“I Would Love to Just Be Myself”: What Autistic Women Want at Work

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Hayward, S. M., McVilly, K. R., & Stokes, M. A. (2019). “I Would Love to Just Be Myself”: What Autistic Women Want at Work. Autism in Adulthood, 1(4), 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2019.0020

Publication date: 13 Dec 2019 Added to AutiHub: 5 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)

Abstract

Background: Autistic individuals experience barriers obtaining and sustaining employment. In the general population, gender also impacts labor market experiences. Understanding the occupational aspirations and expectations of individuals disaggregated by autism diagnosis and gender may assist the development of tailored workplace policies and support strategies. Methods: We used inductive thematic analysis to understand the employment expectations of 89 participants (34 autistic women, 32 typically developing women, and 23 autistic men) who answered open-ended items in an online survey. Participants were ages 18 to 68 years. We identified themes and compared these by autism diagnosis and gender. Results: The first major theme emerging from the data was the desire for an opportunity to have a fulfilling career (i.e., fit), with associated minor themes of job-person and person-environment fit. With no associated minor themes, the second and third major themes were desire for stable employment and low hope for finding meaningful work. Differences were apparent by autism diagnosis and not gender. Conclusions: It is pertinent that autistic women have job-person and person-environment fit to thrive at work. Workplace policies and procedures influencing attitudinal, structural, and procedural change appear warranted to facilitate inclusion of autistic women in the labor market. Lay summary Why was this study done? Autistic people have a lot of difficulties gaining and maintaining suitable work. Yet, no one has asked autistic women what they hope their future in the workforce could look like. Asking this question can highlight problems and possible solutions to help autistic women gain and maintain meaningful employment. What was the purpose of this study? To help understand the aspirations of autistic women regarding their employment. What did the researchers do? We asked autistic and nonautistic women, as well as autistic men, in Australia to answer open-ended questions in an online survey about work. One question was “what do you hope for your future in the workforce?” We organized people's responses into categories, or themes, which described different aspects of participants' answers. We then compared written responses of the autistic and nonautistic women, as well as the answers of autistic women and men. What were the results of the study? Participants' responses can be described with three major themes: (1) an opportunity to have a fulfilling career that matches interests and skills in a suitable environment; (2) wanting stable employment; and (3) having low hope for finding meaningful work. Finding a job that suits interests, skills, and work preferences within a supportive environment was mentioned as vital for sustained participation in the labor market by autistic women. Although these things were also mentioned by nonautistic women, they were much more important for autistic women. Furthermore, autistic women's and men's aspirations are similar, and of equal importance to each of them. What do these findings add to what was already known? Much is already known about the experiences of autistic men in the workplace. This study addresses and builds on the little research about the occupational aspirations and expectations of autistic women. The results of this study suggest that autistic women want an opportunity to find meaningful and stable work where they “fit in” with the freedom to be themselves. Because some similarities were found between what autistic and nonautistic women (as well as autistic men) need in the workplace, if changes affecting businesses are made to help autistic women, more people would benefit. What are potential weaknesses in the study? This research is limited by the way information was obtained from participants, and sample characteristics; for example, the autistic women were diagnosed with autism at a younger age than the autistic men. It is a small, qualitative study from a single open-ended survey item. Obtaining participants using social media may mean people in metropolitan areas more likely participated. Furthermore, the sample was from Australia only, looked at people who identified as women or men, and did not address racial or ethnic diversity. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future? Understanding the aspirations of autistic women can suggest interventions that help them succeed in the workforce. The strong desire for job-person-environment fit by autistic women could, for example, suggest encouraging more flexible workplace practices supportive of career development. Or, it could suggest creating a free, or subsidized, support service to help autistic people of all ages find work that matches (or can be molded) to suit their skills, abilities, work preferences, and environmental (e.g., sensory) needs.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 17 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
70
With a DOI
46
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
22
3 / 70 (4.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 70 (7.1%)
References with detected author names
65 / 70 (92.9%)
Without detected author names
5
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
21
References with raw author names still to review
5
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
176
From DOI or external metadata
176
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
6
36 / 176 (20.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 140 / 176 (79.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
3 / 176 (1.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 3 / 36 (8.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 173 (1.7%).
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