DUAL ROLE PERCEPTIONS

Transcription

1 Chapter - 6 DUAL ROLE PERCEPTIONS The encompassing nature of work family interrelations motivated the researcher to study dual-role perceptions of the women professionals. The spill over effect of family structure and functioning, over, work situation is manifest in the case of employed women (Rapoports 1971). Often, the values and the consequent perceptions of married women regarding domestic role affect the perceptions of their work role. Similarly, the experiences at work may influence the perceptions of the domestic role. In short, the two spheres family and career are so deeply enmeshed for married working women that it is relevant to include both in any study on working women. Many studies on workingwomen have focused on the issue of how they perceive the demands of the domestic role and that of the occupational role. The results of such studies are as follows: the husband s career generally takes priority over the wife s and he is accepted as the breadwinner and provider. The wife s occupational role is secondary to her domestic role. (Pendleton et al, 1980) The perceptions regarding the family and professional roles of the respondents are significant also, in the context of the dilemmas they face due to the performance of dual roles. Studying the domestic role is particularly interesting because, women professionals as a category have equivalent socio-economic status vis-à-vis their husbands since they too are in the same prestige and status professions as that of their husbands. Nevertheless, being in Kerala which is a patriarchal and patrifocal society, they are under the influence of patriarchal values which emphasis a subservient role to women at home. 76

2 The interview and the simultaneous discussions with the respondents revealed in-depth data with regard to perceptions of professional women, about their career and family. They discussed their opinions, ideas and beliefs on how the Indian family functions in the present context. The limitations affecting women in terms of conditioned roles, fixed expectations, managing the family role with full responsibility, living in a joint family set up etc, were also discussed. The respondents also shared about their career goals and expectations and spoke about their coping strategies that enable them to balance career and family. This chapter examines the perceptions of a sample of women professionals in Kerala. Specifically, it focuses on women professionals perception and prioritization of family role, perception of work role, factors that determine the choice of profession, the needs satisfied by the profession, perception of career in comparison with family and the current motivational level of the respondents. The relationships between these experiences, professional role orientation and structural work characteristics are explored in the subsequent chapters. 6.1 Perceptions of Family Role. Previous research findings indicate that women considered their families and family activities as more than men. Even when they are highly placed professionals, gender role expectations and responsibilities continue to be dominant for women. With this orientation, the present study sets out to examine the women professionals perception of Family Role. A number of family-related factors are expected to influence the women professionals perceptions of domestic role. Hence, in order to 77

3 ascertain the precedence the women professionals of Kerala give to family roles; the respondents were given the following statements and were asked to indicate the extent of their agreement on a four-point scale. The responses are given in table 6.1. Table 6.1 Family Orientation of the Respondents Statements Never Rarely Sometimes Always Total I give top priority to family (.3) (3.1) (37.7) (58.9) (100) I take decisions beneficial to my family at the expense of my career (3.1) (10.6) (67.2) (19.1) (100) I compromise on career growth to accommodate the needs of family. (4.9) (14.9) (62.0) (18.3) (100). On the basis of the responses to the above three statements, a classification was done by coding each response and placing the summated scores into categories of High, Moderate and Low levels of 78

4 Family Role Prioritisation. The score values and the corresponding categories are given in table 6.2. Table 6.2 Scores and Categories regarding Family Orientation of the Respondents Score Less than 7 Between 7 and 9 Category Low Moderate Above 9 High From the result, it is observed that 58 percent of the respondents give high priority, 39.1 percent assign moderate, and a marginal 2.9 percent attach low primacy to their family role. From this result it can be inferred that a great majority of the women professionals of Kerala assign high priority to family and that their family orientation is strong. Although it is often thought that for the modern generation of highly educated professional women, career would be a greater priority than family, the findings of this study reveal that in Kerala the primacy attached to family is still intact. It may be inferred that gender role expectations and responsibilities continue to be dominant for women in Kerala. This finding is in line with the postulates of Gender Inequality Theory. Both, Liberal and Marxian feminism proclaim that gender inequality begin with sexual division of labour and the allocation of distinct spheres of social activity for men and women, - men s primary activity as economic and women s as domestic- 79

5 and the systematic socialisation of children so that they accept the adult roles and spheres appropriate to their gender. Cross tabulations with family orientation and personal domain variables namely, age, religion, education and profession were done. Tests of significance with Chi Square were computed with the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the different categories with respect to family orientation. The results are tabulated below. Table 6.3 Association between Family Orientation of the Personal Domain Variables respondents and Variables P value Accept / Reject Ho Age and family orientation.007 Reject Ho Religion and family orientation.475 Accept Ho Education and family orientation.385 Accept Ho Profession and family orientation.175 Accept Ho Table.6.3a Association of Attributes - Age and Family Orientation Value Asymp Std.Error Approx. T Approx. Sig. Ordinal by Ordinal Kendall 's tau-b No. of Valid Cases

6 The hypothesis that there is no true difference between different age groups with respect to family orientation is rejected.(p value.007)the value of Kendall s tau-b is showing negative association between these two variables. That is, as age increases, the orientation towards family becomes lower. With regard to the other three variables, religion, education and profession, the hypothesis can be accepted since it is found that there is no true difference between different educational levels, religious groups, and profession with respect to family orientation. The primacy attached to family by the respondents become further evident when their response to the question on the factors that pulled or pushed them to leave their job is analyzed. The results are presented in table 6.4. Table 6.4 Ranking order of the factors that motivated the respondents to leave the job. Factors Frequency Mean Std. Deviation Rank Job - Stress Unattractive pay Uncongenial atmosphere Lack of career advancement Change of place of work Family demands Better pay and prospects

