Ahmad, Aminah

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

FOR Category F201 00: Social SciencesWORK-FAMILY CONFLICT EXPERIENCED BYWOMEN IN LOW-INCOME DUAL-CAREERFAMILIESAminah AhmadDepartment of Professional Development and Continuing Educa-tion, Faculty of Educational StudiesUnioersui Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor,MalaysiaKeywords: work-family conflict, social support, childcare, women, dual-career families.IntroductionMost of the existing research on the interface of work andfamily roles has been conducted in Western societies. How-ever, as more women in non-Western societies join the workforce, understanding the conflict between work and familyroles experienced by working women become increasinglyimportant. This study examined: (1) the intensity of conflictbetween work and family roles experienced by employedwomen; (2) the social support received by the women; (3) therelationship between work-family conflict and social support;(4) the relationship between work-family conflict and satis-faction with child care arrangements; and (5) the intention tocontinue working upon having another child.Materials and MethodsSubjects in this study included women in dual-career familieswith income of less than or equal to RM1500 per family.The women were selected based on the following criteria: (a)married and living with their husbands; (b) had at least onechild; and (c) were full-time workers. Industrial areas in thestates of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan were selected. Theareas included Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya, Bandar BamBangi, Serdang and Balakong in the state of Selangor, andNilai in the state of Negeri Sembilan. Work-family conflictwas measured using the interrole conflict scale developed byPleck et al. (1980). Social support was measured using itemsdeveloped by Caplan et al. (1975). The scale developed byGreenberger and O'Neal (1990) was used to measure satis-faction with child care arrangement. Data were gatheredfrom 239 women production operators through face-to-faceinterviews using structured interview schedules with the as-sistance of five trained interviewers for each study area. Theindustries in which the women worked were characterised aslight manufacturing industries, producing consumer goods,ranging from food, beverages and textiles to chemicals,drugs, plastics, furniture and electronic and electrical goods.A majority of the women (76%) worked in factories produc-ing electronic and electrical goods.Results and DiscussionThe women production operators in this study averaged 30years of age. Each family had an average of two to threechildren and two children living at home. Almost half of thewomen completed upper secondary education 48.5% and38.5% completed lower secondary education.They earned an average of RM524 per month, excludingover-time allowances. This study found that about two-thirdsof the women operators experienced moderate to high inten-sities of conflict between work and family roles. The find-ings of this study and other studies conducted on women re-searchers (Aminah Ahmad, 1996a), and women secretaries(Aminah Ahmad, 1996b) show that married working in Ma-laysia irrespective of their occupational positions, experiencework-family conflict. The women received the least socialsupport from their supervisors despite the fact that the roleconflict that they experienced was negatively related to satis-faction with childcare arrangements. Only one-third of"theoperators indicated that they intended to continue workingupon having another child considering the rising cost ofchildcare services. Since childcare cost is an important fac-tor that could deter women in low-income families fromworking, it is pertinent that employers pay special attentionto the establishment of affordable quality day-care centres.The government should look into the possibility of giving taxexemption to working mothers on the amount they spend forchild care services as it takes a substantial portion of theirsalary. Supervisors should provide social support to workersso that stressors inherent at the work place and problems intrying to balance the demands of work and family roles canbe reduced.ConclusionMarried working women in low-income dual-career familyexperience work-family conflict in trying to meet the expec-tations of work and family roles. The findings imply thatwork or non-family life domain could interface with familylife domain and that there is a need for social support at thework place and outside the work place. There is also a needfor family-friendly policy to ease work-family conflict.ReferencesAminah Ahmad. 1996a. Work-family conflict among married pro-fessional women in Malaysia. Journal of Social Psychology.136(5): 663-665.Aminah Ahmad. 1996b. Associations of work-family conflict, jobsatisfaction, family satisfaction and life satisfaction: A study ofmarried female secretaries. Pertanika Journal of Social Scienceand Humanities. 4(2): 101-108.Caplan, R.D., Cobb, S., French, J.RP., Harrison, RV. and Pinneau,S.R Jr. 1975. Job demands and worker health. U.S. Depanmentof Health, Education and Welfare Publication. 75-160.Greenberger, E. and O'Neil, R. 1990. Parents' concerns about theirchild's development: Implications for fathers' and mothers' well-being and attitudes toward work. Journal of Marriage and theFamily. 52: 621-35.Pleck, J., Staines, G. and Lang, L. 1980. Conflict between work andfamily life. Labour Monthly Review, March, 29-32.Supported by IRPA Grant 07-02-04-0006355

Work-family conflict experienced by women in low-income dual-career families

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Work-family conflict experienced by women in low-income dual-career families

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