Premium
The bicultural life experience of career‐oriented black women
Author(s) -
Bell Ella Louise
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.4030110607
Subject(s) - black women , psychology , gender studies , white (mutation) , black male , black female , social psychology , sociology , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
This study explores the bicultural life experience of black career‐oriented women. Seventy‐one women participated in a larger study on the life experiences of black women. Of this sample, 21 (29 per cent) of the women were identified as being career‐oriented. Findings reveal that the women perceive themselves as living in two distinct cultural contexts, one black the other one white. The women compartmentalize the various components of their lives in order to manage the bicultural dimensions. In addition, they tend to have highly complex life structures to embrace both cultural contexts.