Balancing Work/Life.

Strategies for Women & Men

To explore work/life balance
Coping strategies parent use to
manage multiple roles
What organizations are doing to
help parents
A supportive family culture.
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Work/family or work life Balance. Can you

have it all? Or do you have to make
choices/
Is Your Life Out of Balance
Assign % according to the importance of these
areas in your life (=100%)
Work (or school) _%
Family (rel) __%
Leisure __%
Community __%
Religion (spiritual) __%
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Assign % according to the amt of time & energy

u devote..(=100%)
Work (school) __%
Family (rel)__%
Leisure __%
Community __%
Religion (spiritual) __%
Compare the 2 columns (this slide & before). Is
there a discrepancy bet values & behaviour. If
yes, how comfortable are u with the imbalance? Is
it temporary? What can u do to improve?
Source: Smith, Women at Work p 165
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Costs of Balancing Act

Double day of paid & unpaid work particularly
demanding for women
Role conflict: psychological effects of being faced
with sets of incompatible expectations or demands.
Role overload: the difficulties of meeting these
expectations.
The secretary being asked to work overtime on short
notice & must find child care. May experience both
conflict (feeling guilty & torn bet 2 obligations) &
overload (calling baby sitters while typing the
overdue report)
Incompatible mother & worker roles..may lead to
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guilt, anxiety & depression Wk 7 08

While women & men experience role

conflicts, women are more likely than men to
adjust their jobs around their family
responsibilities (Mennino& Brayfiled, 02):
flexi schedules, work part time, turn down
opportunities for promotion or OT, use their
own sick days to care others.
Adjust family lives around their paid work by
having less children, cutting back on hsework,
hiring live in child care help
Mutual strategies bet couples: sharing
childcare & hsework, hiring domestic helper5
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Balancing Act Choices (trade-offs) is influenced more

by sociocultural aspects of gender than by own
attitudes & beliefs. In 900 men & women national
survey, individual attitudes ahd little effect. Thus,
more traditionally oriented people did not make
different choices than more egalitarian people.
However, both women & men in male dominated
occupations made more trade offs that put family
needs second to work needs. E.g. they were more
likely to take on extra work & to miss a family event.
Suggests that male-typed occupations, regardless
held by women or men, are less accomodating to jobfamily balance (Mennino & Brayfield, 02)
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Types of Work/Family Conflict

Time based conflict. Eg. Parents who have to
clock in early, cant take their kids to the school?
Part-time students have to miss last hr of the
class..Pressure from one role cause someone to
be preoccupied with that role, although
physically present in another role.
Strain-based conflict. Anxiety by the demands of
work or family role interude or spill over into the
other role, making it difficult to fulfill the
responsibilities of that role. Egif a child is sick,
u as parent may not concentrate fully on your
job..
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Behaviour based conflict

Behaviours expected or appropriate in the family
role (emotional sensitivity) viewed as
inappropriate/dyfunctional when used at work.
Women directors are expected to be authoritative,
decisive at work but at home, these behaviours
may be dyfunctional.

What are factors associated with

work/family conflict?
Demographics
Attitudinal
WorkplaceWkcharacteristics
7 08

Gender & Life Cycle

Men & Women experience work/family conflict
at different life cycle: young children, traditional
attitudes toward parenting, large families,
inflexible work schedules, unsupportive
superiors
3 Stages: families with preschool children,
families with grade school children, families
with adolescents.
Men w/f conflict decreases as their families
went tru 3 stages; womens w/f conflict did
not decrease until the 3rd stage.
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Benefits of the Balancing Act: Effects on Women &

Men.
Studies showed involvement as a spouse, parent,
partner & worker is beneficial for both gender. The
value of the balancing act is reflected in better mental
health, physical health, and relationship quality
(Barnett & Hyde, 01).
Why?
1.Paid work generally is a source of increased selfesteem, > social involvement, & an independent
identity (Steil,97). When women make paid work part
of their lives, they gain > than just $
2.Success in one domain may help people keep a
sense of perspective about the other domains
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(Crosby, 91)

In a study of > 200 mgrs, both gender believed their roles as

parents & active community members had > positive than
negative effects on their work performance (Kirchmeyer, 93).
Women who juggle home & work develop good cooperative
strategies such as choosing the most rewarding aspects of
each job & delegating the others. Having a paid job can
provide a handy excuse for a woman avoiding things she
didnt care to do (Baruch et al, 83)
Employment also increases womens power in the family,
provides family with greater income, benefiting everyone &
reduces the pressure on husbands (Barnett & Hyde,01).
Men who get involved with childcare are often surprised to find
how deeply rewarding this can be & say they would never give
it up (Deutsch, 99).
However, multiple roles may be beneficial up to a point, afer
which overload & psychological stress may prevail. Role
quality is important too.
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Effects on Children
Do they suffer when both parents outside the home?
Despite claims that working mothers (but never working fathers)
contribute to juvenile delinquency, behavior problems & poor
adjustment in children, research doesnt confirm the popular
wisdom. A meta-analysis of 59 studies showed that children
cared for by their mothers did not differ developmentally in
any important way from cared for by other adult care takers
(Erel, Obermen & Yirmiya, 01). In general, children in day
care do not suffer from disruption of their bond with their
mothers: they may experience increased intellectual growth
& development, esp if they are from low income homes that
cannot provide an enriched environment & they are at least
as socially skilled as other children (Scarr,98)

