1

WORK – FAMILY – STUDY CONFLICT IN

CONTINUING HIGHER DEGREE AND THE

COPING BEHAVIOR AMONG MARRIED

WORKING WOMEN: A QUALITATIVE

ANALYSIS

By: Shamdeswary Davendran

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, I would like thank my previous supervisor, Professor Dr. Razak Ibrahim, for his kind

supervision throughout the preparation of this thesis.

Next, I would like to express my gratitude to my current supervisor, Puan Aida Idris, for her

support, constructive criticisms and guidance that helped the completion of this project paper.

My appreciation and heartfelt thanks is also extended to my Head of Department, Dr. K.H Chin,

who took the time to read and make appropriate changes where necessary. I would also like to

thank his assistant, Dr. Sheela Abraham, who supplied me with all relevant journals and project

papers which were used as reference and guidance.

My deepest appreciation goes out to my informants for taking their time off to share their

experiences. Their information was vital for this project.

To my family and friends, thank you so much for your financial support, contributions and

sacrifices throughout the course of my study. May god bless you.

Finally, I would not have made it so far if God was not on my side. I love you and thank you.

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine the conflict faced by professional working women in the

context of work-family-study conflict and to view their coping behaviors. The study is based on

a literature study and qualitative study using a sample of nine working mothers, who are

currently undertaking part-time studies. The distinctiveness of this study is that the informants

are from different ethnic groups reflecting the racial composition of Malaysian society.

From the private education system’s point of view, lecturers who have joined their organization

using their first degree qualifications must make every effort to earn higher qualifications, such

as MBA’s or professional qualifications if they are seeking a higher positions in the

college/university. Some institutions even have set a higher standard for lecturers’ qualifications

lately that those lecturers with first degree are asked to obtain higher qualifications. These

employees have no choice but to take up studies while they work.

In this study, the ethnographic methods of data gathering were used as this encourages the

informants to speak feely without rigid restriction. The convenience sampling of choosing all

informants from the same workplace and same work positions, however, brought out the best

expression of their thoughts and actions.

The in-depth analysis found that the informants report a higher level of mental strain than their

colleagues who are not pursuing higher education. They are faced with many conflicts while

balancing their role as a mother, wife, daughter and student. Coping behavior analysis suggests

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that personality, work environment and family support are important in differentiating the level

of stress faced by the informants.

To reduce the degree of constraints, informants experiment role balancing, better time

management, hiring help (maid or nanny) and lowering their level of expectations in the roles

that they play. They believe by doing so, they are getting nearer to their goals of obtaining a

more secured job and reaching towards their self-actualization.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Annual Report

2006-2007, much progress has been made in the pursuit of gender equality of women in the labor

force in many countries since the mid-1980’s. The report points out that the rate of employed

women in paid work in industries and services has risen since the mid-1980’s in much of the

world and that there is a strong sign of the growing recognition that women empowerment are

the central to achieving all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (UNIFEM, 2007).

This development is expected to continue as more women attain tertiary qualifications.

In 1994, women comprised of 46 percent of the labour force in the United States-up almost 10

percent over the last generation (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1995). In 2006, 47.8 percent of

the labour force in the United States consisted of women, a slight increase by 1.8 percent for the

last 13 years. Throughout the industrialized world, at least one third of the labour force is made

up of women. In short, the United States and other industrial nations consider women working to

be the ruler rather than the exception (Macionis, 1997)

International trends show increased opportunities for women to participate in the labour market

resulting in changes in household structure (Rudman, 1999). The decision of women to pursue a

career after marriage has redefined traditional spousal roles. Dual-income families are increasing

in number, as more women like to achieve their ambitions. Those women are concentrating more

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on career development than family development, which is evident in Singapore where more

women decide to remain single as they find their career self-sufficient and self-fulfilling

(Channel News Asia, January 15, 2000)

However, for most women, their participation in paid work has not meant the total abandoning of

their traditional roles as the primary caregiver to the children and husband, as well as

management of the household. These multiple roles create conflicts and difficulties for women,

thereby resulting in role strains and role conflicts in both work and family domains.

In Malaysia, the past five decades after independence have seen much progress achieved in the

expansion of education as a result of tremendous economic development. This has created more

education opportunities for women which resulted in an increased number of women in paid

employment (Aminah Ahmad, 1998). As for the education sector, changes that are taking place

at universities and colleges worldwide are based on the belief that knowledge is important in

enabling the training of workers towards generating economic productivity and wealth.

(Gregor,2002).

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister of Malaysia said “The Malaysian

Government does not promote women just to prove to the world that we don’t discriminate

against them. Instead, the government has always appointed women on merit” (The Sun, May

27, 2006)

However, balancing career and family commitments has been a difficult issue for most working

women because of society’s expectation of women to continue to fulfill their traditional roles in

addition to their work responsibilities. Under these circumstances, individuals have to face the

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work-family conflicts as defined by Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snock & Rosenthal (1964) as being “a

form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressure from the work and family domains are

mutually incompatible in some respect”. Generally, the work-family conflict is one of the

sources of pressure that has a negative influence on women, such as poor work performance,

lack of family cohesiveness, health problems and job dissatisfaction.

In the past, many Malaysian women may have willingly accepted their roles in the family, only

wanting to be virtuous wives and caring mothers. However, this traditional mode has changed

with time. Malaysian women are now better educated and contribute significantly to the

country’s economic development. By entering the work force, women are now taking on a

modern and diverse role. As a result, women’s participation in the workplace has tended to have

a negative impact on their traditional role performance in the family.

Shouldering heavy responsibilities from their multiple roles such as managing the household,

nurturing children, caring for their husbands, plus a heavy workload at the workplace; make

women experience role strain that leads to stress in their daily lives (Reskin & Padavic, 1994).

As a result, combining paid work and family work has been difficult for women in all social

classes as well as in all work sectors. These role conflicts and role strains experienced by most

working women are also commonly found among married women college lecturers in Malaysia,

who are the focus of this study.

In Malaysia, women who work in higher education institutions are generally well-respected, but

they are nevertheless subject to the gender role attitudes of the patriarchal system which imposes

strong demands on a woman’s energy, time and devotion. Lecturers, by virtue of the demands of

their profession, are likely to decide to further their studies, but when married women lecturers

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enroll in the universities for this purpose, their role demands multiply. How they cope with their

demanding roles is the focus of this study.

Taking on a student role in addition affects the women’s traditional role in the home as well as

her professional role. Therefore, it can be seen that the women’s traditional role conflict with her

professional role as a lecturer as well as her role as a student, enhancing the possibility of

conflict in three domains, namely work-family-study conflict.

It is common for professional married working women in Malaysia’s cities and big towns, for

example, Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya to generally possess more non-traditional; gender role

attitudes. The men become more involved with their children as consequences of their wives’

enrollment in higher education.

Despite the assistance from the men in the family, most married women lecturers who are

currently pursuing higher degree courses experience limited time to manage their multiple roles.

These women find balancing work, home and studies very exhausting. For Malaysian women,

this balancing act is more compatible because of the interplay of multi cultural norms, values and

beliefs of the various ethnic groups.

1.2 THE STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

In a developing country like Malaysia, women’s participation in the workplace has increased

tremendously (Aminah Ahmad, 1999). Women are no longer confined to lower rug occupations,

due to the equal access for them to educational opportunities. There has been rapid expansion of

educational opportunities and openings for women and men to improve their economic

participation. Overall, the trend shows an increase in the literacy levels of both males and

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females, which stood at 89 percent for males and 80 percent for females in 1990. The progress

made in reducing the gender gap is attributable to remarkable increases in girls’ enrollment in

schooling (Women in Malaysia, 1998). As a result, they also participate actively in professional

sectors.

However, looking from a global perspective in 2006, women globally still had a higher

likelihood of being unemployed compared to men. The female unemployment rate stood at 6.6

per cent, compared to a male rate of 6.1 per cent (Global Employment Trends for Women,

March 2007).

As modern career women have a high degree of commitment to their careers, they tend to

improve their positions in the workplace, either by taking extra courses or professional

certifications according to the needs of their jobs, or they pursue further education for a higher

degree in the hope of getting a higher income or job security. In pursuing higher degrees, they

rake up the additional role as student, besides being a worker, mother and wife. This study

focuses on women who are taking up these multiple roles to fulfill their own ambitions or career

advancement.

This study explores the constraints and difficulties faced by Malaysian professional working

women, particularly women in the education sector pursuing higher degrees while having

responsibilities from the work and family. The emphasis is mainly on the mindset of many

Malaysian and Asian men who expect their wives to play a bigger role in household chores and

taking care of their children, regardless of their economic contribution to the family. On the other

hand, Western culture promotes more equality in gender role play. It is interesting to note that

some organizations and institutions in Malaysia give sabbatical leave to their employees who are

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pursuing their higher education, but this privilege is made available mostly in government or

semi-government organizations. From this survey, most private colleges in Malaysia do not

offer such a benefit to their lecturers.

In addition, the study also reflects the multi-racial composition of Malaysian society. Women

from the three main ethnic groups, namely Malay, Chinese and Indian face different sets of

constraints in life as a result of the social, religious and cultural factors in their societies.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study was guided by the following research questions:

a. What are the changes are in today’s society that have influenced Malaysian

professional working women’s traditional role performance in the family?

b. What are the challenges faced by Malaysian professional working women in playing

their roles at work, home and school?

c. What are the impacts of their studies on their work and family responsibilities, and

the impact of work and family on their studies?

d. How does race, religion and culture influence the role of Malaysian professional

working women?

e. How do Malaysian professional working women cope with the challenges that they

face when they pursue higher education while juggling multiple roles?

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1.4 RESEARCH APPROACH

In this study, an ethnographic method of data collection was used. Participation observation,

informal discussions and informal interviews have been employed. Emphasis has been on the

interpretation of the data. Informants were interviewed multiple times, using information from

previous informants to elicit clarification and deeper responses upon re-interview. This process

was intended to reveal common cultural understandings related to the phenomena under study.

The materials gathered from participants were re-organized according to some domain themes.

Most of the information was gathered through observation, field notes, and participant’s report.

On the researcher’s part, effort has been taken to examine the materials from a sociological and

cultural perspective.

1.5 RESEARCH INFORMANTS

The participants consist of three groups of Malaysian married women lecturers from SEGi

College, Subang Jaya. The participants represent the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia. All

the participants are maintaining both the traditional and modern role as a worker, wife and

mother.

These women, besides having responsibilities in the house and workplace, are also students,

pursuing higher degrees or professional qualifications in local universities and colleges. Most of

the time, they face immense pressure in trying to balance their domestic commitments, job

workloads and their studies. These are further complicated by their individual social, religious

and cultural factors.

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1.6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

As a theoretical framework for the study, Feminist Theory is used to analyze the gender role.

Maslow’s hierarchy (1954) provides a suitable theoretical rationale for the analysis of the

motivation for professional working mothers in the to pursuit of higher education and finally the

General Adaptation Syndrome, GAS (Hans Selye ,1907-1982) to provide an insight on how

these mothers deal with their stress and conflicts. The relevance of these theories to my study can

be best understood by applying these theories to a working mother’s daily life.

Gender roles are specific activities or behavior norms that are gendered for males or females.

