A Study on Lived Experience of Career and Personal Life Balance of Married Working Mothers; the Case of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority Employees
No Thumbnail Available
Files
Date
2019-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study tries to understand Lived Experience of Career and Personal Life Balance of
Married Working Mothers; the Case of ECEA Employees. The aim of the study is to examine
how married working mothers balance their triple role of being wife, mother and employed
worker.
Qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview guide and FGD was employed in
gathering the data. Eleven married working mothers where interviewed. Ten FGD members
were discussed and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
Finding from the study clarifies working mothers have their own definition of work life
balance which differs from one another, they face challenges like, lack of consistent support,
lack of consistent home maid, economic difficulty, work load, no nearby day care long
transportation and gender role. Working mothers also face stress that comes from the guilt of
leaving their children with house maid, from load of responsibilities and expectations, they have
developed their own coping mechanism to help themselves cope up with their situation. It is also
found that being married and having children don’t affect work promotion but some said that it
has negative effect. These mothers perceive themselves as strong committed and selfless for their
family. It is also found that married working mothers manage to attain work life balance with the
help of others like family mother sister or house maid.
Key words: work life balance, challenging gender role, support system, married working mothers.
Description
Keywords
work life balance, challenging gender role, support system, married working mothers.