistent issue that impacts upon women from their first point of entry into the labour market. In this paper, we explore the experiences, of 20 women in the UK as they take their initial steps onto the career ladder upon graduation. Adopting an interpretive methodology that uses a Bourdieusian framework based on habitus, capital, and field, we highlight that women continue to face structural and individual barriers that influence, and in many cases limit, available career opportunities. By intersecting gender with social class and ethnicity, intra-gender differences are identified that demonstrate the deep-seated nature of disadvantage faced by working class and ethnic minority female graduates in securing employment in comparison to their white, middle-class peers. We conclude by recommending that careers support and guidance should be introduced earlier in the education system to raise aspirations and challenge the perpetuation of gender inequality.

KEYWORDS:

• Intersectionality
• graduate careers
• gender inequality

Introduction

The United Nations Development Programme (2021) believes that education is essential for achieving gender equality and contributing to both individual and societal economic growth and development. While there are significant differences between countries, there is nowhere in the world where women experience equality with the World Economic Forum (2021) suggesting that at current rates, the gender equality gap will not be closed until 2156. Focusing on the labour market, inequality has been attributed to structural barriers, such as the undervaluing of female dominated professions (Truss et al. 2013) and rigid working practices (Lyonette 2015), which make it difficult for women, and even more so for those with families, to combine work and home commitments.

Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in conjunction with Education for Employers (2019) suggests that the roots of gender inequality are deep, starting at the age of seven, when stereotyping begins to influence career aspirations. Haynes, McCrone and Wade (2013) argue that the British education system focuses on academic achievement rather than eventual employment which serves to maintain gendered career attitudes and perpetuate inequality. A lack of self-confidence also leads to female graduates having lower employment expectations (Wilton, Purcell, and Durbin 2010). Consequently, women are more likely to occupy lower-level roles upon graduation (Office for National Statistics 2017) leading to an immediate gender pay gap of 7% that rises to 31% after 10 years (Department for Education 2020).

Disadvantage in the graduate labour market is not limited to gender. Zwysen and Longhi (2016) found that ethnic minority graduates often experience racism in the workplace which limits employment opportunities. Bradley, Waller and Bentley’s (2022) ‘Paired Peers’ longitudinal study also found disadvantage based on social class. Tracking 40 pairs of undergraduate students from different socio-economic backgrounds at an elite and non-traditional university, they found that middle-class students were advantaged as they could draw upon family economic and social capital to ease them through university and into employment. Their study also indicated that female students, regardless of class, anticipated the demands of future childcare and therefore restricted their ambitions to careers that they perceived as being family friendly.

In this paper, we present an empirical study of 20 women in the UK taking their initial steps towards employment after completing their first degree. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative data from interviews conducted between 2015 and 2017, the aim of this paper is to explore how gender structures intersect with those of class and ethnicity to influence student engagement with graduate employment opportunities including career aspirations, potential barriers and activities undertaken to enter the graduate labour market. Using Bourdieu’s (1977) conceptual framework based on habitus, capital, and field, our findings indicate that female graduates face both structural and personal barriers to accessing skilled employment. Privilege, mainly experienced by white, middle-class students, comprised financial support and the cultural capital required to navigate transitions into the workplace. Barriers, predominantly faced by working class and ethnic minority participants, included a limited understanding of career opportunities, caring responsibilities, conformity to gendered and cultural expectations, and a lack of role models and social capital.

Our contribution to the continued debate on the disadvantage many women face on entering the graduate labour market, is the structural influence of gender intersecting with class and ethnicity and the nuanced, highly individualised experiences this leads to. We also explore the role of institutionalised power dynamics in relation to graduate employment and how it can create privilege in terms of career opportunities for some and additional barriers for others when class and ethnicity are combined with gender. Despite higher education supposedly being a mechanism to overcome disadvantage, we argue that educated women continue to face challenges accessing a graduate career. To present our research, we firstly discuss the literature relating to the influence of gender, including intersectionality, when moving from education into the workplace. We will then consider the work of Bourdieu to provide the theoretical framework. The next section outlines the methodological approach taken in the research before moving on to presenting and discussing our findings. Finally, we conclude the paper with recommendations to address the gender disadvantage upon graduation.

The continuing disadvantage of gender

In their report ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’ (Department for Education 2017b), the UK government position higher education as a route to skilled employment. Growth in student numbers and a competitive job market, means securing employment after graduation can be difficult. In 2018/19 alone, a total of 496,110 students qualified with a first degree in the UK, of which 58% were women (Higher Education Statistics Agency 2020).