Gender roles can be very problematic because it requires people to conform to their roles in order

not to be seen as an outcast. Gender roles are sprung on children from the start. If you are a little

girl, you should want to help your mother in the kitchen and play with dolls. If you are a boy you

are encouraged to play with tools and toy guns. Boys are expected to show more aggression and

be more self reliant. Then as people get older, they are still required to fit in these gender roles.

Women should want to have children, should cook, clean and take care of their children. Men are

required to make money and to do masculine chores such as mowing the lawn.

Today, social change has caused women to work outside their homes for a variety of reasons.

Certainly, the main reason for work is economic necessity. Dual-income means a more

comfortable lifestyle. Women also work for self-fulfillment or to pursue a career. Studies find

that work helps increase a women’s self-esteem and gives her a sense of control in her life. Work

helps her family economically thus reducing financial stress (Bailey, 2002)

According to Feminists, the traditional role of men as the sole breadwinner for the family is now

being shared by his wife, but the wife’s role as the home maker is usually not shared equally

with her husband. With work, an additional status is given to the women as an employee of her

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workplace (Robert Merton, 1968). Using the term "working mother" can imply that stay-at-home

moms are not working.

As most working mothers can testify, motherhood is already difficult today because the

expectations are so high for everything. Being male or female does predict the type of

employment. Women have remained concentrated in predominantly female occupations, i.e.,

clerical, sales, and service occupations, while men enjoy a much more heterogeneous

occupational structure; no major occupational category (being) dominant. (Abella, 1984). In

addition to the narrower range of occupational choices women believe they can access

(Neimeyer, Metzler & Bowman, 1988), several recent studies have shown that a woman's gender

role also plays a part in the occupation she chooses (Baker, 1987; Fassinger, 1990; Jones &

Lamke, 1985; Strange & Rae, 1983; Sztaba & Colwill, 1988). Gender role, on the other hand,

does not appear to play a part in the occupational choices of men (Strange & Rae, 1983).

Being male or female is also strongly related to the degree of conflict one experiences. Women

experience greater conflict (Kramer & Melchior, 1990), particularly with regard to occupational

and domestic demands (Barnett & Baruch, 1985; Chusmir, 1986; Gray, 1883; Zappert &

Weinstein, 1895) and greater gender conflict ( gender related expectations that are inconsistent

with their self-concept) than men ( Chusmir & Koberg, 1988, 1989; Koberg & Chusmir, 1989)

Figure 1.1 illustrates the status set and corresponding role sets of the informants. Four statuses

are presented, each linked to different role set. First, she occupies the status of “wife” with

corresponding roles in relation to her husband, with whom she plays a double role as life partner

and domestic manager in terms of managing the household. Second, she holds the status of

“mother”, nurturing her children as well as supervising their school work at home. Third, as a

“lecturer” in a private college, she takes a teacher’s role and a colleague’s role. Fourth, she takes

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a role as a student and a course mate while she pursues her higher education. Apart from this, she

may need to be a caring daughter, a respectful daughter-in-law, a responsible sister and an active

member of a community service center.

Lecturer Mother

Teacher Colleague Maternal Role Model

Companion Domestic Course Mate Student

Wife Student

Figure 1.1: Status set and role set of an informant.

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The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is often represented as a pyramid, with the larger, lower

levels representing the lower needs, and the upper point representing the need for self-

actualization. Maslow believes that the only reason that people would not move well in the

direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in their way by society. He states

that education is one of these hindrances. He recommends ways education can switch from its

usual person-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches. (Janet et al, 1987)

Maslow’s hierarcy of needs is shown in Figure 2. Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of

basic needs. Beyond these needs, higher levels of needs exist. These include needs for

understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritual needs. In the levels of the five basic

needs, the person does not feel the second need until the demands of the first have been satisfied,

nor the third until the second has been satisfied, and so on. Maslow's basic needs are as follows:

Physiological Needs

These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a

relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person

were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search

for satisfaction.

Safety Needs

When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and

behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their

security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social

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structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and

the need to be safe.

Needs for Love, Affection and Belongingness

When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of

needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek

to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and

receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

Needs for Esteem

When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become

dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from

others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and

respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and

valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels

inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

Needs for Self-Actualization

When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-

actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and

do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must

paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness.

The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is

hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know

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what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is

a need for self-actualization. (Kotler, 1986)

Figure 1.2: Maslow’s Hierarchy

In this study, each of the participants has put in great effort in balancing multiple roles while

doing their higher degrees. The concept of self-actualization would rationalize the sacrifices

made by them in order to reap the rewards to be gained upon completion of the degree being

pursued.

Spillover theory postulates the conditions under which the spillover between the work

microsystem and the family microsystem is positive or negative. Research documents that if

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work-family interactions are rigidly structured in time and space, then spillover in terms of time,

energy and behavior is generally negative. Research also supports the notion that work

flexibility, which enables individuals to integrate and overlap work and family responsibilities in

time and space, leads to positive spillover and is instrumental in achieving healthy work and

family balance.(Hill, E.J., Ferris, M., & Martinson, V., 2003)

Work-family conflict can be time-based, strain-based, or behavior based (Greenhaus & Beutell,

1985). Time-based conflict occurs when role pressures stemming from the two different domains

compete for the individual's time (e.g., requiring employees to work late with little notice might

make it difficult for employees to meet family obligations, like picking up a child at daycare).

Strain-based conflict occurs when the strain experienced in one role domain interferes with

effective performance of role behaviors in the other domain. For example, a mother who is

anxious about her child's illness might not be able to fully concentrate on her job as copy editor,

causing her to make mistakes in her work. Behavior-based conflict is described as conflict

stemming from incompatible behaviors demanded by competing roles. For example, a manager

in a financial services firm might be expected to be aggressive, unemotional, and hard-driving,

but this same behaviors in the family domain would most likely lead to conflict with family

members. Time-based conflict, the most common type of work-family conflict, is based on the

scarcity hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that the sum of human energy is fixed and that

multiple roles inevitably reduce the time and energy available to meet all role demands, thus

creating strain (Goode, 1960) and work-family conflict (Marks, 1977).

As can be seen in the examples above, work-family conflict is bi-directional. That is, work can

interfere with family (referred to as work-to-family conflict) and family can interfere with work

(referred to as family-to-work conflict).

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It is an interesting finding when we compare these professional working mothers’s conflict and

their coping behavior which can be based on Malsow’s Hierarchy of Motivation. These five

groups, based on a cluster analysis can be summarized as below:-

Cluster 1: The happy Type B

This group of people is generally satisfied, both at work and at home. Consequently,

there is no intention to quit the job, no work-family conflict. This could be explained by the low

levels of pressure from family and work stressors, the easy-going, type B behavior pattern, and

good health habits (little drinking and smoking, and regular exercise). The mental and physical

strain is moderate, despite bad coping skills.

Cluster 2: The dissatisfied struggler

The second group is characterized by bad coping skills and external locus of control. This

is probably why this type is struggling with intermediate levels of work stress. Consequently, the

managers in this group are dissatisfied both at work and at home, and have moderate levels of

mental and physical strain.

Cluster 3: The fit cooper

This group has to deal with high levels of work stress, but probably thanks to their

excellent coping skills, good health habits and physical fitness, they manage their working time

so as to have only moderate mental strain and work-family conflicts. Generally, they are satisfied

at work.

Cluster 4: The stressed, frustrated Type A

This is clearly the unhealthiest (both mentally and physically) and dissatisfied group

(both at work and home). We should not be surprised that they have clear intention to quit the

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job. We do not have to look for reasons: they combine an unfavorable personality (type A and

external locus of control) with an unfavorable environment (high levels of work stress and work-

family conflict). On top of that they have bad coping skills.

Cluster 5: The striving, satisfied workaholic

This last group is a fascinating one. Despite intermediate (work) to high (family)

workloads and bad health habits, these workaholics (long working hours and striving type A

behavior) are relatively happy (at work and at home) and healthy (low mental and physical

strain). This can be explained with good coping skills and internal locus of control.

(Poelmans et al, 1999)

1.7 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is significant in the following ways. First, professional working women have been

studied in the light of work-family conflict, in the past studies.But in this study, the focus is on

work-family-study conflict. The new element of study multiplies the complexities from the

earlier study.

Second, the study serves to outline the traditional expectations of Malaysian society that imposes

strong demands on a woman’s time and devotion with regard to her multiple roles in the home

and the workplace.

Third, this study is unique in looking into three different ethnic groups, where cultural values and

upbringing are different. Thus, this study would add in a modest way to the knowledge of

multiculturalism in Malaysia.

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Fourth, this paper also looks at ways on how these women face the stress and handle their

conflicts, which comes under stress and conflict management studies.

Thus, the findings from this study is meant to be useful in designing work place, study programs

and other services to meet the needs of Malaysian women so as to minimize the negative impacts

and maximize positive effects of having multiple roles in home, and study roles. Thus, the

quality of Malaysian women’s personal, family, work and study lives would ultimately improve.

1.8 THE LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study has several limitations. One is the small sample size. This study focused on nine

participants whose professions are in academia. Due to the small sample size, the findings of this

study might not represent all professional working women in Malaysia.

Another limitation is that the participants in this study were selected from one setting that is a

private college in Subang Jaya. These nine lecturers basically share a common workplace, same

employer, colleagues and students. As a conclusion, the result may be biased towards this group

of academicians rather than overall professional working women.

Also, due to the limited time and resources factor, all observations, discussion and informal

interviews were done only with the participants. This research did not focus on the views of

people closely related to the participants who could give a clearer, overall picture of the scenario.

These people can be the participant’s husbands, children, employers ond colleagues.

Conclusion

In this chapter, a short description is provided to show the effect of work and family roles on

Malaysian women. Further effort has been made to discuss the impact of stress of work and

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family on these women. To some extent, the balance among work, family and study has been

affected by the interplay of social and cultural norms in the society.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter reviews studies that discuss the relationship between work and family. Some

concepts and theories have been adopted in this study to examine the multiple roles of Malaysian

college lecturers pursuing higher education while working and studying at the same time. The

additional conflicts that arise by assuming the role of the student are initiated by the participants

themselves due to meeting the demands of their faculty and looking at the prospects of career

growth in their institution.

This study seeks to examine the impact of work-family-study conflict faced by professional

working women. In the past decade, the focus on work-family conflict studies has shifted from

work to family conflict to include family to work conflict. Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1997)

stated there is a methodological flaw in studies that measure work-family conflict from a single-

direction focus. Additionally, Kinnunen and Mauno (1998) suggested early work-family conflict

research relied on assessing only the intrusion from the workplace to the home. Recent studies

have addressed this limitation, and supported work-family conflict to be a bi-directional

construct representing two distinct types of conflict (Adams, King, & King, 1996; Netemeyer,

Boles & McMurrian, 1996; O'Driscoll, Ilgen, & Hildreth, 1992). In the light of these findings,

this paper seeks to examine the effects of conflict bidirectionally, with work-family conflict

(WFC) representing workplace issues intruding into the home (e.g. taking work home) and

family-work conflict (FWC) representing home issues entering the workplace (e.g. dealing with

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childcare issues at work). Thus, this contribution to the existing body of research on work-family

conflict literature is the interference of work with studies and vice versa. Also, the interference

of family with studies and vice-versa is an added source of conflict or strain.

