The Explorer Islamabad: Journal of Social Sciences

ISSN: 2411-0132(E), 2411-5487(P)

Vol-1, Issue (10):372-376
www.theexplorerpak.org

WORKING WOMEN AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE HEALTH AND EDUCATION OF THIER CHILDERN
Muhammad Umair Farooq1, Tayyaba Sana2
Lecturer, GOV Post-Graduate College, Bhakkar, 2Department of Anthropology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University,
Rawalpindi
Corresponding Author:
Tayyaba Sana
PMAS- Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi
sana.malikx01@gmail.com
Abstract: Men and women are two wheels of the vehicle of life. Both have been bestowed with different capabilities to play
their respective roles in the struggle of life. In the primitive age, a womens job was to gathering food, take care of the house
and produce children. However, an increasingly common situation for the modern women has rose, where the woman not
only works at home but is also operational in areas outside the circle of her family and home. The data was collected through
stratified random sampling, while the population for sample included all government degree and post graduate colleges for
women in Lahore. The findings suggest that working women and as well as their children are badly affected by the jobs of
their mothers. This struggle creates many physical and psychological problems in working womens children due to ignorance
and the mothers themselves.

Key Words: Working womens. Childrens, Health, Education

INTRODUCTION
With growing economic pressure, women are left with
little choice but to work side by side with men at work
places, besides performing solo at homes. This double
duty means doubly taxed nerves due to double stress
and attention to keep both the enterprises running
smoothly. When women go to work, they actually
have to face the problem of combining work at home
and office and to adjust their routine to this double
duty. Working mothers, as a label refers to women
who are mothers and who work outside the home for
income in addition to the work they perform at home
in raising their children (Encyclopedia of Children
Health 2000).
Many years back, women would be absorbed in house
hold affairs and often said that they had no time to do
a paid job outside the house. Today there are many
women who find that they can manage their house
hold (Briar 2004).
Absence of reasonable day cares, dearth of maids,
receding joint family system, the problems are myriad.
It is a difficult task for working mothers to make
arrangement for their children, when they have no
mothers, mother in-laws and sisters or any other
members of the extended family. In the Pakistani
context that working mothers in Pakistan have great
difficulties in managing job and their house hold. They

have to look after their children, perform house work

in the morning and leave for job. When they come
back, they have to cook food for dinner (Weiss 2002).
no doubt in-laws of working women help them in
performing their dual responsibilities, but they also
harassed them and said that earning of young children
is a difficult work for them (Sather and Kazi 1988).
Similarly, working mothers are dissatisfied with their
child care arrangements in the family and also
perceive stress from in-laws (Tizard and Hodges 1978).
It also affected their performance at workplace
significantly.
Every working mother s situation will be unique, as
will her views on what she wants and what she think
best for her children and family. However, there are
certain fundamental issues, problem and dilemmas
that are common to all working mothers and their
families. The working mothers neither can leave her
job nor can bring up her children without support
from others (Kumar 2002).
With regard to health of working mothers children it
is found that when women work, they usually have to
spend less time directly caring for their children,
including breast feeding, preparation of nutritious
food and getting medical care. These time constraints
have small but significant negative effects on their
children of five years age (OCannor 1998).

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Kumar (2002) too, support OCannors findings in

saying that the working mothers today know the
advantage of breast feeding but the stress of new life
style forces them to redefine their roles and change
their motherly behavior. shows that working mothers
are often expected to assume most of the
responsibility in family emergencies. Such as the
illness of a child or bad school report of child which
periodically disrupt their already over loaded
schedules.
It may not always be the case as Ahmed (2002) found
that children of women who work have better diets
than those whose mothers stay at home. He suggests
that women who work take more care of what their
children eat, possibly because they feel guilty about
not being at home with their children. Further, it is
found that children of working mothers in nuclear
family structure have less psychological problems and
better intellectual capacity (Ahmed 2002).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The data was collected from the selected sample of
149 respondents. All government degree & post
graduate colleges for women in Lahore were selected
for our study as a population. Lists of teaching staff
with designation, marital status and number of
children were obtained. Single teachers or those not
having children were eliminated and thus a sampling
frame was constructed. The population was
heterogeneous (lecturers, assistant professors,
associate professor) the sample was chosen according
to stratified random sampling (proportionate) and
divided the target population into strata according to
the cadres of working mothers in the population. Then
sampling fraction was used to choose the sub samples
from the population and then these sub samples were
emerged into a single sample.
RESULTS
The study was conducted on working mothers who
were teaching in the Government Girls Degree
Colleges of Lahore city, regarding their health and
education of their children up to 18 years of age. The
profile of the respondents was found as under.
Average age of the respondents was 45 years. Out of
149 respondents, almost one - third of the total (33%)
were in the age group of 45 50 years, 19 % were in
the age group of 35 40 while, 15% each belonged to
the age group of 40 45 and 50 55 respectively. And
a little minority only (11 %) was of 30 35 age groups.
A large majority (95 %) were married and living with
their husbands. A very small ratio (3 %) were the