Differences in graduate outcomes reflect the broader gendered working patterns within society. Dalingwater (2018) notes a discrepancy between the quantity of women working and the quality of their work which is often in lower paid and devalued roles in the service and care sector. The International Labour Organisation (2020) defines decent work as having a fair income, job security, personal growth, and equality of opportunity. For women working part-time, inequality is further heightened in terms of available work, opportunities for career progression and pay (Biewen, Fitzenberger, and de Lazzer 2018).

Evaluating on a single axis does not fully capture the multi-dimensional picture of disadvantage as its effects are cumulative (Crenshaw 1989). Intersectionality refers to the interconnected relationship between social characteristics, such as gender with class, and ethnicity, and how they operate contemporaneously to provide nuanced personal experiences of disadvantage. As social reality is formed through combining multiple aspects of identity, intersectionality plays an important role in exploring the development of individual gender identities and the intra-group experiences of women in relation to work (Corlett and Mavin 2014). For example, for white women, gender and class is likely to be their main source of disadvantage whereas ethnic minority women face multiple disadvantages (Sanchez-Hucles and Davis 2010) with the intersection of their ethnicity and gender making them more likely to occupy entry level positions (Mooney, Ryan, and Harris 2017).

While Bourdieu (1977) is normally associated with theorising the inequality of social class, his Theory of Practice can effectively analyse intersectionality by interpreting commonplace daily experiences to uncover the relationship between structure and agency (Kilvington-Dowd and Robertson 2020). Much work on intersectionality focuses on the broader subjective experiences of individuals and groups based on their social position (Rodriguez et al. 2016); however, embedding subjectivities within the dynamics of power reveals institutionalised disadvantage. Durfee (2021) refers to structural intersectionality where outwardly neutral institutional practices differentially impact on individuals to replicate wider societal inequalities. Tatli and Özbilgin (2012) operationalised Bourdieu in their study of structural intersectionality through an emic framework based on the concepts of field and capitals. By understanding the dynamics of power and the value of capital within a field, an individual’s position can be evaluated based on their personal holdings of capital to demonstrate their habitus and the complex interplay of privilege and disadvantage. Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice will now be discussed as the theoretical framework used to explore the issues faced by the female graduates in this study.

Conceptualising gender inequality through the work of Pierre Bourdieu

Bourdieu (1977) theorises the dynamics of power in society recognising that individuals can make choices, but objective structures often set limits on their options (Bourdieu 1989). Bourdieu’s epistemological position of structural constructivism (Fowler 1997) is adopted in this paper, using his synergistically intertwined concepts of capital, field, and habitus to analyse the social reproduction and social transformation (Costa, Burke, and Murphy 2019) experienced by a group of 20 women during their transition from higher education into work.

Bourdieu (1984) believes fields are hierarchical socially constructed spaces where capital is essential for access and progression, as well as allowing institutions and agents to position themselves relative to each other. Capital can take a multitude of forms, such as economic, cultural, social, and educational, but it is only valuable when recognised by those controlling a field (Moore 2012). Habitus acts as a linking mechanism between capital and field and is defined by Bourdieu (1977, 72) as ‘a system of durable dispositions’ that embodies cultural norms which are learnt through socialisation processes from childhood onwards (Silva 2015) leading to everyday actions being unintentional and instinctive. Bourdieu refers to this as the ‘internalization of externality’ (Robbins 2000, 16). Through their experiences and material conditions, an individual unconsciously learns the possibilities in life available to them, and they are therefore, likely to achieve their ‘subjective expectations of objective probabilities’ (Bourdieu 1990, 59) by choosing the outcome in life that is expected given their circumstances.

The transition from university to the workplace represents the meeting of two fields: the graduate labour market and the higher education sector. While the two fields, to some extent, can be considered homologous in a Bourdieusian sense due to their proximity (Tholen 2015), they are independent and complex with their own power structures, values, and rules for engagement. With only 65% of graduates securing high-skilled roles, including more males than females (Department for Education 2020), Bourdieu’s use of the word le champ, to refer to the concept of field as a site of struggle (Thomson 2012), appears apt for graduates taking their first steps onto the career ladder.

To access a field, graduates require recognised capitals. Qualifications represent educational capital but, with increased university participation rates, a degree alone is insufficient to secure a graduate-level job with recruiters looking for additional cultural capital, such as extracurricular activities, and work experience to determine whether an applicant will fit into an organisation (Tomlinson 2017). Cultural capital can also help develop the interpersonal competences to be successful at interview (Hora and Blackburn Cohen 2018). Furthermore, social capital is crucial as having a network of contacts provides guidance to support initial entry into a field, as well as long-term progression (Burke 2016).