2.2 THE WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT LITERATURE

Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflict in which the role demands stemming from

one domain (work or family) are incompatible with role demands stemming from another

domain (family or work) (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal,

1964).

According to Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal (1964), roles are the result of

expectations of others about appropriate behavior in a particular position. Role conflict is

described as the psychological tension that is aroused by conflicting role pressures. Role theory

suggests that conflict occurs when individuals engage in multiple roles that are incompatible

(Katz & Kahn, 1978).

Based on the feminist perspective, gender roles refer to the behavior prescribed for the female

and male members of a society (Parsons, 1951). The role division is functional for women and

men and in society as a whole. In many ways, a woman’s gender role as a childbearer, caregiver

and homemaker has dictated that her gender role should be domestic. In contrast, a man’s gender

role as the breadwinner in a family ensures physical and financial security for the woman and

children. Due to the societal norms of not associating a man’s functions with the burden of

childbearing and domestic tasks, a man can devote his full attention to the world of work

(Parsons, 1951)

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A prominent theme within both the academic and the popular press is that long work hours may

have negative consequences for families and for workers who struggle to balance the demands of

work and home life (e.g., Evenson, 1997; Hochschild, 1997; Hubbard, 1997; Shapiro, 1997).

Work-family research has long assumed that time committed to work contributes to conflict

between employees’ work and nonwork lives (Duxbury, Higgins, & Lee, 1994; Gutek, Searle, &

Klepa, 1991). For example, a commonly measured form of work-family conflict is a time-based

conflict, defined as conflict that occurs when the amount of time devoted to one role (e.g.,

worker) makes it difficult to fullfill the requirements of another role (e.g., father ; Carlson,

Kacmar, & Williams, 2000; Greenhaus, Parasuraman, Granrose, Rabinowitz, & Beutell, 1989).

Strain-based conflict may be the product of work or home stressors, which can lead to stress

symptoms of tension, anxiety, fatigue, depression and irritability (Hertz, 1986). When the strain

produced by one domain affects performance in another, strain-based conflict results. Sources of

strain-based conflict tend to centre on work per se rather than on the organizational environment,

and are linked to role ambiguity, low levels of social support from organizational sources and

career development problems (Elloy and Smith, 2003).

2.3 BASIC CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND THEORIES

Work- family conflict is defined as a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressure from

the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect.

a. Work Characteristics

Time Factor. Rational model of work-family conflicts hold that conflict increases in proportion

to the amount of time spent in the work and family domains (Duxbury & Higgins, 1994;

Duxbury et al., 1994; Gutek at al., 1991). Yet despite the common assumption that time plays an

26

important role in work-family conflict, surprisingly few scholars have actually measured work

time conflict and its effect on the relations between work and family domains for Malaysians’.

Well over 130 quantitative studies on work-family conflict have been published in the last 15

years, but I have been able to identify only 10 that included work time as a major study variable¹

(Aryee, 1992; Fox & Dwyer, 1999; Frone, Yardley & Markel, 1997; Greenhaus, Bedeian &

Mossholder, 1987; Gutek et al., 1991; Izraeli, 1993; O’Driscoll, Ilgen & Hildreth, 1992;

Parasuraman, Pruohit, Godshalk & Beutell, 1996; Wallace, 1997, 1999).

These studies suggest that work time is significantly, positively related to work interference with

family (WIF) or general work-family conflict (Aryee, 1992; Frone et al., 1997; Greenhaus et al.,

1987, Gutek et al., 1991; O’Driscoll et al., 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1996, Wallace, 1997).

However little is known about why people spend more or less time working. Further, it is not

clear whether work time has a simple, direct effect on work-family conflict. Moreover, gender is

the only moderator that has been studied, with inconsistent findings. Finally, only two of the

above studies have assessed the relationship between work time and well-being or stress.

Time-based conflict can also occur when role pressures stemming from the two different

domains compete for the individual's time (e.g., requiring employees to work late with little

notice might make it difficult for employees to meet family obligations, like picking up a child at

daycare).

¹ This is based on a simple literature search in the databases PsycINFO and Sociological Abstracts for empirical articles published in 1990-

2005.I used the keywords work-family and conflict and work and family and interference. I identified 132 articles; however, as many of the

articles cited in the present article did not appear in the search results, I believe this number is a conservative estimate of the work-family

articles actually published.

27

Time-based conflict, the most common type of work-family conflict, is based on the scarcity

hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that the sum of human energy is fixed and that multiple

roles inevitably reduce the time and energy available to meet all role demands, thus creating

strain (Goode, 1960) and work-family conflict (Marks, 1977).

Work Stressors. This can lead to strain symptoms such as anxiety, frusturation, tension and

irritability (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Jones and Fletcher (1996) reported that work stressors

affect family life in the form of umpleasant moods that have spilled over from work to family.

This strain-based conflict could also occur when the strain experienced in one role domain

interferes with effective performance of role behaviors in the other domain. For example, a father

who is anxious about his child's illness might not be able to fully concentrate on his job as copy

editor, causing him to make mistakes in his work.

To sum up, work characteristics and work role pressure is significantly related to work-family

conflict. Role overload, role conflict and role ambiguity to have adverse effects on work-family

conflict (Aryee, 1992; 1993)

b. Family Characteristics

Parental Obligation. Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflict in which the role

demands stemming from one domain (work or family) are incompatible with role demands

stemming from another domain (family or work) (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe,

Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964).

According to Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal (1964), roles are the result of

expectations of others about appropriate behavior in a particular position. Role conflict is

28

described as the psychological tension that is aroused by conflicting role pressures. Role theory

suggests that conflict occurs when individuals engage in multiple roles that are incompatible

(Katz & Kahn, 1978).

Behavior-based conflict is described as conflict stemming from incompatible behaviors

demanded by competing roles. For example, a manager in a financial services firm might be

expected to be aggressive, unemotional, and hard-driving, but these same behaviors in the family

domain would most likely lead to conflict with family members.

Several researchers have commented on the importance of understanding factors that are

associated with (and/or are antecedents of) work-family conflict. For instance, it has been

documented that employees with significant dependent care responsibilities (e.g., employees

who have responsibilities caring for young children, employees with large families, employees

who care for dependent elders) tend to report higher levels of work-family conflict (see Frone,

Russell, & Cooper, 1992; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; and Scharlach & Boyd, 1989). Some

studies have found that women experience greater work-family conflict (see Gutek, Searle, &

Klepa, 1992). Research has also examined organizational factors (e.g., characteristics of the

employee's workplace) that can affect work-family conflict. For example, the impact of

workplace culture on employees' perception of work-family conflict has been widely noted (see

Galinsky et al., 1996; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Thompson, Beauvais, & Lyness,

1999).Younger children will demand more of parents’ time and larger families are likely to be

more time demanding than smaller families.

Family Support. Supportive family members help to absorb some of the responsibilities loaded

on working women. A pro-feminist sex-role attitude from spouse can reduce work-family

29

conflict for the wives (Greenhaus & Heutell, 1985). Aryee (1992) found that spouse support

reduced work-family conflict for Singaporean women professionals (Lee and Choo, 2001)

c. Outcomes of work-family conflict

Higher Self-Esteem. Much of the research on work-family conflict has been based on the

premise that multiple roles inevitably create strain (e.g., Chapman, Ingersoll-Dayton, & Neal,

1994; Frone et al., 1992; Goff, Mount, & Jamison, 1990; Hammer, Allen, & Grigsby, 1997), as

suggested by role theory (Katz & Kahn, 1978) and role scarcity (Goode, 1960). However, there

is a growing body of research which has found evidence of positive spillover, both from work to

home and from home to work. The results of some of these studies support the enhancement

hypothesis, which proposes that an individual's supply of energy is abundant and expandable

(Marks, 1977). Multiple roles may be life enhancing in that they provide additional sources of

social support, increased skills, and heightened self-esteem and well being. Baruch and Barnett

(1987), for example, found that women who had multiple life roles (e.g., mother, wife,

employee) were less depressed and had higher self-esteem than women and men who had fewer

life roles. However, it is the quality of roles that is important. That is, the greater the quality of a

person's multiple roles (e.g., having an interesting, challenging job and a happy home life), the

greater their self-esteem.

Marital Relationship. Marital relationship will be affected to a certain degree by working

women, as her occupation may deprive her from spending time with her spouse. Aryee (1992)

reported a negative relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction for

Singaporean women professionals.

30

Life Satisfaction. Research to date suggests that high levels of work-family conflict are related

to dysfunctional outcomes for the individual (e.g., life dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, poor

health), for relationships (e.g., increased interpersonal conflict, divorce), and for the organization

(e.g., absenteeism, tardiness, loss of talented employees).However, life satisfaction can also

increase due to higher purchasing power and affordability due to dual income.

2.4 THE IMPACT OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT ON WORKING WOMEN

The importance of women in the industrial labor force in a developing country like

Malaysia can be analyzed in relation to the new development in the world economies linked with

export-oriented industrialization. Since the 1970s the influx of multinational companies into

Malaysia, especially in the export-oriented zones has been increased. This process has

systematically linked the national to international markets, thus expanding the demand for labor

force in the industrial sector, especially the manufacturing sector. Malaysian women have

benefited more than men from such industrialization. The establishment of export-oriented zones

in the 1970s had provided more employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector. For

example, the electronics industry was not only the largest exporter of manufactured products but

also the largest employer in the manufacturing sector, with more than 75 percent of its workforce

consisted of women. Likewise, over 90 percent and about 85 percent of the workers respectively

employed by the clothing and textile industries were mainly females².

²Ariffin Jamilah, (1994), “Economic Development and women in the Manufacturing Sector”, in Jamilah Ariffin (ed) Readings on Women and

Development in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Population Studies Unit, University of Malaya

31

Nevertheless, participating in the workforce has caused an impact in women’s lives in many

ways. Researches indicate that employed women are over-committed and finding combining

work and family conflictual and stressful (Cowan, 1983; 1989 in Moore and Gobi, 1995). They

experienced role conflict as a result of performing diverse social roles that demand incompatible

behavior (Davis and Robinson, 1991)

Societal and parent perception of gender roles attribute higher importance to women’s family

roles as mothers, partners and homemakers; and down grade the importance of their work roles

as a breadwinners and professionals. From the perspective of the gender role theory, social

values allot more time to the on going day-to-day domestic activities and less time to paid work.

When there is role conflict, the professional working woman gives more importance to her role

as a professional. Traditionally, the majority of working women have opted for a selected

number of largely female-typed occupations, such as teaching, nursing and secretarial jobs.

Normally, women turn to these female-typed occupations to minimize conflict with family roles

as these occupations tend to be more time-flexible. However, status enhancements in these

occupations are more difficult to attain (Moore and Gobi, 1995).

A recent study in South Korea, Park (2000) focused on married women professors who by virtue

of their investment in higher educational training are likely to perceive their work as another

primary role. The study assessed role gratification or role enhancement and role strain of the

women professors compared to the ordinary housewives. It was found that married women

professors have more nontraditional gender-role attitudes when compared to housewives.

32

In addition, the study indicated that transnational resocialization from foreign experiences in a

Western society has had positive effects on role gratification among the married women

professors (Park, 2000).

