In this post Amanda McCue discusses how the five signposts model can be applied to the issue of supporting the careers of military spouses. Amanda is an Australian career development practitioner who specialises in working with Australia’s defence and veteran community. She is a Professional Member of the Career Development Association of Australia, and a member of the National Career Development Association. She is the recipient of a 2017 Churchill Fellowship and of the 2022 Prime Minister’s Veterans’ Employment Award for Outstanding Contribution to Veteran and/or Partner Employment. Amanda resides in Canberra, Australia with her husband, two sons and two Weimaraners and divides her time between private practice, working in the careers office at the University of Canberra, and studying law.

Some career practitioners pursue social justice goals after witnessing the inequities experienced by their clients. Others, such as me, choose career development as a tool to address their social justice concerns. I embarked on a career development career specifically to address the challenges faced by military spouses because of being married to someone in the military.

Why military spouses?

Military life is defined by the unique combination of mobility, separation, and risk. The challenges that military life presents for the careers of those married to a member of the military have been well documented in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Many spouses (the vast majority of whom are women) report their own careers being heavily influenced by that of their serving spouse. The frequent mobility (moving every few years around the country and around the world) severely disrupts employment which can lead to unemployment and underemployment and the associated negative impacts on finances, wellbeing, and employability.

For those with children this can be exacerbated by heavy caregiving responsibilities during military deployments during which time spouses become solo parents which can impact the manner and extent to which they engage in the labour market.

Using the five signposts

My approach to addressing military spouse employment has always been twofold: i) assisting individual clients, and ii) working at the policy level to make the system fairer. I find the ‘five signposts to socially just career guidance’ a very useful tool for understanding, guiding and communicating my work in addressing the complex problem of military spouse employment.

Build critical consciousness

This has been both a personal and professional journey. My husband spent over 30 years as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force.  As a young woman I was acutely aware of making career decisions in response to my partner’s posting orders. However, I lacked the bigger perspective of the skills I would build as I moved around the country and the world, as well as the negative impact this lifestyle would have on my career. When I volunteered as a representative of military families from 2010-2015, I began to understand that my experience was not dissimilar to that of many spouses.

Since then, on the professional front, I have encountered a lack of awareness about military spouse employment challenges. If people are aware the issue is often dismissed by explanations such as ‘spouses don’t want careers’, or ‘they don’t need to work’. Or even when understood at the personal level by leaders it doesn’t translate into policies and practices that address the challenges.

Data on spouse employment experiences is important as it helps paint the picture of the unemployment, underemployment and career discontent experienced by many spouses around the world. I use the platforms available to me (blogs, social media, conferences, workshops, advisory opportunities and client sessions) to draw attention to the evidence that illustrates that these experiences are not solely a result of individual choices but stem from

Name oppression

Oppression is a strong word, and I am reluctant to imply that military spouses are oppressed, or experience oppression to the extent that others do. However, creating change requires naming the problem.

One of the biggest challenges I face on the policy front is convincing decision makers that the impact of military life on partner careers is more than an inconvenience, and is in fact a serious health and wellbeing issue resulting from structural barriers to meaningful and sustainable employment.

At the client level, I discuss barriers as part of exploring the context in which clients are making career decisions. In many cases it helps them understand that they are not solely responsible for their career disappointments. I cannot effectively help clients without naming and addressing the challenges they face. An example of this is addressing concerns about employer bias or discrimination. Surveys around the world indicate that employer bias against military spouses is of concern to spouses. In towns with a large and visible military population a resume with short professional experience periods in multiple locations, and/or periods of unemployment can flag that the applicant is a military spouse. Supporting the client involves helping them draw attention to the positive aspects of their experiences (especially the skills they have built) and helping them prepare for questions (despite being illegal in many countries) about their marital status or their partner’s job. 

Question what is normal

The military is an institution steeped in history and tradition and with attitudes and cultural norms that can be difficult to change. A prime example is the frontline/homefront divide which reflects the gender imbalance within the military (in Australia over 80% of permanent members are male) and the associated gender role expectations. Canadian academic Leigh Spanner has written that ‘in order to function, militaries rely on spouses, most often wives, to undertake the domestic labour, suspend their own careers, and relocate willingly for new postings’ (see her article Governing ‘dependents’).