Female students are more likely to participate in cultural capital acquiring activities which, in turn, should lead to greater employment success (Reay et al. 2007). Since female graduates tend to occupy lower-level jobs in comparison to male graduates (Office for National Statistics 2017), many are not obtaining employment commensurate to their qualifications. These employment differences could partly be explained by social capital which Angervall et al. (2018) found to be gendered with males being more effective in both its acquisition and deployment. A gendered disposition could also be a factor, as women often lack confidence, particularly when applying for jobs in male-dominated industries (O’Leary 2017).

Habitus should be seen as generating rather than determining practice with exposure to new experiences providing an opportunity for change (McNay 2000). McLeod (2005) links Bourdieu’s notion of habitus to the process of gender socialisation providing deep-rooted cultural influences that are internalised by an individual to develop a masculine and feminine identity. As habitus is the embodiment of cultural norms and behaviours based on personal background, the concept can also accommodate intersectionality as gender can operate in conjunction with social class and ethnicity to influence women’s behaviours and attitudes towards entering the field of work.

One challenge women face is a lack of fit between their behaviours in the home and working practices which are frequently based on male norms (Adkins 2004). Women form 47% of the workforce (Office for National Statistics 2020b) but factors, such as rigid working hours and limited part-time jobs for skilled workers, continue to impact on their employment (Lyonette 2015). Breaking the cycle of gender divisions in the workplace is a lengthy process as habitus tends to reproduce attitudes and behaviours in both women and men (Arnot 2002), supporting stereotypes that perpetuate gendered divisions. While openly discriminating on sex is illegal in many countries (United Nations 2020), gender stereotyping and unconscious bias continue to impact on recruitment practices with organisations often viewing female characteristics less benevolently in comparison to male ones (Cunningham and MacRae 2011), presenting female graduates with more challenges at the start of their career. Before discussing our research findings, we will first outline the methodological approach adopted for the study.

Data collection and methodology

This paper is based on longitudinal empirical data collected between 2015 and 2017 from 20 women in a post-92 university. The aim was to critically explore the intersectional influences of class, gender, and ethnicity on the transition from undergraduate study to employment. Prior to interview, the research gained ethical approval under university procedures and all participants signed a consent form. Table 1 provides the personal background details of the participants in the study. Having already confirmed their gender, in the first interview they self-identified their class and ethnicity. Manstead (2018) believes that the material conditions of a person’s upbringing have an impact upon their identity and feelings towards their social environment. As this study focuses on personal experiences, we wanted them to self-identify their background, and therefore their sense of place in society, rather than imposing categories ourselves. Pseudonyms have been assigned to protect anonymity.

Table 1. Personal background details of the research participants.

Nasreen	Middle Class, British Pakistani, Age 21, Business Management
Ayesha	Middle Class, British Pakistani, Age 21, Youth and Community Studies
Lydia	Working Class, White British, Age 22, Fashion and Textiles
Heather	Working Class, White British, Age 21, Sociology
Jane	Middle Class, White British, Age 21, Drama
Chloe	Middle Class, White British, Age 21, Sociology
Dana	Middle Class, White European, Age 22, Architecture
Jessica	Working Class, White British, Age 21, Business Management
Louise	Middle Class, White British, Age 23, Photography
Anna	Working Class, White British, Age 21, Sociology
Charlotte	Working Class, White British, Age 21, Business Management
Christina	Working Class, White British, Age 21, Nursing
Sally	Working Class, White British, Age 33, Sociology
Adele	Working Class, White British, Age 48, Community Studies
Rachel	Working Class, White British, Age 24, Business Management
Grace	Middle Class, White British, Age 21, History
Beth	Middle Class, White British, Age 21, History
Rohema	Middle Class, British Pakistani, Age 21, Business Management
Holly	Middle Class, White British, Age 22, Business Management
Emily	Middle Class, White British, Age 23, Fashion and Textiles

The data was gathered through a series of semi-structured interviews. The first interview was at the start of the participants’ final year of study to ascertain their initial plans upon graduation. The second interview, held towards the end of their degree, provided an update, and then the final interview took place 12 months after graduation to allow sufficient time for participants to embark upon their next steps.

Participants were initially recruited through purposive sampling to ensure they met the research criteria. Course leaders on Business Management, Sociology and History acted as gatekeepers to identify 12 students. Snowball sampling was then used, with existing participants providing recommendations from their personal network. Eight additional students were recruited which provided a balance of class and a further two participants from ethnic minority backgrounds. Breadth was also added to the sample regarding the degree subject studied.