respondents who were widowed while the remaining

(1 % each) were divorced and separated respectively.
Almost half, of the total respondents (48%) were
lecturers, 40 % were assistant professors and a very
small ratio (11 %) was associate professors.
Qualification wise distribution of the respondents
shows that a good majority (70%) had the qualification
of M.A. & M.Sc. followed by 17% who were having the
qualification of M.A. B.Ed, and a very small minority
(12%) had done M.Phil. While average present job
experience of the respondents was calculated as 17
years.
Regarding daily working hours of the respondents in
college, average daily working hours were calculated
as 5 hours. A good majority (46%) spent 5 6 hours
daily in college while working. One third (32%) were
spending 4 5 hours and 15% spent 3 4 hours while
only 6% were spending 6 7 hours working in college.
While counting the daily working hours of the
respondents at home, average daily working hours, at
home, were calculated as 9 hours. Almost one fifth
(21%) spent 14 16 hours while another similar ratio
(20%) had 6 8 working hours. A good ratio of 17%
spent 4 6 hours working at home and 13% told that
they had worked 2 4 hours at home while another
13% spent 8 10 hours. A small ratio (9%) had 12 14
working hours and (7%) 9 12 hours.
With regard to the occupation of the respondents
spouse, a large majority (62%) were government
servants, 16% were running their own business. A
small ratio (11%) was doing private jobs and some
(5%) had been retired from their service. While
average daily working hours of the respondents
husbands were calculated as 9 hours.
The average age of children of the respondents was
calculated as 10 years. Out of 380 children of
respondents, slightly less than half ( 39% ) were in the
age group of 12 - 18 years, almost one third , 28%
were in the age group of 6-12, and 16% were in the
age group of 18 24, and 14 % belonged to the age
group up to 6 years.
Average Family size wise of the respondents was
calculated as seven members. A significant ratio of the
respondents ( 65 % ) had the family size of 3 - 6 while
14 % had the 6 - 9 members and 13 % had up to 3
members of family, a small ratio of the respondents (
6 % ) belonged to the group of 9 - 12 members, only
2% belonged to 12 - 15 members family.
Regarding any help assistance available to the
respondents for their domestic chores. An over
whelming majority (82%) had maid servants

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assistance at their homes. A small ratio ( 7 % ) had the

assistance of mother in law, and 2% each had elder
daughters and sisters in laws assistance. While 4 %
had no assistance available for their domestic chores.
Majority of the respondents (70%) took leave from
college and looked after their children in case of
childs sickness. However, just a little less than one
forth (17%) left their children at home with a family
member, and children of 7% respondents were looked
after by the servants, whereas 6% made other
arrangements.
All the respondents (100%) had completely
immunized their children. In case of more than half of
the respondents (57%) both parents were responsible
for immunization of their children. One third of the
respondents (34%) were themselves responsible for
the immunization of their children and 6% were the
cases where childrens fathers were responsible.
Most of the respondents children (97%) have no
congenital disease, however, 3% of the respondents
have physically handicapped children Among those
having children with physical disability, only half
(50%) have arrangements of monthly check up of their
children. Further, half of the respondents did not have
ample time to look after their physically disabled
children. Other half lack assistance/help in this regard.
Regarding disadvantages of respondents children
being working mothers children, more than half (53%)
did not see any disadvantage, however more than one
third (36%) thought that their children had become
deprived of love and affection from mother.
When asked about their expectations from family as a
working mother, around one third (30%) had none.
Almost one forth (21%) expected husbands cooperation regarding health & education of their
children, a small ratio (13%) expected husbands
emotional encouragement.
Similarly, in terms of their expectations from govt.
around one third respondents (34%) had no
expectation from government, a little less than one
fifth expected that govt. should establish day care
centers to facilitate them, around one sixth (14%)
expected increased salary, remaining (10%) expected
that teachers should be appointed closer to home.
DISSCUSSION
Majority of the respondents were not officially
allowed to bring their small children with them in
college. They used different ways to look after their
kids during college timing; like majority arranged
domestic servants and a small ratio left their children
at day care. when women go to work they actually