To Park (2000), socialization and enculturation is defined as “the process by which individuals

are thought to function as members of a given society” (Lowen, 1975). Research (Park, 2000)

has shown that gender attitudes as well as political, and religious attitudes can be resocialized by

adult activities, such as the transnational experiences of these women professors who may have

lived in a Western society and thus had resocialized their perception and roles. The foreign

experiences in a Western culture have had positive effect on role gratification among the women

professors. They have tended to have different views on gender roles that gave them more

confidence in themselves, contributed to the development of stronger personalities and better

feelings on the status of a female professors in a male-typed occupation. These women

professors do not have any sense of guilt and do not ascribe to traditional role expectations.

The findings on assuming of double role sets show that these women professors in South Korea

experienced more role gratification as well as more role strain than the full-time housewives did

(Park, 2000). It is understood that the group of married women professors may have had a strong

motivation for work, and they experienced satisfaction when a good balance was maintained

between the demands of work and home. However, the balance between both roles may have

been affected by the interplay of cultural norms and social characteristics of the society. This

findings is supported by another study by Yi (1993) which found that even when a woman has a

professional job outside the home and has achieved much, she also tries to carry out her

household responsibilities and the central duty of improving the family status through her

children’s educational achievements (Liao, 1998). This pressure also reflects separate gender

33

role demands. Hence, these South Korean married women professors may have achieved self-

expectations based on their cultural socialization, thus creating strains for themselves.

Working at home may create behavior-based conflict, as the focus and energy needed to fulfill

work expectations is likely to conflict with demands for attention from children and/or spouses.

Strain-based conflict may be especially relevant for academicians, as job characteristics of

academic positions generally involve high degree of ambiguity and autonomy, as well as tension,

worry and frustration related to disappointments, unfulfilled expectations and coping with a

multitude of responsibilities. New academicians may be particularly susceptible to “spillover” as

feelings of competence, fears of negative evaluation and anxiety regarding job security is “taken

home” on a regular basis. As a means of coping with feelings of job-related anxiety,

academicians may even work longer hours, resulting in greater family-based stress as

expectations of family members are neglected.

Poelmans (2001), in his study of work-family conflict on managerial couples in Spain touches

on the changing trend of research methodology used by scholars in the field of work-family

conflict in the last 25 years. In the past decade or so there has been an increase in studies

employing qualitative methods involving in-depth interviews rather than quantitative methods.

More recently, the focus of study has also shifted from the individual as the subject of study to

couples in a family, especially those studies that have addressed the work-family conflict

between husband and wife ( for examples: Jones and Fletcher, 1993; 1996). Lastly, Poelmans

points out that the past studies have always been centered around a few recruiting variables such

as work and family involvement, work and family stress, job and life satisfaction, social support

and turnover. With this, Poelmans has contributed a new variable in the study of work-family

conflict, that is the decision-making problem among couples.

34

In his study, Poelmans (2001) focus on managerial couples in Spain, where one or both members

have managerial responsibilities. He examined work-family conflict from the aspects of time-

based and strain-based conflict. The result justify some of the conventional variables in work-

family conflict research: work stress, job satisfaction, time-based and strain-based work-family

conflict and socio-demographic factors (Allen et al., 2000; Ernst & Ozeki, 1998; Poelmans,

2001). In addition, the findings (Poelman, 2001) also reveal certain themes like personal values

and priorities, decision-making and choices in situations of work-family conflict, the conflict, the

quality of the relationship of the couple, the time people actually spent with their children, job

characteristics and learning.

According to Poelmans (2001), these result suggest that instead of conceptualizing work-family

conflict as an inter-role conflict ( the dominating theoretical approach in the field), one could

frame it from three aspects : i) as an individual decision-making problem which is based on

personality, values and situational factors; ii) as a decision-making problem in which the central

problem solver involved several dependent ‘actors’ (spouse, parents, employer and others) plus

taking initiatives and decisions in a process of continuous interaction.

2.5 WHEN MOTHERS BECOME STUDENTS

Much research has been done on the stresses and barriers that mothers face when deciding to

return to college. However, little research has been done on the effects on the family and work

that follows a mother’s decision to enroll in college. Linda Burns and Chrys Gabrich (2001)

conducted a study to identify changes in the family system that occurs when the mothers enroll

in college. More specifically, the study plans to investigate how being a student affects the role

as parent, as well as how parenting affects performance in the college or the university

classroom. The result revealed that adult students have the expected difficulties of balancing the

35

responsibilities of family, work and studies. But, at the same time, they experience positive

changes from their enrollment in school, particularly with respect to their children.

The negative effects of the mothers’ enrollment in college nearly all focus on their inability to

allocate enough time for their children. Some mothers complained being too exhausted,

impatient and unable to spend time to meet their own needs. Others were more concerned that

they were not maintaining previous standards in respect to domestic chores such as cooking and

housekeeping.

Mohney and Anderson (1988) found that role demands in family responsibility in addition to

career or job demands, are a major obstacle for married women pursuing higher education and

often impedes their successful adaptation of the role of being a student.

2.6 STRESS AND COPING BEHAVIOR

Stress is caused by the mental and physical response women have to deal with overwhelming

demands. Demands can be both positive, such as a qualifying for the Olympics, or negative, such

as an injury (Nadya Sweden, 2003). Response can be positive and productive, such as eating

healthier, or negative and destructive, such as not sleeping. There can often be a fine line

between the productive and destructive effects of stress. This line is different for everyone, just

as stress and the effects of stress are different for everyone. The mind interprets events to define

them as stressful, and each woman is unique in her experiences and interpretations (Nadya

Sweden, 2003).

The concept of managerial stress is a relatively recent phenomenon that has received increasing

attention over the past two decades. In that time, the understanding of the stress process and

women managers has tended to be polarized by two main traditional approaches: that women are

36

same as men and therefore will react like men, or that they are the opposite of men and will

therefore react the opposite to men. In addition, studies of gender differences in the workplace

have frequently suffered from the fact that, in many organizations, women are employed in

substantially different roles than men (Guppy & Rick, 1996). Women are still seriously under-

represented at all senior management levels, with around one third concentrated in marketing and

personnel functions. (Rigg & Sparrow, 1994; Equal Opportunities Review, 1996).

A few studies have provided a more comprehensive view of managerial stress (e.g. Davidson &

Copper, 1992; Lundberg & Frankenhaeuser, 1999) and these have produced conflicting results.

In order to gain an understanding of the stress process experienced by managerial women, it is

necessary to compare the findings produced by these different approaches and consider the

implications arising from such comparisons.

Productive Stress

In a positive sense, stress can make one alert, motivated, and productive (Neala & Rita, 2000).

To this end, stress can be beneficial. It inspires men and women to meet the challenge of the task

at hand. They can push themselves and learn how to best handle the situation so it will be less

stressful in the future. Some women "thrive" on stress appreciating the motivation it provides

(Neala & Rita, 2000).

Stress is common to women. Because women are capable of doing many things at once, they are

more susceptible to the stresses of all the activities they take on. Women are social organizers,

mediators, planners, mothers, wives, spouses, girlfriends, daughters, friends, athletes, teammates,

managers, employees, cleaning ladies, cooks, partners, athletes, and therapists. Positive stress

can lead to a full, very active life that keeps women young in spirit and in health. Looking from

Malaysian perspective, athletic girls in organized sports have a full schedule as they go from

37

school to athletic activity, and learn to balance school, fitness, friendships, and family. These

girls grow into women who regularly exercise and who have the ability to manage their busy

lives with multiple responsibilities, squeezing the most out of every day.

Some people need both physical and mental stress to be productive; some athletes need stress to

stay at the top of their game. Their rewards are good health, personal satisfaction, and positive

acknowledgment or compensation. Some athletes compete at high levels with the reward of

enjoyment. Regardless, the stress must be worth it, otherwise the athlete will lose her edge,

competitiveness, and desire. (Nadya Sweden, 2003).

Negative Stress

At high levels or for long periods of time, stress can be dangerous (Judy Foreman, 2002). Not

only can it cause crying, anger, or the inability to get work done, it can also cause physical

illness or problems. Sometimes it can lead to negative coping behaviors, which lead to even

more problems and a vicious cycle of never-ending stress. These negative coping behaviors

include eating too little or too much, eating unhealthy foods, sleeping too much or too little,

skipping work or practice, smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or taking too many prescribed

medications. Even if people are not conscientiously engaging in negative coping behaviors, their

bodies might be doing it for them. Signs of this are frequent colds, cold sores, canker sores,

appetite and weight changes, heart disease, heart attacks, and even cancer. Too much stress can

also lead to injuries or accidents, as it can cause one to be distracted from the task at hand

(Steven Poelmans, 2001).

Studies, which have controlled marital status and domestic responsibilities, have shown that

women with multiple roles (e.g. work, motherhood and studies) experience poorer health than

their non-working counterparts (Arber, Gilbert & Dale, 1985). This has lead to the assumption

38

that, as a result of role reduction, the removal of paid employment from women’s lives would

reduce the stress they experienced and increase their mental well-being (Pleck, 1985). Although

multiple role strain can have an adverse effect on women’s mental and physical health, studies

have failed to substantiate a consistent relationship (Akabas, 1988).

In an alternative approach it has recently been argued that it is the quality of a women’s

experience within and across roles, rather than the number of roles, that influences mental health

(Piechowski, 1992). Findings show that it is not the investment, required to maintain multiple

roles, that lead to conflict and distress but the identity derived from these roles that predict well-

being (Carlson, Kermar&Stepina, 1995). Further to this it has been suggested that a greater

number of roles can actually enhance psychological well-being by providing access to resources

and alternative sources of gratification as well as promoting greater social interaction (Thoits,

1986). Thus, rather than having a negative effect on women’s heath, it would appear that

employment actually improves the health of women, married or single, who have positive

attitude towards work (Repetti, Matthews & Waldrom, 1989). Furthermore, there has been

evidence that contributes to the believe that married women with children show greater

satisfaction towards their lives compared to single women.

However, recent research suggests that this may also be an oversimplification of the impact of

extra-organizational stressors on the well-being of women managers. Women managers continue

to report greater levels of stress as a consequence of their experience in and out of the working

environment (Barnett and Brennan, 1997). Even though women managers report working fewer

hours at work, they are reporting high stress levels as a result of greater unpaid workloads and by

greater responsibilities for duties related to the home and family (Lundberg & Frankenhaeuser,

1999). It is now recognized that long working hours pose a serious threat to both mental and

physical well-being (Sparks and Cooper, 1999).

39

Coping behavior among professional women

It has been suggested that women managers do not cope with their situation as well as men

because they adopt strategies that are less effective. The process of coping with stressful events,

such as work stress, is complex and highly dynamic and is directed towards moderating the

impact of such events on an individual’s physical, social and emotional functioning (Latack,

Kinicki & Prussia, 1995). It has been proposed that, one reason male managers apparently cope

better than their female counterparts, is because they adopt problem-focused strategies (which

address the situation) as opposed to emotion-focused strategies (which deals with individuals

feelings in reaction to the stressful event) (Vingerhoets & Van Heck, 1990),

The coping strategies adopted by an individual are determined by a number of factors including:

personality variables (e.g. personal control and Type A Behavior patterns), demographic factors

(e.g. age and gender), sociodemographic factors (e.g. education and income) and availability of

coping resources (e.g. self-esteem and experience) (Gist & Mitchell, 1992; Holahan and Moos,

1987).