Data analysis was completed using King and Brooks’ (2017) Template Analysis framework as it is methodologically flexible and able to handle large volumes of interview data. As well as ordering emerging themes, the method also allows a priori coding enabling us to apply Bourdieu’s (1977) concepts of field, capital, and habitus within our analysis.

The findings are presented in four sections. The first focuses on four white working-class women prioritising family commitments over work while the second section considers the effect of cultural expectations placed by their families upon three women of Pakistani heritage. The third discusses the privilege of whiteness and middle-class while the final section considers the experiences of five white working-class women trying to improve their employment opportunities. The paper then concludes with a discussion and recommendations to address the gender disadvantage on graduation.

A traditional approach to work and home

Educational capital is one of the criteria used to control entry into a field of work, for example, by specifying subjects studied or minimum grades. Except for Business Management, which is broadly equal, and Architecture, which is male dominated, data from Higher Education Statistics Agency (2020) indicate that the women in this study followed gendered expectations by choosing subjects that are more popular with female undergraduates. Lane (2021) suggests that women are institutionally influenced by school and family to avoid male dominated subjects as it could later lead to challenging and isolating work environments. As a result, female graduates are more likely to enter occupations traditionally considered ‘women’s work’ such as care and administration which pay less than the male dominated sectors of engineering and technology (Office for National Statistics 2020a). Gendered degree choices, therefore, contribute towards the continuing occupational segregation and gender pay gap in the labour market which causes a long-term impact on women’s career opportunities (Dalingwater 2018).

Intersecting gender with class and ethnicity, working-class white women, rather than fulfiling their own ambitions, are more likely to focus on the needs of others when searching for work in comparison to their middle-class peers (McGinn and Oh 2017). For the four white working-class women in this study with long-term partners and families this was noticeable and indicated how their deeply engrained home-oriented habitus continued to reproduce gender divisions (Arnot 2002). Lydia and Heather, both in their early twenties with no children, felt unable to make independent career decisions. While Lydia was confident in her own abilities and had significant work experience through a year’s placement, Heather was quiet, with no work experience at all and lacking belief in her abilities. After discussions with their male partners, Lydia and Heather both came to a similar decision despite their markedly different dispositions. They decided to prioritise their partner’s work over their own, believing that as men they had better employment opportunities for higher pay and long-term career development in comparison to their own work in retail and social care. Since their partners were in the process of changing jobs which would determine where they would be living, they both deferred looking for work until they were settled. Lydia summarised her feelings saying:

I’ll look for a job, but it won’t be a career. It will literally just be a job, so I’m not bored. (Interview 1)

Adele and Sally, two mature students, returned to study to better provide for their children and demonstrate the importance of education. Adele was married with three children in their teens and Sally was a single parent with one child in primary school. They both faced the dichotomy experienced by many women when looking for work of feeling guilty about spending time away from their children while simultaneously wanting to pursue a career. Adele summarised her feelings as follows:

I felt like I shouldn’t be so selfish. I shouldn’t be doing something for me. I should be pushing everybody else, but not me. (Interview 1)

Socialisation can lead to a gendered habitus with deeply rooted expectations on the roles of men and women within the family (Adkins 2004). Adele and Sally unquestioningly accepted being the main carer within their family and searched for work which allowed them to fulfil these responsibilities. The dynamics of female dominated industries, and indeed why many women enter them in the first place, is that they offer flexibility. Adele and Sally still viewed the job market as a field of opportunity though to break away from being at home all the time. Prioritising job satisfaction over pay, which is in line with Canetto et al’.s (2012) findings, Adele and Sally made a conscious decision to work in the care sector where they felt they could make a worthwhile contribution to society. Adele found work supporting special needs children in a local school while Sally was searching for part-time social care work with young people.

Bourdieu’s (1990) belief that disadvantaged people lower their expectations in life and are constrained by the world around them is reflected in this group of working-class women. All were strongly influenced by traditional family structures which are more commonly associated with working-class women (Adkins 2004) that restricted their job opportunities. Compromising employment conforms to stereotypical female gender practices which continue to perpetuate inequality (McNay 2000) and can prevent female graduates from occupying jobs commensurate to their qualifications.