In the 2019 Australian Defence Census, more than a third of ADF members reported having children. Over half of these required childcare for their children. A staggering 41% of them relied on their spouse or partner for childcare, despite over three quarters of ADF members reporting their spouse was employed. At the same time the Census reported that only 14% of the ADF workforce had used any flexible working arrangements, with more than 80% of personnel never having applied for it. UK academic Harriet Gray identifies that when the work of spouses is acknowledged, it is often made invisible as labour, and instead portrayed as acts of love (or sacrifice, as it is also often described).

In one conversation with a high-ranking government official I was told that interest in the issue would increase as the numbers of women in uniform with male partners increased. I gave this leader the benefit of the doubt that he wasn’t in fact implying that it was a less acceptable situation for spouses who were men, and presumed he was indicating that societal norms influence the way it is viewed. Even the latter however seems out of step with today’s society where dual income couples are the norm.

A common response to why the challenges persist is the claim that the status quo of mobility and deployment is necessary for military capability. Whilst there is no doubt that these are key capability factors it cannot be assumed that capability requirements cannot be met without changing the status quo. In fact, it is arguable that capability will be compromised if the careers of spouses aren’t better supported. Around the world many of the top reasons for military personnel leaving service relates to the impact on their families.

Whilst there are no obvious efforts to reduce mobility and deployments there is an increasing understanding that supporting the career development of military spouses is a capability enhancer. In this day and age of dual income families, with both partners wanting to share domestic and caring loads and increasing recognition of the negative effects of unemployment and underemployment, it is becoming more obvious that supporting and enabling both members and spouses to pursue their career interests is a key recruitment and retention issue.

Encourage people to work together

This is a key focus of my work. At the heart of my approach is taking what many see as an individual problem and viewing it through the lens of a community problem – one that reaches beyond the military community to broader society with implications for labour force participation, gender equality and national security. I am guided by the “6 Cs” – communication, cooperation, collaboration, community, reducing competition and collective impact.

A Canadian military families policy document states that

No single organisation, community, centre or provider has the knowledge and capacity to deliver complete employment support to military spouses and families. The ability to support military spouses and their families in career development is highly dependent on upon shared responsibilities, awareness and collective competencies of community partners.

Similarly, Eddy Mentzer from the US Department of Defense has said

We must work with employers, military and veteran organizations, communities, government agencies, and academia to tap into their ideas, talents and resources, to mind-share to get them to get the best results for our military families.

Importantly, Eddy has also addressed the required division of labour

We also have to be aware of what we can and cannot do. There are areas where we can impact based on our role and where we cannot. When we cannot impact something, we have to be willing to interact with those that can.

In 2018 I was fortunate to travel from Australia to the United Kingdom, United States and Canada with the support of a Churchill Fellowship to learn how those countries were addressing military spouse employment challenges. The experience was incredibly valuable, and the connections made with the various government, non-profit and private sector organisations have endured.  In 2021 I gathered these and many others together in the inaugural virtual International Military Spouse Employment Summit. Over three days participants discussed the shared challenges, shared their policy and program responses with one another, and identified potential ways to work together to address concerns. 

Much of the work done to address military spouse employment issues is done from within the military community. However, it is important that efforts are informed by career development theory and best practice. Therefore, it is essential that career development knowledge complements and enhances the large body of evidence gathered from within the military community.

Work at a range of levels

As already mentioned, I work at the individual client level helping clients build key career development skills. At times I use my position to advocate on their behalf. At a more systemic level I aim to improve the support that spouses who seek career assistance receive from our sector, by raising awareness amongst career practitioners of the challenges faced by military spouses and the context in which they are often making career decisions.

A large part of my work involves providing feedback into the system, meeting with a range of stakeholders at different levels to try and improve policies, programs, and services in an attempt to minimise the challenges and increase support. How we advocate and campaign at this level can differ depending on the particular challenge we are tackling, the stakeholders involved, and the individual preferences of those advocating.

Conclusion

Career development is a valuable tool by which we can seek to bring about a more just society. The five signposts provides a useful framework for career practitioners to address social justice issues in our work.