have to perform dual role to adjust their routine.

According to them they are not fully satisfied with
their servants or maid. This thing also made their
childrens stubborn. Amongst those who availed day
care facility for their small children, majority were
satisfied over the standard of day care services. In
case of children's sickness, majority of the
respondents took leave from college and looked after
their children. Working mothers in Pakistan have great
difficulties managing the job and their household.
Their babies are small and stay awake the whole night.
All the respondents had immunized their children
completely and hardly 3% congenital diseases were
reported. Majority of the respondents used to give
lunch to their school going children and children at
home, themselves. Those who did not have time to
give lunch to their children themselves were satisfied
over their routine. Kate childcare is a pre-requisite for
womens continued participation in the world outside
the home (Llewelyn and Osborne 1990).
Almost all of the respondents' children play indoor
games and more than half of the respondents
participated with them in their games. Others
remained busy in household and college work many
women are burdened with multiple role as a worker,
family care and the person responsible for household
duties. Majority of the respondents were concerned
about their small children's hygiene arrangements
that were under their supervision (ILO 2002). They
used to bath their kids, changed their dress, and took
care of nails and hair cut on regular basis. All of the
respondents confirmed that their children were
attached to someone and majority of the children
were attached to their mothers. Those whose children
were not attached to them felt satisfied that their
children were attached to someone. Majority of the
respondents had enough time, energy and resources
to look after their children. Those who did not have
time, energy and resources used to get tired due to
household chores. Almost all of the respondents
described their children as physically healthy,
intelligent and sharp. Majority of the respondents
were involved in their children's educational
arrangements, such as; children's admission, selection
of their institution, selection of their subject, attended
parent - teacher meetings and their annual result day.
Majority of the respondents felt proud of their
children's excellent position in the class. Almost all of
the respondents knew about their children's friends.
Almost all of the respondents thought that their
children felt proud of their mothers as being teacher

374

in college. Majority of the respondents were able to

manage their dual role because of their husbands' &
servants' co-operation, those who were not able to
manage the dual role, their children's education was
affected due to their busy routine. However despite
this entire struggle, working women are the first ones
to admit that their work results in the neglect of the
children and accept that husbands often perceive the
same (Krupalini and Bhat 2003).
Most of the respondents felt proud of their role in
their life not only as being a mother but also as a
professional because they had become financially
strong and their children were getting better
education. Majority of the respondents' children were
more confident and had no disadvantages due to their
mothers' status as working mother. Most of the
respondents had no expectations from their family
except their husbands' co-operation. However, they
expected from government that the facility of day care
centers should be provided and they should be
appointed closer to their home.
Conclusion: The study conclude that, working
womens and as well as their childrens are badly
affected by the jobs of their mothers. This thing also
creates many health and psychological problems in
working womens childrens due to ignorance. Over
working also affects the health of the mothers.
Majority of the respondents wanted day care facility
for their small children during their college timings, so
government should specify some area in the college
premises for this purpose. The college staff may hire a
female caretaker for their children with the cooperation of the college administration on self help
bases.
The print and electronic media should
represent such programs (like features, articles, soap
serials, movies and talk shows), which enhance sense
of responsibility and co-operation among working
mothers husbands, especially in child rearing.The
provincial ministry of Women Development should
organize seminars, workshops and conference which
highlight the struggle of working mothers, so that they
get recognition, feel encouraged and become
inspiration for other women to contribute more
actively in the national economy. For the purpose a
special award/shield may also be awarded to
successful working mothers on International Womens
Day/Mothers Day to recognize their dual contribution.
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2015The Explorer Islamabad Journal of Social Sciences-Pakistan

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