The influence of cultural expectations

The experiences of the three participants from a Pakistani heritage, who were all practising Muslims, indicate that practices within ethnic groups can bring a range of behavioural expectations and gendered commitments, particularly regarding their role within the family, that may be different to the dominant national culture (Gill 2020). Identifying themselves as middle-class, education was important for all of them with Ayesha and Nasreen’s parents migrating to the UK so that their children would have a better life. Ayesha commented:

It’s important to my mum that all of us are qualified because she’s from Pakistan and they don’t get that opportunity. (Interview 1)

While Ayesha and Nasreen had been under pressure to continue their education, this did not extend to employment. Nasreen summarised her situation commenting:

As girls we usually get married quite young so I wouldn’t mind not getting a job. My parents would never pressure me into getting a job … I think marriage is more important to them. (Interview 1)

Nasreen explained that her parents followed an institutionalised familial approach to gender based on their own cultural upbringing, placing higher career aspirations upon her younger brothers. Nasreen explained:

They would prefer it if my brothers got a job rather than me … as boys, it’s more important for them to be earning a living and do well. (Interview 1)

Neither Ayesha nor Nasreen was in a relationship, but future expectations of marriage meant they viewed work as a way of occupying their time until having a family. With no long-term career plans, like many people from ethnic minority groups, Ayesha and Nasreen ended up in precarious work roles (McCluney et al. 2018). Ayesha wanted to work with young people. Her degree in Youth and Community Studies, alongside additional cultural and social capital from community placements, running a weekly activity class for young Muslim girls and being on the Board of Trustees for her local community centre should have enabled her to find work. Due to budget cuts, jobs in this field were highly competitive. Ayesha eventually became a teaching assistant at a secondary school on a temporary contract which was renewed each term subject to funding.

While Ayesha’s main challenge was the nature of the industry she wanted to enter, Nasreen’s struggle to find work was linked to her personal disposition and lack of recognised work experience. Nasreen’s family had no history of graduate employment, and though they were supportive, they could not offer her any practical advice. After nine months unemployment, Nasreen visited the university careers service to help her evaluate potential careers and overcome confidence issues in interviews. Careers advisors offer valuable informational and social capital and with support, Nasreen eventually secured a graduate-level job on a temporary contract as a marketing assistant for a small financial services company.

Rohema’s experiences, though very different, also indicate the impact of heterogeneity and diversity of culture and ethnicity. Rohema’s father was second-generation and after obtaining a degree in accountancy, he set up his own practice. Rohema, an only child, had a close relationship with her father which resulted in him having high career expectations for her rather than an immediate marriage. Rohema had moved away to live at university where she had gained cultural capital through extensive charity work. Rohema’s experience was similar to Holly and Grace’s, discussed below under the privilege of whiteness and middle-class, in that she waited until finishing her degree to focus on looking for work and quickly secured a graduate-level job as an account manager in a small software company. This is where the similarity ends as the impact of Rohema’s religion and ethnicity intersecting with her gender became apparent upon entering the workplace.

As the only Muslim female in the organisation, Rohema experienced institutionalised racism, feeling excluded by a mismatch between her practice and that of the organisation. Colleagues, and particularly senior leadership, were predominantly white and male with working practices that reflected their habitus and marginalised staff with different cultural beliefs. Most significantly, there was an after-work drinking culture where colleagues formed strong working relationships. Since Rohema did not drink alcohol due to her faith, she soon stopped attending these events, and began to feel like an outsider. She commented:

I’m at a disadvantage because I’m Muslim. I don’t drink, and I’m not meant to be out late. The office has its own culture of being sociable, but for someone from a background that doesn’t drink you’re kind of lost there. You need to be part of the culture or you’re not going anywhere. It’s the ones who go out with the management who get on. (Interview 3)

Unable to develop social capital through organisational networking in the pub effected Rohema’s progress in comparison to her white colleagues, and she was subjected to additional monitoring meetings. While having a drink after work may appear to be an everyday practice to many, Rohema felt there was a lack of understanding of her religious and cultural beliefs which disadvantaged her. After 9 months she decided to leave the company, and again, used her cultural capital to quickly join a national house building firm’s graduate scheme where she felt valued and able to perform based on her ability.

These individualised accounts demonstrate the deep influence of culture when gender intersects with ethnicity. Family expectations, difficulty accessing a field and a mismatch between personal values and organisational practice all provided additional challenges to these students; challenges which are often misrecognised as personal failings rather than institutionalised structural barriers (Bourdieu 1977). Cultural differences experienced in this group are further highlighted when compared to the privilege of the white middle-class students in the next section.

The privilege of whiteness and middle class

The graduate labour market comprises multiple fields with each sector determining its own rules for entry and progression. Fields such as architecture and medicine require a long period of specialised training prior to application in comparison to general commercial roles, for example, banking and retail, who accept a wider range of degree subjects. While the eight white middle-class participants presented markedly different career orientations and experiences upon graduation, their actions indicated that their privileged backgrounds helped them to move more freely between different opportunities.

