The topic of this doctoral thesis is the careers of self-employed women living and working in Dalmatia who are transitioning to self-employment from unemployment or employment. The research aimed to describe and understand how self-employed women describe their career trajectories, changes and terminations of employment, and the relationship between their family and professional life. Career trajectories of self-employed women are analyzed in their integrity, from entering the labour market and the beginning of their labour activity to selfemployment to get an overview of the entire career path, and to describe the factors (individual, family and structural) that influenced discontinuities in the careers of women in a particular social environment. The career trajectories of self-employed women are not of a linear type but are marked by terminations of employment and re-employment to achieve professional ambitions, economic stabilization and social rights. Throughout the research process, the logic of narrative research was followed, within which 24 self-employed women were interviewed, whose stories were then analyzed through the process of thematic analysis. In the first phase of the thematic analysis, summaries of narrative interviews were produced that describe situations of transitions and interruptions of career trajectories, i.e. changes in employment before selfemployment and transition to self-employment. The results of the thematic analysis show different experiences of gender and age segregation and inequalities that women face in the labour market and within organizations that continue to be dominated by personnel and other practices based on gender stereotypes and patriarchal perceptions of women. Self-employment women in Dalmatia choose because of the flexibility provided by this non-standard form of employment. The possibility of independent organization of the working day, the flexibility of working hours and performing family chores during the working day are highlighted as an advantage of self-employment because it facilitates their reconciliation of professional and private life. The findings of this research show that despite emancipatory attitudes and some practices of interlocutors, experiences of inequality from the family environment point to the resilience of patriarchal structures and private gender regimes that are maintained despite the economic empowerment of (self-employed) women and their demands for the establishment of egalitarian practices in households and partnerships.