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Are there barriers in implementing organization

family-friendly programs?
Ingrained cultural values & assumptions on
work & non work domains eg..
Structural difficulties
Lack of support from managers
Perception family issues are women issues
A disturbance in the status quo-cld change the
privileged position at home for men
Striking equity among all employees gender
mainstreaming is a difficult process
Lack of evaluation data on work/life programs
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Individual
Understand the situation: why the stress?
1. modifying the situation
2. changing the meaning of stress
3. managing the symptoms of stress
Organizational (A Family-Friendly).
Varieties of policies & programs
1. Time based. 2. Information based. 3.
Money based & 4. Direct services.

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Making a Difference: Toward a Better Future for

Women (Women & Gender by Mary Crawford & Rhoda Unger)
Revisit the books themes:
Gender > just sex
Language & naming sources of power
Women were not all alike
Psychological research can foster social
change
How they relate to making a difference for
women?
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Transforming Gender
A system of power relations affecting individuals,
relationships & society. Changes can be fostered at
each of these levels.
A.Transforming Ourselves
Women internalising some of the sexist messages in
their own culture.
Some Feel shame about their bodies, their sexuality, or
aging.
Some doubt their abilities/do not feel entitled to equal
treatment @ work or home
Many feel guilty of not being perfect mothers; blamed
themselves for being raped, sexually harassed.
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Wk 7 08

Self-hatred fostered by exposure to media images,

gender socialization in childhood & adolescence. Being
in lower status & power in everyday interaction &
relationships.
How to change these beliefs & attitudes at individual
womens level?
The 70s 2nd-wave feminists developed consciousness
raising (C-R) groups. Informal meetings, talked about
their lives as women. Saw the problems were not just
individual deficiencies but related to societys
devaluation of women.
CR encouraged social action opening shelters for
battered women & protesting against sexist advert.
Progress in 70s & 80s. Many groups became more
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individually focused & disappeared Wk 7 08

Yet many organizations for social change incorporated

the values & norms of CR groups.
CR groups a model for feminist therapy why?
1.Offered women to share experiences without being
treated as patients who needed expert psychiatric help
2.Assumed that the environment influences
significantly in womens problems & difficulties.
3.CR groups may not exist in Western culture but are
still practiced in developing cultures.
4.Feminist counseling & therapy (relatively
few)empower women who want to make changes in
their lives, valuable for women who have a history of
physical & sexual abuse, eating disorders & depression
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Many women develop political & personal

values compatible with feminism or
feminist values after personal experience in
sexual harassment as an example.
Education-leads to feminist consciousness &
activism. Women studies programs are
growing. The courses often provide powerful
consciousness-raising which leading to
decrease in passive acceptance of sexism, an
increase in commitment to feminism & plans
for social activism (Bargad & Hyde, 91).
What positive influence do womens studies
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Wk
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08
courses bring?

Transforming Interpersonal Relations

Gender inequity-reproduced in daily interactions
with others. How women are being devalued is product of genderroles and expectations states theories. Being women, you are
expected to behave communally. Being communal,
women are seen as ineffective leaders since agentic
behavior is seen as effective.
Stereotyping exerts control over people in several ways:
1. Describe how people in a certain group supposed to behave:
women are emotional, Asian Americans are academically motivated,
old people always talk of the past..
2. Prescriptive & descriptive tell members of stereotyped
groups how they should behave. If they dont conform, they may be
penalized. A woman not showing much emotion may be judged as
cold, unfeminine & controlling.

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Doing gender can be stopped when people treat

others as individuals.
Become aware of how we respond to members of a
category. Generally, people with power engage in
stereotyping of people with less power. A worker must
pay attention to the moods & demands of his/her boss
not the other way around why?
Knowing how power affects stereotyping is a strategy
for change.
When awareness of sexism is raised, small acts of
resistance can follow. Support working groups fighting
sexism, poverty, abuse etc.
Doing gender can be disrupted when refuse to
cooperate or stay silence
in the face of sexism 22
Wk 7 08

Humor can be an effective tool. When PM Margaret

Thatcher received the backhanded compliment from a
member of the opposing political party, May I
congratulate you for being the only man on your
team? she responded, Thats one more you have
got on yours.
Transforming Society
Transforming gender at the social structural level is
linked with the individual & interactional
transformations- When people are empowered as
individuals, they can speak out against injustice,
begin to change the institutions, laws customs, norms
that harm girls & women. The effect-speaking out
leads to increased feeling of self-efficacy & self
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empowerment.
Wk 7 08

How to maintain gender equality at work & home?

