Traditional Career Development Models Lack the African Woman Voice

Career research is steadily increasing, though there is a paucity of research focusing on the career development of African women. The existing career theories tested on different population samples with different backgrounds, using methodologies that are positivistic in nature, remain decontextualised when transposed directly to the African context. There are voices missing in the representations of the samples being tested. The purpose of this article is to present selected career development models and critique their applicability to the African context. Lastly, an Afrocentric approach that employs indigenous methodologies to the study of the career development of African women is suggested.

This article submits that the evolution of the career development of African women is linked to the evolution of their societies. Secondly, the need to expand and replicate career research to samples other than those studied by previous researchers, in order to test the validity of such theories in the African context, is identified. Lastly, epistemologies and methodologies that allow African women to construct their own stories about their career development experiences are advocated.