When an individual’s habitus is homologous to a field, they will feel comfortable like ‘a fish in water’ (Bourdieu 1977), and this is shown by the smooth transition from education to graduate employment for the next four respondents. They all chose careers where women are heavily represented in the workforce (Office for National Statistics 2020a) which can help with access and a sense of belonging in the field. Beth and Emily identified careers in the heritage sector and textile industry, respectively, and from the second year of their degree they strategically engaged with the labour market, acquiring relevant capital and practical work-based skills through a placement on their degree. They also understood the importance of networking and had developed considerable social capital. Emily summarised this saying:

You build up so much experience. I now have contacts in so many different places where I could send my CV in the future for jobs. (Interview 2)

As white, middle-class women Beth and Emily appeared not to experience any barriers during their education and entry into employment. Their parents were financially and emotionally supportive and able to guide them through their education. Beth and Emily had also spoken extensively to experts in the field, providing them with a good understanding of the steps they needed to take during and after university to position themselves in their chosen field.

Grace and Holly experienced similar privileges with their only barrier being a lack of career plan which delayed them looking for work until graduation. When they started their search, they used their capital holdings, acquired through work experience and extracurricular activities, to present a graduate disposition to secure work within 2 weeks. After a visit to careers for general advice on how to approach the recruitment process, with the help of their parents who were in professional and managerial roles themselves, they identified their strengths and interests to target careers in sales and marketing. Grace commented:

I spoke to my parents about what I could do, the options that were there for me. They helped me to decide as I think it’s daunting trying to work out what you want to do. I worked out what sort of skills I had gained from my degree and figured out that sales was a good match. (Interview 3)

Reflection is an important stage of understanding self as it leads to symbolic mastery which Burke (2016) describes as consciousness and cognitive processes indicating an objective understanding of the activities they have undertaken. The key to success is not only involvement in extracurricular activities but the ability to articulate the learning from them as demonstrated by Holly:

If asked a question I can always back it up with work experience and things from outside work. (Interview 2)

Holly and Grace’s confidence, and quick success in securing work, is also an indication of their practical mastery (Bourdieu 1977) of the recruitment processes. Practical mastery means behaviours appear natural and internalised and reflect Holly and Grace’s middle-class upbringing. They instinctively gained valued capital holdings, and a disposition that was compatible to the field, which they could mobilise when the time was right for them.

Dana was also white and middle class, though her family diaspora was Eastern European. She did not mind that architecture was a male-dominated industry (Office for National Statistics 2020a), as she felt it combined her artistic flair with ‘stable’ job opportunities. While Dana held appropriate educational capital through her degree, it was her lack of social capital which proved a challenge. A professional placement is essential after graduation to be able to practice, but with no contacts in the field, she failed to secure one. Through reflection, Dana was conscious that the professional placement represented an insurmountable barrier to becoming an architect, so she used her middle-class habitus to reposition herself in relation to employment. One form of capital can be exchanged for another, and Bourdieu (1984) believed higher levels of capital among the middle-class meant they were more flexible and able to negotiate alternative paths to maintain their trajectory in life. Preferring the design element of her degree, Dana used her cultural capital acquired from running the departmental newspaper, to study for a Masters in Creative Writing, to change fields to focus on a career in architectural journalism.

The three remaining white middle-class students in this study, Chloe, Jane, and Louise, mobilised their privileged backgrounds to disengage from the graduate recruitment process. They faced barriers to employment which included limited work experience, no clear career plan, no family social capital in relation to the graduate labour market, and an unwillingness to access informational capital by visiting careers. Chloe summarised her feelings saying:

I’m a bit lost with applying for jobs as I think gosh, I don’t know what I want to do. I think it’s going to have to be a little, bit of trial and error … have a job, see how it goes and if it’s wrong, apply for another job. I know it sounds silly, but I honestly don’t know what I want to do. (Interview 1)

Family economic capital provided a buffer, allowing them time to consider their employment options. With all three having part-time jobs, and living at home after graduation, they demonstrated a sense of entitlement, focusing on the personal benefits they expected from a career rather than considering an organisation’s perspective in recruiting new staff, Chloe further commented:

I’d prefer a graduate scheme because they seem the best to go for, more opportunities for you and more money. You go into different sectors of the business and find what is best for you. At the end of the training, you can choose what you want to do which I feel is quite useful. (Interview 2)

All three deferred searching for a graduate job with Chloe and Jane studying for a Masters degree and Louise taking a gap year to travel.