It is widely recognized that the way in which individuals perceive their situation and attributes

causes of events is dependent upon the degree of personal control they believe they posses. This

is determined through the extent to which events, whether positive or negative, as perceived as

being a consequence of one’s own actions and thereby potentially under one’s own control

(Lefecourt, 1982). High personal control is associated with many characteristics, such as

assertiveness, independence, and dominance, with individuals displaying high need for

achievement, a strong desire to assume personal responsibility for performing task, and taking

more initiatives in their efforts to attain goals (Cherrington, 1991; Kapalka & Lachenmeyer,

40

1988). Female managers report that family members frequently fail to recognize their

occupational achievements and the importance of work in their lives.

2.7 CONCLUSION

The work-family conflict literature developed from the earlier traditional view, which is working

outside home, will definitely affect the home performance of a woman. Then, with social

changes, women’s work outside the home is considered norm in the economic development of a

country. However, there has been a lot of evidence that work can interfere with family and other

social activities. Recently, researches focused on multi-dimensional construct that includes time-

based, strain-based and behavior-based factors of work-family conflict.

Clearly there is a need for further research to investigate the extra demands experienced by

female professionals, such as lecturers who further their studies while meeting the demands of

family and work. There is a need to understand the interaction between those demands, the

individual and the external environment and the impact of those demands have to on the long-

term well-being of women managers. A true understanding of the effect of professional work on

the health and well being of women can only be gained by placing greater value on the

experiences of women. Furthermore, that understanding should not come from trying to make

those experiences “fit in” with traditional thinking, rather it should come from a holistic view of

women and the world they live and work in.

From the aspects of research methods, the conventional way of quantitative methods has now

included some qualitative measures like in-depth interviewing of informants to supplement the

information on the topic being studied. Lately, we see the ethnographic approach of research

41

methods in some studies of work-family conflict. Poelmans’ (2001) study on managerial couples

in Spain is a good example.

In terms of the theoretical framework, the most popular view of the relationship between work

and family is the spillover theory: the effects of one domain (work or family) “spill over” into

another domain as a result of three distinct categories of work-family conflict, namely time-

based, strain-based and behavior-based. The analysis of gender role attitudes in the role play a

vital part in work-family conflict whereby a women’s care of the home is always indispensable

even if she is a professional working woman earning a good income that can afford domestic

help. In addition, the balancing of both roles may have been affected by the interplay of cultural

norms and social factors.

As a contribution to the field of work-family study conflict literature, this study examines the

impact of work-family conflict on professional working women’s additional role as a student in

higher education. A study on Malaysia’s multi-racial society gives a different background of

social norms and values of individual ethnic groups that affect the work-family-study conflict.

42

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This study employed ethnographic methods of data gathering. The data presented in this study

were collected from participant observation, casual conversations and informal interviews over a

eleven-month period (April 2007 through March 2008) which, in total, entailed more than two

hundred hours of fieldwork. These methods also provide a broader spectrum of the conflicts

faced by the informants in their work, family, and studies resulting in a lifestyle of juggling

multiple roles.

Ethnography is a social science research method. It relies heavily on up-close, personal

experience and possible participation. This narrative often includes charts, diagrams and

additional artifacts that help to tell "the story" (Hammersley, 1990). Ethnographic methods can

give shape to new constructs or paradigms, and new variables, for further empirical testing in the

field or through traditional, quantitative social science methods.

The goal of ethnography is to understand an individual's or group's interactions within the culture

and surroundings. The data gained from ethnographical research is almost entirely qualitative.

The goal of ethnography for systems designers, on the other hand, is the improvement of a

system in use in the culture by finding the problems in the way it is currently used. This involves

observing users' interactions with the system as well as the effects the system has on the culture

43

of the workplace. McCleverty (1997) states, "The goal of an ethnographic study is to identify

routine practices, problems, and possibilities for development within a given activity or setting."

The majority of the data in an ethnographic study is elicited through the process of in-person

observation, audio/video observation, and interviews. Thus, the results of an ethnographic study

are largely qualitative (impressions, opinions, environment descriptions, etc.). Error rates and

questionnaire results are examples of the types of quantitative data that can be compiled in an

ethnographic study.

3.2 RATIONALE FOR USING ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS

To justify this kind of ethnographic methods for my work-family-study conflict, study on

married working mothers with multiple roles, I have attempted to describe the conflicts

problems, happiness and stress faced by the informants in a way that is as faithful as possible to

the way they see it themselves. After more than one year working together with the nine

informants from the same private college, I have become close with to of them in most

situations. I have also done some casual visits to their homes several times to fully understand

the scenario at their homes and their family condition. Most of their domestic or work placed

problems would have come to my knowledge through discussion or purely by my assumption.

In this situation, the ethnographic style of research has proven to be most appropriate in terms of

data collection.

3.3 SELECTION OF THE SETTING AND SAMPLE

When making site and informants selection decisions, ethnographic methods allow studies to be

carried out in the research’s own institution or agency, or among friends or colleagues. Some

reasons being the researcher would have relatively easy access to their professional or personal

44

life, and the amount of time needed for various research steps would be reduced (Glesne and

Peshkin, 1992).

3.3.1 Setting – SEGI College, Subang Jaya

Founded in 1978, this college which was formerly known as Systematic College started its first

branch in heart of Kuala Lumpur. Due to an overwhelming response to private higher learning

institution, it subsequently opened more branches in Johor Bahru, Penang, Klang, Petaling

Street, Subang Jaya and even Kuching. It got listed on the 2nd

Board of Bursa Malaysia in 1994

and merged with Prime Education Group in the following year. In 2002, Systematic Education

Group International was renamed SEG International Bhd (SEGI) and eventually got transferred

to Main Board of Bursa Malaysia. Currently, this institution has opened a new campus at Kota

Damansara. This RM150 million new flagship campus – is set to be a hallmark of private higher

education in the country. Located at a 10-acresite, the purpose-built campus will have full-

fledged academic, research and recreational facilities and is set to provide a complete learning

experience for up to 12,000 students. SEGI College is currently pursuing a rigorous rebranding

and consolidation strategy.

SEGi College, Subang Jaya houses the faculties of Medical & Health Sciences, Business and

Law, Architecture & Built Environment, Engineering & Technology, Creative Arts & Design,

and Education & Social Sciences. Each school has a staffroom for lecturers. It is an open system

with lecturers in view of each other. Majority of lecturers are Malays, Chinese and Indians and

foreigners make up a small percentage.

The student population encompasses the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia namely Malays,

Chinese and Indians with a predominance of Chinese students. There is also a growing

45

population of foreign students from Maldives, Mainland China, Bangladesh and Middle East.

Most of the lecturers use their own transportation to commute to their work place. All my

informants are in this situation whereby they drive their own car to work.

3.2.2 Sample

The research informants are nine female lecturers working in Segi College, Subang Jaya. These

women share some common characteristics, such as having at least one child. They do not have

parents or siblings staying with them. They have enjoyed a nuclear family lifestyle since they

were married. Both husband and wife are working full time so it is a dual-earner family. All my

informants perceive a teaching job as a long term career so they aspire for a higher acedemic

qualification academic in order to achieve higher status in academia. As Segi College is pursuing

a university status, there will be a need for all the lecturers with professional qualifications,

masters’ degree or above to be able to lecture degree students. It is for this reason they are

currently pursuing their higher degrees in the university while working full time in Segi College.

The adult characteristics of the informants in this sample clearly reflect the composition of my

college community from which the sample was drawn. In the college, more than half of the

lecturers are pursuing higher education at various levels. The choice of these nine female

lecturers was criterion-based, semi-random sampling as utilized by researcher Poelmans (2001)

in his study entitled “A Qualitative Study of Work-family Conflict in managerial Couples”. I was

seeking a heterogeneous group of informants representing the three main ethnic groups in

Malaysia.

The sampling was chosen randomly. First, I listed out the married female lecturers who were

attending classes for higher degrees or professional qualifications. Information regarding their

46

family background (husband’s job and number of children), course taken, domestic help,

parents’ and siblings home location, religions, names of universities and the programmes they

taught at Segi College, was obtained in a discussion.

The final sample consists of three Malay lecturers; Linda, Liza and Suhaila, three Chinese

lecturers ; Olive, Emily and Joanne and three Indian lecturers; Maria, Thava and Rani.

Linda is 35 years old. She has been lecturing business subjects for American Degree Program for

the past seven years. Linda is currently pursuing a Masters Degree at University Putra Malaysia

(UPM), Serdang. She has three children aged 3, 7 and 8. Suhaila, aged 36, also belongs to

American Degree Program. She has four children aged 2, 4, 5 and 7. She is pursuing her

Master’s in Philosophy from Multimedia University, Cyberjaya. Liza, aged 27, got married

recently and has a 6 month old baby girl. She is attached to Early Childhood Faculty. She has

obtained a degree in Business Administration and previously lectured at Business Faculty.

However, because of her keen interest in early childhood studies, she has choosen to teach at this

department while pursuing a second degree in Early Childhood. She studies at Segi College.

My first Chinese lecturer, Olive, aged 35, is from School of Engineering. She is doing her MBA

studies at University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Her sons are aged 4 and 7. My second Chinese

informant, Emily, is eyeing a more senior position in Accounting Faculty. She is pursuing

ACCA’s Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualification. She is 37 years old and has two

children aged 5 and 9. She is currently pregnant with her third child. The third Chinese

informant is Joanne, aged 46. She is pursuing her MBA studies at Segi College, under Segi’s

scholarship programme. She will be bonded with Segi College for four years upon the

completion of her studies. She has a daughter, aged 7.

47

Maria, my first Indian informant is 31 years old. She is attached to IT Faculty. She is working on

her Masters in IT at Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya. She has a daughter aged 1 year

old. Thava, my second Indian informant, is holding the position as Head of Department for

Master’s Programme. She is pursuing her PhD in Psychology from HELP University. She is 49

years old and has one son aged 19 years old and a daughter aged 12. My final Indian informant,

Rani, is 42 years old. She has two children, a daughter aged 4 and a son aged 8 years old. She is

lecturing various English subjects at Segi College while pursuing her Master’s in

Communication at University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang. Table 3.1 is the summary of the

informants’ data.

