The purpose of this pioneering study was to investigate the overall impact
of unemployment on female managers compared to their male counterparts, an
area which to date has received no specific attention. A questionnaire was
designed based on a review of the relevant literature and content analysis
of in-depth interviews with 40 unemployed managers. This was distributed to
the 80 government run Executive Job Clubs located throughout England, and
was used to gain quantitative data exploring respondents' experiences of un
employment in terms of sources of stress, stress moderators, and stress out
comes. Completed questionnaires were received from 115 female and 169 male
unemployed managers registered at 46 Executive Job Clubs (return rate 47%).
Multiple regression techniques were used to develop individual and compara
tive models of unemployment for unemployed female and male managers. The fi
ndings indicated that unemployed female managers encountered substantially
greater sources of stress than their male counterparts in all aspects of un
employment. Increased stressors and less effective stress moderators result
ed in female managers experiencing significantly poorer mental wellbeing an
d greater negative physical effects during unemployment than their male cou
nterparts. Recommendations are made to key organisations.