Transforming Language
How many women made themselves heard? One
being Mary Edwards Walker- feminist 1st wave, s
physician was denied a commission as army
physician despite the pressing need for doctors
during the Civil War. Her Congressional Medal of
Honor Award was later revoked but restored after
her granddaughter spoke up for her.
Mary Edward Walker used the power of language
to change opinions & attitudes. After the war,
lectured widely on equal rights for women. In
defiance of social norms, she didnt change her
name or promise to obey her husband when she
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Wk 7 08
married

Celebrating Diversity
Women are not all alike. Working class women
and older women face different forms of sexism
than other groups: college or younger women.
How to make womens movement & feminist
psychology more inclusive?
Women of color wanted to see feminist theory &
research should go beyond analysing the position
of white women relating to white men, but white
women to women of color, white women to men of
color
A diversity change occurs when white women are
integrating with women of color to fight sexism
after many decades of critiques against white
feminist movement but not easy. Wk 7 08 25

The importance of women-of-color perspectives quoted

by one Asian-American 3rd wave feminist, Jee Yeun Lee:
Women of color do not struggle in feminist movement
simply to add cultural diversity, or the viewpoints of
different kinds of womenbut to challenge the
fundamental premises of feminism, such as the
definition of women and call for recognition of the
constructed racial nature of all experiences of
gender..Sisterhood may be global, but who is in that
sisterhood? A challenge to young feminists activism
today. Coming together & working together are by no
means natural & easy (Lee, 95).
The issues of women in other cultures are more visible
as feminism becomes more global.
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 Psychology & Social Change

Women earn the majority as psychologist, lead
well established professional organizations,
published many books & journals, & participate in
every aspect
of psychological research, education
& practices. A good example of change:
At U of Connecticut, Womens Studies.Regular lunch
talk for faculty & graduate students. Invited a
married couple who brought along 4 year son old
& I month infant. The man started to talk about
research, while mom took the children outside to
play. Is this sexist?
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Then halfway, mom came back to conclude

the presentation & dad took the children out.
Afterwards, another male professor arranged
for the older child to join a playgroup with his
own 4 year old daughter. A lunchtime
psychology program became an example of
collaborative research, shared parenting, &
the balancing act of multiple roles for both
women & men.

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Finding a BALANCE between career & family

demands
Background: Civil Servants juggling the
demands of family & work were to get a helping
hand from the National Population & Family
Development Board (LPPKN) (Sharmini, NST.
April 10, 2007.
LPPKN to begin a series of courses to educate
civil servants on finding a family-work demand
balance in April 07. The board recognized workfamily balance is one of the hardest tasks for
many employees
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70% of families in 2007 consist of nuclear

families only parents & their children. This
institution lacks a strong support system
available in extended families.
Some 47% of women in Malaysia are in the
workforce a large number of families are
dual income. With long working hours &
bigger commitments at work, many find their
families suffering as a result. Less time is
spent with children & spouses & this
contributes to a greater stress level. (LPPKN
Acting Deputy Director General, Dr Anjli
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Doshi-Gandhi)

A community reach out proactive approach

Courses held at workplace during working
hours, called Parenting@Work.
Designed for those trying to manage their
multiple roles a parent, spouse & employee.
Ist course-employees of the Malaysian
Administrative Modernization & Management
Planning Unit in the PMs Department.

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1 day course in time management, balancing the

demands of career & family, being parents, employees
& spouses.
Employing interactive mode using role play,
discussions, games & case studies.
Focusing on 5 core areas;
knowing yourself: personality & strengths & how they
influence your behavior
one body-multiple hats, how to prioritize & manage
your multiple roles
Fathering & mothering
Creative parenting: guiding you on a variety of fun
activities with your children
Stress management Wk 7 08

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Targeted at working couples esp those with

young & teenage children.
Planned for 168 sessions in 07 across the board
at government depts and statutory bodies.
Course developers. Experts- LPPKN (Anjli),
Academia, Family Consultant, author,
Psychiatrist, Developmental Psychologist..
LPPKN from family planning towards families &
issues affecting them.
Current core services: family development,
reproductive health & infertility treatment.
www.lppkn.gov.my
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Wk 7 08

Sharon L. Allen, Chairman of Deloit Corporation,

Michigan talked about talents & how to maintain &
foster human talents in todays business
environment.
Adopted a mass career customization at Deloit
Recognizes that career ladders are not necessarily
linear and vertical.
Employees are allowed to choose their career
movement or ladder flexibly enough to fit in their work
& family demands but the constant is they need to
work hard. They can work anywhere, any structure,
or groups as long as they find work-family balance
are positive and foster career achievements.
Visit <masscareercustomization> Wk 7 08 34

References
Crawford, Mary & Rhoda Unger (2004). Women &
Gender. A Feminist Psychology. 4th ed, NY: McGraw
Hill (ISBN 0-07-282107-8)
Dayle, Women at work
LPPKN, Special Focus, Finding a Balance between
Career & Family Demands (New Straits Times,
Malaysia)
Maimunah et.al, High Flyer Women Academicians
Women in Management Review
Report on Women in Higher Education (Webclass)
http://www.ilo.org/Global/Themes/Equality_and
_discrimination/GenderEquality/lang--en/index.htm
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