48

Table 3.1: Demographic characteristic of the sample

MALAY INFORMANTS

Personal Details:

Name

Linda

Liza

Suhaila

Age

35

27

36

Religion

Islam

Islam

Islam

Family:

Husband’s

Employment

Banking Sector

Education Sector

Engineering Sector

No. of children

3

1

4

Domestic Help

Foreign Maid

None

Part-time maid

49

Parent’s Home

Penang

Sabah

Kelantan

Work:

Department/Faculty

American Degree

Early Childhood

American Degree

Work Status

Full-time

Full-time

Full-time

No. of staff in

department

15

10

15

Studies Course

MBA

Degree in Early

Childhood

Master’s in

Philosphy

50

CHINESE INFORMANTS

Personal Details:

Name

Olive

Emily

Joanne

Age

35

37

46

Religion

Buddhism

Buddhism

Christian

Family:

Husband’s

Employment

Business

Business

Self employed

No. of children

2

2

1

Domestic Help

Foreign maid

None

None

Parent’s Home

Selangor

Melaka

Kuala Lumpur

51

Work:

Department/Faculty

Engineering

Business Degree

Business

Work Status

Full-time

Full-time

Full-time

No. of staff in

department

20

35

35

Studies Course

MBA

ACCA

MBA

INDIAN INFORMANTS

Personal Details:

Name

Maria

Thava

Rani

Age

31

49

42

Religion

Christian

Hindu

Hindu

52

Family:

Husband’s

Employment

Insurance Agent

Film Director

Consultant

No. of children

1

2

2

Domestic Help

None

None

Foreign Maid

Parent’s Home

Johor

Seremban

Selangor

Work:

Department/Faculty

IT

Head of Business

Degree Programme

English

Work Status

Full-time

Full-time

Full-time

No. of staff in

department

30

35

20

53

Studies Course

Masters in IT

PHD (Psychology)

Masters in

Communication

3.4 GAINING ACCESS

As I am currently pursuing my higher education like my informants, I have had the advantage of

getting their full cooperation to participate in my project. My position as their friend helped to

gain information regarding their conflicts at work, family and studies through our daily

conversation, self-disclosure and informal interviews even to a certain extent serious in-depth

interviews.

3.5 DATA COLLECTION/FIELD TECHNIQUES

The use of multiple-data-collection methods in an ethnographic study contributes to the

trustworthiness of the data. This practice is commonly called “triangulation” (Denzin, 1988).

Two data collection techniques dominate in this study mainly participant observation and

interviewing. A combination of these two techniques has provided a clearer picture of the

conflicts faced by the informants when playing multiple roles while pursuing higher education.

3.5.1 Participant Observation

‘Participant Observation” has always been the central method of ethnographic studies. Through

participant observation, means by being a part of a social setting, we can learn firsthand how the

actions of others correspond to their words. One will also see patterns of their behavior; and

54

experience the unexpected as well as the expected reactions; and develop a quality of trust with

others that motivates them to tell and share their experiences (Glesne and Peshkin, 1992).

In the study, as a participant observer, I consciously observed the research setting, particularly,

the working environment of individual informant’s department; the informants; and the events

and conflicts that occurred within them. I focused mainly on the informants’ behavior rather than

on them as individual (Glaser and Strauss, 1967).

I tried to spend half and hour daily with one of them. For example, I normally meet Maria for

breakfast. I get to meet Linda more because she sits right beside me in the staffroom. In Olive’s

case, I dropped in at her staff-room or meet her during lunch.

3.5.2 Informal Interviewing using Semi-structured Questions

The semi-structured interview is best defined as a method of data collection which involves an

interaction between an interviewer and the interviewee for which the purpose is to obtain valid

and reliable information. It is a conversation with a purpose. (Kahn & Cannell, 1957).

Semi-structured interviews retains the open quality of the unstructured, but is controlled by a list

of questions and topics to be covered. The use of interviewing in the selection process will

continue to increase “as a result of recognition that non-cognitive skills of applicants needs to be

considered” (Vargo et al. 1996.) Non-cognitive skills are considered better predictors of “good”

interviews (Powis, 1998)

55

I maintained these non-cognitive skills which include:

• Verbal communication skills

• Time management and flexibility

• Knowledge of the profession

• Problem solving and Decision making skills

• Values and Integrity

• Attitudes

• Physical appearance including health, speech and poise

• Perseverance

• Self confidence without arrogance

(Powis et al. 1992; Glick, 1994; Youdas et al., 1996)

It was important for me to have the questions that were similar in nature and designed to elicit

similar data from each candidate. I maintained consistency with regard to the types of questions

and style of interviewing throughout the process. I avoided interrupting, leading, or showing

approval or disapproval. I kept the selection part of the interview separate from information

seeking on the part of the interviewee. I practiced to listen carefully and allowed the informants

to do at least 80% of the talking.

I made it clear from the beginning that I was following a guide and would be taking some notes.

I showed genuine interest, and engaged in conversation using good eye contact and appropriate

listening and response skills. I was aware of interviewer bias that could arise from:

• differences in how applicants are rated as well as stereotyping

• gender and racial bias

• subjectivity over weighting of negative traits

56

I tried to be conscious of these biases and avoided making such judgments.

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

The inductive data analysis has been the usual mode of data analysis in ethnographic analysis

and is simply as a process “making sense” of field data (Lincoln and Guba, 1885). In other

words, data analysis is done simultaneously with data collection (Glesne and Peshkin, 1992),

which may be obtained from observations, interviews, documents, nonverbal cues, or any other

qualitative or quantitative information sources.

Inductive data analysis bears remarkable similarities to content analysis, which involves two

essential subprocesses terms as “Unitizing” and “Categorizing” (Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

“Unitizing is a process of coding whereby raw data are systematically transformed and

aggregated into units which permits precise description of relevant content characteristics

(Holsti, 1969). While “Categorizing” is a process whereby previously unitized data are organized

into categories that provide descriptive information about the context or setting from which the

units were derived.

The process of “Categorizing” has been well described by Glaser and Strauss (1967) under the

heading of the “constant comparative method”. The data of this study were analyzed using this

method which involved sorting words, phrases or sentences on work, family and studies conflict

into provisional categories on the basic of common characteristics experienced by my nine

informants. As the provisional categories accumulated, thick description was used in presenting

the study in the form of reasoning on the emergent themes relating to the topic of this study.

57

Some of the organizing categories include work-to-family conflict, work-to-studies conflict,

studies-to-work conflict, family-to-studies conflict , studies-to-family conflict, parents or

external support, working environment, time management, parents’ or husband’s perception,

coping with demands and personal needs. Several emergent themes involved the constraints

faced by working mothers in the pursuit of higher education, gender role attitude, role balancing

and self-actualization.

Throughout the study, the grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) was used as an

integral part of the entire process. As indicated by Glaser and Strauss(1967), a grounded theory

is one that will:

“ fit the situation being researched, and work when put in use. By ‘fit’ we mean that the

categories must readily (not forcibly) be applicable to and indicated by the data under study; by

‘work’ we mean that they must be meaningfully relevant to and able to explain the behavior

under study.”

With the ethnographic research principles of grounded theory, I use the Role Theory and

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory to guide me through the entire process of data analysis.

58

CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the findings of the study are discussed. The findings are presented in the form of

transcripts, which were transcribed from observation field notes, informal discussion and semi-

structured interviews. Some repeat constrains, behaviors and commitments mentioned by

informants were identified as units of interest and later grouped under a common category.

Certain recurrent behaviors found through participant observation were identified similarly.

Some emergent themes on the informants’ constrain in the pursuit of higher education would be

contextualized and detail. The three groups of working professionals who were the focus of the

study provided deeply honest, detailed, descriptive and diverse experience that would not have

been available through alternative means of data collection (Ferraro, 2003, De Vault, 1999;

Kvale, 1996; Lofland and Lofland, 1995).

4.2 ANALYSIS

As mentioned above, only repetitive constrains, behaviors and traits of informants were adopted

to form the backbone of this study. The researcher scrutinized the transcripts thoroughly to

derive units; failing to meet these criteria, the transcripts were considered uncommon and this

deemed unrepresentative of the professional working women. These transcripts were discarded.

Table 4.1 are the results of this scrutinization where units and categories have been arranged in

three domains, which are in constant conflict with one another. These domains are the work,

59

family and studies. Categories of similar subjects are then identified as emergent themes, which

warrant for further analysis and elaboration for the study.

4.3 DOMINANT STUDIES

Each of the socially constructed categories reflects and reinforces the various constraints on

working mothers turned students. Though we see common constraints being faced by all three

informants, the degree of constrains on each of them is influenced by their background in terms

of ethnic group, cultural norms and values and their religious inclinations.

During the course of this study, several dominant themes surfaced and needed more

consideration. The theoretical framework of the gender role theory helped to explain some of the

themes like social changes which have influenced a women’s traditional role, the constraints on

working mothers turned students, the inter-connectiveness of work-family-study conflict, role

balancing dilemmas, relationship which were bound to suffer, self-actualization and providing

role models for children. The way these professionals cope with their dilemmas and stress were

also discussed to a great extent.

4.3.1 SOCIAL CHANGES THAT HAVE INFLUENCED WOMEN’S

Traditional Role

From the transcripts, one can see that the informants’ husbands and immediate family members

gave approval and encouragement for them to pursue higher education. Thus, better education

for women is widely accepted in our society. Consequently, gender roles have become blurred

and less distinct and role sharing is more prevalent. Role sharing has definitely gained popularity

at varying degrees determined by informants’ ethnic group and cultural factors.

60

Supportive family members

Two of my Malay informants are blessed with supportive family members. Therefore, they could

study with less stress and in a conducive environment. The excerpts below indicate significant

changes in perception with respect to her husband and in-laws.

EXCERPT 1 (Linda)

“My working hours are long and if not for their understanding and sacrifice, I'd definitely

be in a lot of trouble. A typical working day is from 9am to 5pm (officially) but I normally finish

at 10 pm. This is because I have to attend my part-time MBA classes in the evenings. The days

when I will be late, I'll coordinate with my husband (a government servant in the banking

sector). Failing that, I’ll call my mother-in-law to help sort out the children - their food,

homework, tuition and so on. My mother-in-law stays quite near to our house, which makes it

easier for us to drop my kids at her place in the morning and pick them up again later in the

evening. She doesn’t mind taking care of my children because I send my maid along and the

maid does most of the cooking and cleaning. My mother-in-law just has to keep an eye on my

kids and make sure that they eat and study well.”

EXCERPT 2 (Liza)

“My husband has been very supportive when it comes to continuing my studies, probably

because he is a Master’s degree holder himself. He helps me with my assignment when can. But

most of the time, he is busy with the kids and this allows me to lock myself in the study room

and do my work uninterrupted.”

61

According to Liza, her husband is able to do simple work with the children such as bathing and

coaching their homework. He is available most of the time to send them to the religious or other

extra classes as well.

EXCERPT 3 (Suhaila)

“My husband works as a project manager for a well known engineering firm. He has to

travel on regular basis and works odd hours. But whenever my husband is home, I have become

more assertive about asking him to help. If I ask him to do something specific he will cheerfully

take care of it. But he rarely notices on his own that the sheets need to he changed. I have to

accept his way of doing things, too. If he cooks dinner and thinks that hot dogs and baked beans

are gourmet fare, I just tell him how delicious it is. If I criticize, he won't be so willing to help

out next time. We hire a part-time maid to do some serious house cleaning over the weekend. By

doing so, we are able to spend some quality time with the kids.”

The Chinese informant, Olive, receives more financial support and resources from her husband.

Her husband pays for all the expenses related to her studies and also pays for a good nursery to

take care of her 2 boys. She says her children are very well taken care off in this nursery and she

does not have to worry about coaching them with their studies because they are learning a lot at

this childhood education center.

EXCERPT 4 (Olive)

“Both of my boys are already good in English and Chinese Language and even able to do

simple mathematics. This center also offers music classes and plenty of outdoor activities which

my children love. They look forward to going to the nursery. Of course, the fees are exorbitant

but my husband is willing to pay for it and both of us are very satisfied with our boys’

62

performance. My maid takes care of housework so I am free to do my studies whenever time

permits. My husband is often away on his business trips and comes back late because of

meetings and both our parents are staying out of state but I am able to keep everything under

control. In fact, I am looking forward to having another baby, possibly a baby girl in the near

future.”

