The 3 C’s Weaving Model of Women’s Career Success

The 3 C’s Weaving model is a conceptual model that depicts how women in the executive management in the oil, gas and mining conceptualise their own career development in Western Australia from my research. It is based on the principles the women emphasised in describing their success and how they sustain their careers. It is not an academic model but rather serve as a practical framework for understanding how women manage their careers in a visual context. 

The 3C’s weaving model is a single, continuous cord of three woven strands that represent the factors necessary for women’s career success and work together to create strength and resilience in the face of gender barriers present in male-dominated workplaces. As the weave tightens, it gets stronger and reinforces itself, providing a framework for understanding how gender-related setbacks and challenges, including the struggle to achieve work-life balance, are more easily addressed.

This 3 C’s weaving model identifies enables or positive factors that contribute concretely to women’s career success with a combination of confidence, competence, and connectedness which are interwoven with believing in yourself and having others believe in you. Other factors such as ability to make a difference, overcoming barriers, work-life balance, professional development, networking, mentoring, and sponsorship form threads that weave the three C’s model. They are important to achieving career advancement and personal satisfaction. The interplay of all these strands results in strength and resilience, which are key to women’s career success.