Symbolic aspirations

Under symbolic aspirations I address respondents‟ career related wishes which concerned honour, prestige and/or recognition (see Bourdieu, 1977). Here the women in this sample spoke about their desires to obtain titles in career and expressed their wishes to be well-reputed among others in their community.

9.3.1 Titles

Almost 90 per cent of respondents aspired for titles in career which concerned work related and/or educational achievement. Diluni, a leading corporate trainer in Sri Lanka, planned to read for a PhD to gain the Dr title:

I think I would probably do a PhD in the future – it completes me as a management trainer – it will help me step into academia as well and I would get the Dr title through a PhD (Diluni, 39)

Diluni was willing to engage in three or more years of study on top of her extensive corporate training obligations to obtain the title Dr which signified educational achievement. Most

other respondents however aspired for titles which signified work related achievements and aspired to reach the top of their organisational/occupational hierarchies to gain these titles.

Natasha who works as a journalist explains why she wants to be a director someday:

I want to be a program director at a TV station – some sort of a ‘director’. The title director is like you have reached the top of your career – when you say director everybody knows that it is big (Natasha, 25)

Desire for fame underpinned Nishanya‟s aspiration to become a director.

A number of women aspired titles at work in only well-known prestigious organisations.

Kalpana talked about how she wants to be a general manager in a 5 star hotel:

I should be a GM at a 5 star hotel – all my hard work over the years should end up in being a GM. I hope I will be able to bring my parents some pride in my career – they never saw anything to be proud of in my work but I hope that I could make them proud one day by reaching the highest level in the ranks – everybody wants to make their parents proud. It is the least a child can do for her parents (Kalpana, 37)

Kalpana works as F & B manager in a leading star class resort in Sri Lanka. She was especially interested in achieving the title General manager in a 5 star hotel to make her parents proud of her. Several other women in this sample similarly aspired for titles at work to bring pride to their parents. Roshini who is an engineer by profession explains:

I hope my father could see me as a consultant – then I would feel that I reached the top of my career by making my parents proud. It is my duty after all. My father was an engineer and he hoped that either I or my sister would be an engineer as well (Roshini, 28)

Irangi likewise hoped to become a professor in order to make her parents happy:

I hope to build a research portfolio, author a book perhaps, do good teaching, and be a professor of Sociology – I want my family to be proud of me – that’s all I could do for all they’ve done to me. They always told us that they will be happy to see us in the top of teaching (Irangi, 37)

Indeed women‟s parents expected their children to reach the top of their careers and obtain titles which signified their career achievements.

Notably a couple of respondents desired for titles in career to make their children proud of them:

And there are my children I hope that they too will be proud of their mother being one of the few women who made it to the top in hospitality (Kalpana, 37)

Some women explained how titles at work provided their children with cultural capital. For instance, Shanili talked about how parents educational and work related achievements can help get children into good schools in Sri Lanka:

You know a mother’s career is also very important nowadays. School admissions look into what the mother is doing. If both parents are professionals you have a better chance of getting into a good school. That’s why I did the MBA so soon actually – there is a big section for parent’s educational qualifications and job details in all school applications (Shanili, 36)

Late starter Devika‟s career was similarly driven by having to get her daughters to a good school:

Well we came to back to Sri Lanka in 1987 to put the kids to school – I started to regret about not going to university – parents education and employment was a key question in every application form for schools and I felt bad that I didn’t have anything to say about myself. If both parents are top professionals they could easily get a child into a good private school. This hit me. This incident inspired me to do CIMA and get a career in accounting (Devika, 46)

Michelle who works as a HR director in a leading conglomerate explained how she was able to give her children a background of prestige through her professional position:

My professional position brings pride to my children – I am not shallow to indulge in that. But I am happy that they are better off than I was. I was able to give them a background of prestige although I have taught them that these things are not important (Michelle, 51)

Michelle implies that her professional title and its associated financial rewards provided

cultural capital for her children since they are, in theory, from a professional upper class family. Michelle was to a great extent motivated to develop her career to give her children a high status background which her parents couldn‟t give her.

9.3.2 To be well-reputed among others

Nine women mentioned that they hoped to be well-known in their organisations, occupational fields and society for their work achievements. Kalpana explains:

I would like to retire young, but after making a name for myself in the hospitality industry. I don’t want to retire without anybody remembering me (Kalpana, 37)

Madhavi similarly notes:

I was nominated for the business woman of the year award – this was on all the papers in the country. I cannot complain about my career (Madhavi, 48)

Likewise Swaneetha who works as a university professor explains:

I won some best paper awards, I have been appointed to journal boards, I have served as editor – I consider these as academic recognition (Swaneetha, 61)

Indeed career reputation was extremely important to the women in this sample.