EXCERPT 5 (Emily)

“I have a five-year-old and a nine-year-old with a busy schedule at work while my

husband has quite a bit of travel. This is how we tackle the weekend chores so we still have some

family time. First we keep expectations realistic. One of the weekends is used strictly for study

purpose and another day is dedicated to family fun together. The rest of the time is chores. In

addition, our goal for chores is to make the house basically clean, rather than spotless. My

strategy is to trick myself into getting as many chores done as possible on Thursday and Friday

before the weekend. To do the big weekly trip to the grocery store, I sometimes meet my

husband for lunch. Then we divide up the list and zoom through the store, swing by the house to

put the perishables away, and get back to work having taken only an extra half hour at lunchtime.

Or if I work through lunch I can leave a little early and get it done on the way to pick up our

children. If all else fails, we all plan to go to our favorite eatery on Saturday for lunch and then

all do the grocery shopping together as part of our family fun.”

EXCERPT 6 (Joanne)

“We adopted a baby girl seven years ago. My husband works from home, thus, he can

send her and pick her up from the nursery. When she was a baby, a fellow Christian family who

lived nearby helped to take care of her. Even now, if my husband has to go out to meet his

63

clients, he can always drop off our daughter at their place. I think the first year with the baby

was the most difficult. For the first few months, I would come home from work, feed and shower

the baby and then try to make dinner. Now, often I just wind up playing with the child and

feeding her cheese, bread, and fruit for dinner. My husband helps me to cook. Soon, my daughter

will be old enough to help a little in the kitchen while I make dinner. So, I have time to do my

studies.”

My Indian informant, Maria, also receives supporting resources from her husband and parent-in-

laws, but to a lesser extent. This is mainly due to heavy workload and financial burden of her

husband.

EXCERPT 7 (Maria)

“Since we have only one child for the time being, we’ve decided to hire a maid sometime

later. We are staying in a small condominium which might not be comfortable to have a

permanent maid to stay in with us. My mother-in-law refuses to take care of my daughter

because she is old and needs her rest, plus, she is already taking care of another son’s children.

Both of us are working hard to save money to buy a landed property. I send my daughter to a

baby sitter who stays in the same building. Once she grows older, maybe I will send her to a

suitable nursery. I don’t get much help from my husband because of his heavy workload who

therefore requires more rest at home. So, I have to do most of the cooking and cleaning in the

morning before I leave for work. Nevertheless, he sometimes will feed our daughter during meal

times when I am busy with my studies”

EXCERPT 8 (Thava)

64

“My workload is quite heavy as I am the Head of Business Department. Often I have to

be at work after office hours to attend meetings or to complete important paperwork. But I am

fortunate to have my mother who lives quite close to our housing area. My son is grown and

capable of taking care of himself. My daughter who is 12 years old stays with my mother until

I’m back from work. My husband doesn’t help me with house chores. He often travels overseas.

Right now, I’m concerned about time conflict between my work and studies.”

EXCERPT 9 (Rani)

“I was not interested in continuing my studies but now I have no choice but to do so. My

maid helps with household chores but I still find it hard to divide my time between work,

children and studies. My husband often works late at night therefore he can’t help me much. My

son is not doing well in school; therefore, I need to coach him with his homework and studies on

a daily basis. My daughter needs me to send her to piano class and dance class. I need to prepare

dinner as well. To make things worst, I failed three papers last year.”

Domestic Help

Both the Malay and the Chinese informants agreed that they do not fully rely on domestic help in

taking care of their children. However, domestic help has contributed significant relief from their

many daily house chores. This has made it a lot easier for them to hold a job outside their homes

and study at the same time. One Indian informant is also looking forward to hiring a maid when

the time is right while the others prefer not to. .

4.3.2 THE CONSTRAINTS OF A WORKING MOTHER TURNED STUDENT

Working mothers routinely juggle a host of responsibilities demanded by their various statuses

and roles (Macionis, 1997). At any one time, role conflict occurs when incompatibility among

65

roles corresponds to two or more statuses (Macionis, 1997). Below are the situations of role

conflict and role strain experienced by the informants.

Role Conflict and Role Strain

In addition to their traditional roles at home, these three informants have taken up paid work

outside their home and work as lecturers in a private college. These full time jobs occupy most of

their day time leaving less time for their roles at home. This has made it worst as they have taken

up studies in the evenings.

For these working mothers, taking on a work role affects their image as a wife and mother.

Sometimes, they compare themselves with their own mothers, who are mostly housewives. They

feel anxious and guilty about their adequacy in playing the role as a mother. For instance, Linda

said:

“When my baby is sick, it breaks my heart to leave her with my maid. Usually, they

would want me to be beside them and cry for me to be with them. I feel disheartened to see their

suffering and not being able to be there with them. I would worry about my sick baby at work or

even when I’m in my MBA class in the evening. Though I would make several calls to my

mother-in-law to check on them, sometimes I can’t help but to skip my classes to go home

earlier.

Olive, who always aspires to excel in her classes, assignments and exams, often encounters

conflict between work and studies while preparing for her examination and assignments. She

claimed that she could have done better if only she had more time to study. She said her

workload is quite heavy in some semesters that she ends up preparing notes and exam papers at

home; thus, she is forced to neglect her MBA studies.

66

4.3.3 THE INTER-CONNECTIVENESS OF WORK-FAMILY-STUDY CONFLICT AND

HOW THEY COPE WITH THESE CONFLICTS

In this theme, we can see the difficulties in playing multiple roles and how the cope with their

difficulties

Table 4.1 Main Categories of Constraints of Working Mothers according to Work, Family

and Study Domains and their Coping Behavior.

DOMAINS CATEGORIES UNITS COPING

BEHAVIOR

1. Work

a. stress

b. Unfriendly

environment

i. long working

hours

ii. overload

teaching hours

i. insufficient

printers and

computers

ii. noise at

workplace

Give more class

activities to occupy

students such as

exercises, group

discussions and

watching relevant

videos.

Bring own laptop and

do the studies in the

library.

67

c. Family to work

spillover

d. Career woman

e. Studies to work

spillover

i. sick child at

home/nursery

ii. argument with

family members

i. need to put

extra effort at

work to secure

good position.

i. need to do well

in exams

Call more often

frequently to check the

progress of the child.

Set reasonable goals

and achieve them with

proper time

management.

Full concentration in

class and study during

breaks/lunch time

2. Family

a. Domestic roles

b. Time

management

i. need to keep the

house clean and put

food on the table.

ii. need more time to

take care of all the

chores.

Do household chores at

night or early morning.

Rely on the maid

whenever possible.

Allocate time among

chores and work

efficiently.

68

c. Demands on

wife’s/mother’s

role

i. wife’s duty at

home

ii. attend to family

members

Lower family members

expectation through

discussion/ negotiation

d. Work to family

spillover

i. less quality time

with family member

ii. bring office work

home

ii. worries on work

related matter

Spend weekends with

family whenever

possible. At the same

time, seek

husband/family

members help in child

care and education.

3. Studies a. Family to

studies spillover

b. Insufficient

time

c. Inferior quality

i. household matters

needs to be attended

ii. late night studies

i. heavy workload at

work and home

i. Assignments/

Seek help from family

members/spouse/maid.

Study at night or early

morning when there is

less interruption.

Prepare timetable to

help in time

management

Seek help from

69

d. work to studies

spillover

e. supportive

husband

f. other

supporting

resources

projects and

assignments are not

up to expectation

i. absent/late for

class

ii. unprepared for

class discussion/

assignments

i. help in course

assignment

i. help from parents,

in-laws, domestic

helpers

spouse/other group

members.

Seek support from

head of department to

allow early release

from work.

Seek help from him

when he is available

and willing to help.

Domestic helpers are

given proper training to

enable them to handle

their work properly

while help from other

family members are

requested with

advanced notification.

4. Self

a. Stress in

personal life

i. guilty when unable

to meet expected

Lower expectation and

seek moral support

70

b. Strong

aspiration/job

security

c. Time

management

standard

ii. frustrated at

workplace when

unable to fulfill

expected

requirements

i. enrollment in

higher education

ii. strong desire to

climb the corporate

leader

i. time to take

personal care as most

time is dedicated to

work/family/study.

ii. Lack of sleep

from

subordinates/spouse

Mingle or seek support

from those who would

encourage the ambition

Leave “job” at

workplace and divide

time more efficiently to

meet demands.

As mentioned in chapter 1 and 2, housework is the central aspect of a woman’s traditional role,

which is frequently undervalued or forgotten (Fransella and Frost, 1977). Most of the informants

71

agree that household chores take a lot of their time and effort. Suhaila, the Malay informant

mentioned (EXCERPT 1):

“Even though I have a part time maid, she is hired to do main house chores like washing

and cleaning over the weekends. I still have to cook and clean after a hard day’s work in the

college. My husband expects his wife to cook and refuses to help with cooking”.

Surprisingly, despite these women’s involvement in the workplace from eight to five, the amount

of household chores and responsibilities at home have not declined. Their home duties amount to

a “second shift” (Macionis, 1997).

Rani, the Indian informant added (EXCERPT 2):

“Twenty-four hours a day is not enough for a woman to complete all her duties. There have

been many times I had to burn the midnight oil to finish my course assignments. I can’t

remember the last time I went for a facial, spa or exercised”

Work-family Conflict

The conflict between work and family among working mothers is definitely prevalent in this

present day scenario. This is evident from the fact that many working mothers experience this

kind of stress in their daily lives. Some obvious elements of the conflicts are work-to-family

spillover in the forms of time-based spillover; and family-to-work spillover in terms of emotions,

strains and thought interference due to their personal values, beliefs, personality and character.

(Poelmans, 2001)

Work-to-family spillover (time-based spillover)

EXCERPT 3 (Thava)

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“Sometimes, there are meetings to attend, functions to organize and students to meet after

working hours. Last month, I was in-charge of the graduation ceremony and I had to be at the

hotel after work almost the whole week. Students make appointments to see me regarding project

papers after working hours and I can’t say no to them. So, I have missed the time to prepare the

evening meal for my family many times”

Work-to-family spillover (Strain-based spillover)

EXCERPT 4 (Emily)

“Some of my students are just too weak. Accounting subjects are not easy and to make it

worst, below average students choose to enroll in this faculty. The thought that more than half of

my class would fail terrifies me. At times like this, I can’t pay full attention in caring for my

boys. I would ask them to watch TV so that I can concentrate in my lesson plan geared to help

these weak students. I even gave them my hand phone number so that they could call me if they

have any doubts in their studies. I feel I had to neglect my own kids at times.”

Family to work Spillover

Working mothers have to have multiple roles and switch from one to another when required. At

office, they are paid workers but once they are at home, they are expected to take the role of a

homemaker. By anybody’s reckoning, ‘wife work’ is time-consuming, energy draining and

emotionally exorbitant enterprise (Maushart, 2001)

EXCEPRT 5 (Linda)

“Many times, I had arguments with my husband or misunderstandings with my in-laws

and the matter could not be resolved immediately. I had to carry it over to my work place which

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affected me at work. I could not concentrate and my emotions were really disturbed. I had cried

to my colleagues at times too. Those were really bad days.”