Bourdieu (1977) identified habitus as the embodiment of cultural norms based on family background with social structures being ingrained into a person and unconsciously exhibited through bodily actions. While employment outcomes differed, this group presented similar attitudes that indicated the power of their class and ethnicity when intersected with their gender. With no apparent gendered expectations placed upon them by their families, they focused on their own ambitions and prioritised finding satisfying work. They were subject to underlying societal gendered influences though, with all except Dana, choosing degrees that are more popular with women which in turn led to female-oriented employment or further study. When Dana failed to access the field of architecture, she also chose an industry with better female representation. In summary, these eight women were the most privileged in this study, benefiting from the advantages of being white and middle class. Their gender also appeared to impact upon them least, as they were able to negotiate outcomes that they were satisfied with upon graduation.

Breaking away from a working-class upbringing

Bourdieu (1977) refers to symbolic violence as a system where people in positions of power (usually the middle class) maintain their dominance without physical force by constructing the rules for a field. Symbolic violence is frequently misrecognised due to its lack of visible presence. Bourdieu and Passeron (1990) believe the education system legitimises inequality as the criteria for success is based on middle-class values. In terms of the higher education sector one measure of success is securing a graduate job (Department for Education 2017a).

Christina, who was brought up in foster care, and Charlotte, who referred to her hometown as deprived, were both desperate for work as they had to be financially independent. From white working-class backgrounds, they had attended university with the hope of improving their life chances and breaking away from the trajectory typically followed by their school friends. Charlotte commented:

I saw that all my friends were having kids and they were working in factories and warehouses. I was like, no, it’s not for me. (Interview 1)

With no family support available, they also decided against attending careers with Christina wanting to prove she could manage on her own, and Charlotte feeling ‘too nervous’ to ask for help. Hysteresis is the mismatch between habitus and field where an individual’s disposition lags expected behaviours (Bourdieu 1977). Working in isolation, they struggled to demonstrate their skills and personal attributes to meet the requirements of the graduate labour market and repeatedly applied for positions without success.

Cultural capital plays an important role in graduates packaging themselves as employable through skills such as interpersonal effectiveness, teamwork and problem solving (Burke 2016). Anna and Jessica, also from white working-class backgrounds, both described themselves as ‘extremely shy’. Preferring to live at home while attending university, they had not joined in extracurricular activities which left them feeling they had little experience to offer prospective employers. Confidence can be an issue for females when positioning themselves in the graduate labour market (O’Leary 2017), and Anna and Jessica’s confidence was further undermined when they were rejected from graduate-level jobs.

Upon graduation, all four were forced to take low-skilled jobs in female dominated industries (Office for National Statistics 2017), with Christina working in a care home, Anna in a routine administration job, and Jessica and Charlotte in a supermarket. Working subsequently limited their time to search for graduate jobs and 12-months later they were still in the same roles. Anna and Jessica felt they were developing new skills for future promotion opportunities, but Christina and Charlotte felt disappointment in their situation with Charlotte saying:

I came to university for a better future. I thought I would walk into a job but it’s not like that. You feel like giving up, it’s disheartening. (Interview 3)

Bourdieu (1984) believed raising individual hopes that education leads to improved employment opportunities is also a form of symbolic violence. Rather than promoting social justice and equality, it appears that for many the education system continues to reproduce a stratified society (Robbins 2000). This group had attended university with high hopes of improving their employment opportunities. Without additional support tailored to their individual needs, they were unable to access the graduate labour market leaving them feeling proud of their educational achievements, but unable to break away from their working-class background.

The final participant in this study, Rachel, was extremely ambitious and the only working-class student to secure a graduate-level job. Working in the finance sector for 2 years after college, she was inspired by the achievements of a female manager and realised there was little opportunity for progression without qualifications. Rachel had been heavily involved in extracurricular activities at school, and while working-class students are less likely to be involved in extracurricular activities at university (Burke 2016), habitus is the result of past experiences (Silva 2015). Moving away from home, Rachel had similarly immersed herself into university life. After attending a briefing on placements, and realising the benefits included higher-level jobs and pay upon graduation (Brooks and Youngson 2016), she decided to spend a year in industry.

Motivated by money, a trait more frequently associated with male graduates (Canetto et al. 2012), Rachel worked with the placement unit to match her ambitions and abilities with the demands of industry. Eventually deciding upon the IT sector, she commented:

It’s an industry that’s never going to disappear … the money is also a big aspect. You can earn an amazing wage because of the commission. (Interview 1)

Rachel understood the importance of strategically positioning herself, so she followed careers advice to make one carefully targeted application to secure a placement at a leading multinational technology company. Habitus is permeable and the interplay between past and present, accompanied by a change in surroundings can alter an individual’s trajectory in life (Reay 2004). During her placement, Rachel began to align her habitus to the field by forming a pre-professional identity (Jackson 2016), consciously developing the skills, attributes and behaviours expected in the sector. Demonstrating symbolic mastery, Rachel also engaged in social capital enhancing activities forming a network of contacts. Upon graduation, Rachel was invited to return to the organisation, and a year later was offered a promotion. As a result of her experiences, Rachel believed she was now changing her social position as she concluded our final interview saying:

I think I’m moving to middle class because of how I’m holding myself. I walk into posh places and feel I deserve to be there. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. (Interview 3)

Choosing to work in IT was a carefully thought through decision based on the pay and opportunities for career development. Entering the field, Rachel was challenging gender stereotypes, but she was also consciously modifying her behaviours to be successful in a male-dominated industry. She admitted to learning about football and rugby, so that she could be ‘part of the group’ and join in conversations with her male colleagues. While she was breaking away from her working-class habitus, she was also potentially reconfiguring her gendered identity, conforming to masculine working practices to fit into the organisation.

Concluding comments

In this paper, we present our interpretation of the structural influence of gender intersecting with class and ethnicity which led to individualised intra-gender differences experienced by 20 women as they entered the labour market after graduating from their first degree. We acknowledge that participants being from the same university could lead to an institutional influence, particularly in terms of careers advice, and that additional participants could have extended the background characteristics. Nonetheless, analysing the transition for these women from education to employment through the lens of habitus revealed ‘structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures’ (Bourdieu 1990, 53) that reproduced not only gender inequality but also led to ethnic minority and working-class female graduates being further disadvantaged in comparison to their white middle-class peers. Burke (2016, 8) concurs with Bourdieu (1977) that habitus is generative rather than deterministic, but he comments that ‘these are framed – and therefore, are constrained/regulated by the structure in question’. Although, the UK government has adopted the generative perspective to higher education, viewing it as a mechanism for improving social mobility (Department for Education 2017b) the experiences in this study indicate that the education system tends to reinforce privilege rather than being a catalyst for change. Only one working-class student, Rachel, and one ethnic minority student, Rohema, gained permanent graduate employment. After starting work, further limitations can be experienced if an individual’s habitus is not homologous to the field, a feeling that Bourdieu (1977) refers to as being a ‘fish out of water’ and struggling to survive. Rohema’s difficulties represent post-entry misalignment as she felt forced to leave her job when her religious and cultural beliefs were incompatible with the organisation’s culture and working practice.

Capital, in all its forms, also had a role to play in gaining graduate employment. Educational capital is an essential pre-requisite, but with the number of graduates increasing, it must be combined with recognised social and cultural capital that is relevant to a particular industry sector. Again, the white, middle-class students were advantaged in this study as they had better access to capital enhancing activities (Reay et al. 2007) which increased their confidence and inter-personal skills as well as their understanding of developing a graduate identity to position themselves within their chosen career. Economic capital also helped the middle-class students without career plans delay their job search, a privilege not afforded to the working class who were forced to take lower-skilled, and therefore lower paid jobs, out of financial necessity.

To address gender inequality in graduate employment outcomes, we support the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in conjunction with Education for Employers (2019) recommendation that careers support should be introduced earlier within the education system to raise aspirations. Careers advice is often institutionalised though with the same service level being offered to all students. Based on our findings, advice should be personalised as the intersection of gender with class and ethnicity leads to every student having a unique set of circumstances. Female students from working class and ethnic minority backgrounds may need more support to break down the additional barriers they face in comparison to their white, middle-class peers who can draw upon familial privilege to help them negotiate the transition from education to employment. Industry also has its role to play in closing the gender equality gap as they hold the power within a field. Each sector should re-evaluate its entry criteria and working practices to ensure they are unbiased and can accommodate an inclusive and diverse workforce.

In conclusion, we agree with Reay’s (2004) assertion that Bourdieu’s concept of habitus aligns itself to the messiness of the real world and that it can be used methodologically to interrogate rather than simply explain data. By analysing the experiences of 20 women, we uncovered personal stories of success and challenges faced when taking their first steps on the career ladder. These lived experiences revealed the influence of a deeply engrained habitus which made it harder for women from working class and ethnic minority backgrounds to access the high-skilled employment they had expected and hoped for after completing their degree.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ruth Brooks

Ruth Brooks is a Subject Leader in the Department of Management at the University of Huddersfield. With a commitment to equality of opportunity, Ruth’s research has focused on the student experience and developing the skills and attributes to transition from education into employment.

Tray Yeadon-Lee

Tray Yeadon-Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Huddersfield. Tray’s research interests focus on gender, sexualities and social identities within the workplace.

Santokh Singh Gill

Santokh Gill is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Huddersfield. Santokh’s research focuses on race/ethnicity, masculinity and migration.