Mesearch

Well.  Because I have the next 6 hours in front of me to potentially do nothing at all, you, my dedicated readers (which so far, is only 3 of you), get to hear my latest rant.  (And really, feel free to click "follow" at the top left of your screen.)

I had an adviser at Columbia that would always say, "Research is Me-search".  So, if my blog seems skewed in relation to career and identity topics, it likely coincides with the fact that I am trying to figure out my career identity.  So I've been doing a lot of research and thinking a lot about what the necessary pieces for a successful vocation are.

I remember a graph in my career counseling class that put low and high income on the y-axis and low and high prestige on the x-axis.  Based on which categories you fit in to, you are then put in to a particular quadrant.  Counseling, for example, is low income, high prestige.  However, the position I am at right now, whatever it's title may be, would be classified as low prestige, high(ish) income.  Through my journeying, I am realizing what quadrant I would prefer to be in.  While counseling was an ill fit for me, I prefer the low income, high prestige category.

Now unfortunately, most low income, high prestige positions (teaching, counseling, social work, motherhood) are predominately or solely (e.g. motherhood) occupied by women.  This begs the question of whether womens' career choices are viewed as admirable, yet undervalue from a financial standpoint.  To me, this seems like a nice pat on the head from society.  "Noble cause women, but don't think we're about to pay you for what your cause is worth."  This isn't a new idea, but I'm sure starting to feel the repercussions of it in my own life.

In order for women to be highly compensated in her career track, she must either a) enter a career predominantly occupied by men, or b)assimilate for masculine traits in to her identity.  As neither A nor B sound like valid options for me, this begs the question: 

Is it possible for my identity as a woman to flourish, enter a career that offers me a valuable identity and significant amount of prestige, and be highly compensated for it?  I'd like to think I'm not asking too much, for that opportunity seems to exist for the majority of men in this world (well as long as they toe the party line of what society has deemed "masculine" that is).