EXCERPT 6 (Maria)

“My husband expects me to remember all important dates like in-laws’ birthdays,

children’s birthdays and other matters. At times, I had to skip my lunch to shop for gifts for

them. This tires me and affects my performance at work.”

The types of work-family conflict experienced by the informants are closely related to the

informant’s personal values and beliefs, her personality and character. If the respondent strongly

believes that it is the duty of a wife to take care of the husband and children then the inability to

do so due to work commitment, will make her feel guilty and this guilt would create more stress

in her life. If the informant has a strong personality and character, she will assume more

responsibilities either at the workplace or at home. Due to limited time, she may not be able to

carry out all her responsibilities. Then, she will feel frustrated and this too will affect her quality

of life.

Demands on the maternal role

That women in academia generally play their maternal role well, is evident from my from my

three informants who have in many instances touched on the topics of childcare. Some of the

excerpts below show the concern of the concern about their children.

EXCERPT 7 (Liza)

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“The most difficult times are when my child is sick. She usually cries for me to be with

her all the time. Sometimes, my husband and I have to take turns to take care of them the whole

night, even when we have to work the next morning.”

EXCERPT 8 (Maria)

“I’ve applied for emergency leave a few times when my daughter was sick. I am sure it

will affect my performance appraisals. Many students were unhappy when classes were

cancelled at the last minute but there was nothing much I could do. I could not leave my

daughter with the baby sitter when she was sick.”

EXCERPT 9 (Joanne)

“My daughter always begs me to pick her up after the school as most of her friends’

parents do so. But my work and the KL traffic jams are very unpredictable. So, she has no choice

but to take the school van.

Studies-work conflict

Both study and work require substantial time to achieve results. As time is limited, these

professional working women need to strike a balance between work and study. As a result, work

performance could be compromised if studies take the first priorities or vice versa. Therefore,

work-studies conflict is also a result of time-based spillover effect.

For example, when Suhaila is rushing to complete her assignment before a deadline, she pays

less attention to teaching. This is what she says;

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“When I had to do my assignments, I usually gave quizzes or written work to my students

in the class so that I could concentrate on my assignment”

The Chinese informant, Olive, says that she would try to avoid attending any meetings or extra

curricular activities during final examinations. She would hide in the library and focus on her

studies. She ouldl even avoid socializing with her colleagues at times.

The Indian informant, Rani, says that she would take her annual leaves during final exams. She

would stay at home and dedicate her time to her studies.

Studies-family conflict

Studies take up most of the family quality time. There are numerous constrains faced by working

mothers when they become students:-

1. Having to study before exams and do extra readings before attending classes

2. Having to pass up work on time

3. Having to go to library during working hours to search for materials/resources

Due to the constrains stated above, quality of work is often sacrificed. Due to their inability to

perform well in their studies, they tend to take it out on their families. It was mentioned earlier

that there are a lot of conflicts faced by all members of the family. Thus, these working mothers

cum students also have the obligation to be good listeners and supporters to their husband’s need,

ideas, opinions and aspirations.

EXCERPT 10 (Joanne)

“My husband came back home late from overseas last night. I had to wake up and keep

him company as he had a lot to say about his recent trip to Japan. He is leaving for Thailand

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tomorrow. While my maid was busy preparing food for him, I had to pack his bags for his trip

tomorrow. I barely had 3 hours of sleep last night. To make it worse, I have my Master’s class in

the evening”

Based on the conversation above, it is clear that the theory of gender role, which implies multiple

roles for women, is very relevant in this context. This creates stress and conflict among the

women, who bring their problems to their workplace. This affects their studies too.

4.3.4 ROLE BALANCING DILEMMAS

As mentioned a few times earlier, the biggest barrier faced by the informants in the roles that

they play is lack of time. How they manage their insufficient time is often been their primary

concern.

EXCERPT 11 (Rani)

“I always try to complete my work at my workplace. Then I can go home to and

concentrate on my studies and family. But taking care of family chores takes most of my time

and I am very exhausted by the end of the day to do anything about my studies.”

EXCERPT 12 (Joanne)

“I have to bring back office work home. But I have prepared a simple timetable to enable

me to divide my time for my family and studies as well. My husband is quite supportive and

takes care of my kids so that I can concentrate on my studies. I am grateful to him.”

EXCERPT 13 (Suhaila)

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“Time management is very important to me when I am required to play so many roles at

the same time. Normally, I wake up as early as 5.00 a.m in the morning to do some reading for

my course requirement. In the evening, on my way from work, I will pick up my children and

maid from my in-laws place. The whole evening is dedicated for my family but I go to bed early

at night. This also cultivates a good habit for my children to sleep early. Then, I don’t find it too

difficult to wake up early the next day. Things get messy if my kids are sick or if my husband is

not around.”

The desire of these working mothers turned students, to perform all their roles efficiently leaves

them exhausted and tense. Such a desire is often reflected as a part of the cultural values of our

society that expects more from the women.

4.3.5 RELATIONSHIP ARE BOUND TO SUFFER

The decision of these working mothers to become students has an impact on their immediate

families. This impact is often more negative than positive. It usually originates from their

husband and children and to some extent- in laws. On this matter, Maria, my Indian informant

says,

“My husband shows dissatisfaction at times with me for not being able to spend quality

time with him. There are times when I can’t accompany him to social functions or gatherings. He

fails to understand that I have so much of studying to do on top of taking care of my daughter”

Linda, the Malay informant added,

“My mother-in-law always tells me indirectly that I am neglecting my husband and

children for the sake of achieving success in my career. She compares me with her daughters or

78

herself. At times, my sons become upset with me because I am caught up with other work and

end up picking them up late from their tuition classes”.

Our culture defines women as deferential and emotional (Macionis, 1997), and the traditional

view that working for income is ‘men’s role’ (Macionis, 1997) no longer holds true. Today,

working mothers like my informants are more ambitious, capable and are determined to pursue

their dreams.

Olive, my middle aged working mother has always shown her determination in juggling multiple

roles while still finding time to concentrate on her studies. In the conversation that I’ve had with

her, she spoke with full confidence that she will somehow catch up with her studies despite the

extra teaching hours given to her.

4.3.7 PROVIDING ROLE MODELS FOR CHILDREN

All there informants believe in proper upbringing of the children. They are fully aware that

children learn by example from them. That is one of the main reasons why they have decided to

pursue their higher education- to show their kids the priorities in life and for the kids to be proud

of them in the future.

Linda saw one good sign in her 8 year old son, where he is now more interested in doing well in

school and shows the importance of learning.

“I always talk about my studies and exams and preparing hard for it. I show them that the

only way to excel in studies is by studying hard. They see me studying at home or doing my

assignments and eventually they have followed my footsteps. When we do well in our studies,

we celebrate it together by going out for dinner. It’s a healthy practice. There were times when

79

both my son and I were having exams on the same day, so we wished each other well. It was

hilarious but an effective motivational factor”.

Maria said that most of her family members are not highly educated so she intends to create a

pathway for the next generation.

“I want my daughter to have the desire to achieve much more than her mummy”

All our nine informants belong to different clusters which are based on a cluster-analysis, using

the core variables as stated in chapter 2. Olive, Thava and Joanne clearly belong to Cluster 1-

The happy Type B. Linda, Suhaila and Emily who manage their time with timetables and start

their day early in the morning can be grouped into Cluster 3- The fit coper. Finally, Maria, Liza

and Rani who had to cope with high workload and less support, belong to Cluster 5- The

striving, satisfied workaholic.

4.4 CONCLUSION

Societal changes have enabled women to be employed in the workforce. This change creates

conflicts between work and family. This situation is further aggravated by the pursuit of higher

education. The informants who received support from their spouses or immediate family

members seemed to be coping better with their dilemmas and conflicts as compared to those who

do not. Strained relationships, however, is inevitable. But none of the difficulties they face will

stop them from actualizing their final goal- the Masters or professional qualifications.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

Work-family-study conflict is an important problem in Malaysia. Compared to their peers in the

rest of the developed world, Malaysian women who are pursuing higher education receive lesser

benefits. In Australia, for example, mothers are allowed maternity leave from three months to a

year. Here, women are expected to be back to work after two months. Many organizations in

developed countries encourage the pursuit to higher education among their staff by granting

scholarships and paid study leave to them. In Malaysia, this privilege is given to very few, high

ranking employees, mostly from government organizations. Many companies overseas provide

excellent childcare facilities for children within the company. These centers are quipped with

facilities for mothers to breastfeed their newborns and flexible visiting hours. We can hardly find

such a facility here in Malaysia.

Compared to other fields of work, there have been many studies proving that lecturers/teachers

report the highest level of mental strain. There are several explanations to this score. From

private higher institution’s point of view, these lecturers have longer working hours, whereby

their responsibility does not end in the class. They are expected to coach weak students, set

81

examination/quiz papers and mark them, counsel problematic students, organize activities on

behalf of the college, attend meetings, prepare notes/teaching aids for classes and many other

additional duties.

Many organizations focus their training and development on maximizing the efficiency of work

performances from their employees, but very few of them offer training on enhancing their

worker’s life satisfaction. If the employees face any problems, there is no consultant or

counselors that they can turn to. They have no choice but to rely on HR managers or their own

Head of Department. They might not be the best people to give advice on personal problems.

A second argument could be that there are more stressors in the Malaysian working environment.

High expectation from employers, regardless of the current situation of the employees is an

example. Most of the informants were given equal workload despite the fact that these women

are currently undertaking part-time studies. All these mother’s performance appraisal are

evaluated on equal basis despite the fact that they have children who are bound to get ill that

requires them to take more emergency leave. A third explanation could be that the combination

of work stress and long working hours causes work-family conflict, which in turn is connected

with mental ill-health. This hypothesis is confirmed in the study conducted by Poelmans,

Cardona, Chincillia, Cooper & Spector, 1999.

This finding has an important implication. Mental strain and bad coping behavior among

lecturers can be very harmful for the college and their respective families. Typically, mental

strain takes the form of concentration problems, rigid decision-making or-at the other extreme,

indecisiveness and a diminished capacity for abstract and associative thinking, These mental

82

processes are essential to lectures cum mothers performance. The cluster analysis suggests an

interesting avenue to their coping behavior.

Although there have been a number of studies on the effects of multiple roles on health and how

a combination of work and family roles may be either advantageous (role enhancement)

or

disadvantageous (role strain) for health, there has been relatively little investigation on the

psychosocial content of such roles. From this research, it has been found that work-to-family

conflict and family-to-work conflict arise from inability to combine multiple roles and result

in

stress and ill health. After many interviews and in-depth analysis, I failed to find any correlation

between race and stress coping behavior. Nevertheless, it is clear those informants that receive

good support from their spouses and families seem to be able to cope with their stress better.

They also view their life as being challenging yet fulfilling.

Considering that this is an ethnographic study, its limitations lie primarily in the sample. The

nine informants were convenience sample that might not be representative to the whole

population. Another limitation lies in the cross-cultural comparison of the three informants.

Future studies should be carried out to get a more in-depth insight into these factors that

differentiate the experience of conflict in different races and cultures.

83

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