7 As revealed in table 6.4, Role Stress and Change of place of Work are ranked as most significant factors that pushed the respondents to leave their job. Family Demands has been ranked as the second most important factor that prompted women professionals to leave their jobs. It has to be noticed that job stress emanate from circumstances in the work-front as well as in the home front. Since the work related factors are ranked low while the family related factors are ranked high in the above table, it is proper to infer that difficulties in the home front, lead to job stress for the respondents. Hence, dwelling deep into the factors that scored high ranks, it can be concluded that it is the primacy attached to the family and the domestic role that induce the respondents to leave their jobs. In Kerala, women are brought up to feel that they have a greater responsibility to family welfare than men and hence they undertake most of the family responsibilities from child care to care of the aged parents. As a non - western society characteristic, feelings about child care is a significant conflict source for women here. Sensitivity about family welfare and elderly parents are also pointed out as significant factors effecting their decision to leave the current profession. Hence naturally, women cannot participate in career-life, equally with family life, because they tend to place a higher priority on family and its demands. Similarly, the answers to the question whether they would decline promotion if there is a change of place of work, also support the above finding- the primacy attached to family. The results are given in table

8 Table 6.5 Responses to the question, Will you decline promotion if there is a change of place of work. Responses Frequency Percent No Yes NA Total Among the respondents, 7.1 percent held non-transferable jobs. Hence, their response to the question is, NA - meant that, change of place of work is not applicable for them. 38 percent of the respondents were willing to accept promotion with a change of place of work, while, 54.9percent said that they would decline promotion if it demanded a change of place of work. The discussions with the respondents disclosed that the reasons for denial of promotion with transfer were familial. In most such cases, they had small children or aged parents at home and they could not leave them. In a few other cases, already, the husbands were away, and the respondents could not think of a transfer. A highly qualified doctor respondent said, What I want is Life, and not just Career. Another respondent, who is a Chartered Accountant, stated that sometime in her career, she had to travel quite a lot and was away from home quite often. She obtained very high professional reputation, but, she soon realised that her success in career was coming in the way of her family and that the children were suffering. She decided to opt for an office-bound job, where 83

9 she had no travel connected with work. According to her, the family problems got settled soon and then she was more at peace with her and everybody else. As a significant finding, these data clearly suggest that no matter what their employment situation and status, women give top priority to their domestic role. The assertion is so strong that even in the contemporary times; the family comes first for a woman. It is the socialization experiences that enable one to set priorities in life. Social norms do not ask women of any class the ordinary woman or the highly educated and qualified professional woman - to choose between family and career, but, rather, motivate her to prioritise family above career. This indicates an important sociological finding too: - that, the value systems governing gender roles in contemporary Kerala society have not changed to facilitate changes in the perceptions of women regarding their primary role. Consequently, even though women in Kerala are allowed to pursue higher education, even professional education and to pursue a career, they are not expected to give up the highest priority to family. 6.2 Perceptions on Work Role The present study enquires two things regarding women professionals perception on work: - 1. the motivating factors that determine the choice of the particular profession and the decision to work based on the needs that are satisfied by the profession and, 2. the present motivational level based on the factors that induce them to continue in the profession 84

10 Choice of Profession The decision to choose a particular profession might be the result of the interaction of diverse factors. These factors could range from personal liking to the influence of a model or reference group, to the suggestion or even the pressure of significant others. The considerations might also include such factors as whether the profession has social prestige, whether it is women friendly, whether it would be compatible with the husband s job, etc. The respondents of this study belong to four different professions, Medicine, Engineering, Law and Accounting. It was interesting to find out what actually decided the choice of their profession. Hence, during pilot study, the respondents were asked to list the factors that determined the choice of their respective profession. These factors were included in the final interview- schedule and the respondents were asked to rank them in their order of priority. The observations are given in table 6.6 Table Motivating Factors in the Choice of Profession Factors N Mean Std. deviation Rank Charm of the profession Interest in the field Financial security The results show that Interest in the Field is the most significant propeller in choosing the particular profession. It can be inferred as the most prominent reason since the arithmetic mean for it, is the lowest. The standard deviation being the minimum makes it 85

11 the most consistent cause too. The second most important inspiring aspect is Charm of the Profession, and the least significant motive is seen as Financial security. The fact that the highest priority is given to interest in the profession, persuade the researcher to infer that it is the desire to give expression to one s interests, talents and skill that drive the respondents to choose a particular profession. This finding is contradictory to the existing assumptions and the findings of earlier studies on the factors that motivate women to work. The popular contention for women s work is that it is a special phenomenon undertaken to surmount adverse situations in the family. Ross (1961) states that women are propelled to work by the economic need of the family. According to the official document of Ministry of Labor, Government of India, (Labour Bureau, 1964), the factors that motivate women to work are the following: - inadequate income of the principal earner, mishaps such as incapacity or death of the breadwinner, woman s desire for economic independence, or for securing higher standard of living. The possible reason for the contradiction in this study is the higher educational and socioeconomic status of the respondents and the consequent absence of any economic necessity to supplement the family income. Need Satisfaction Among various behavioral theories generally accepted by Sociologists all over the world, the most popular, is the one propounded by Abraham Maslow, a behavioral scientist, who developed the theory, Hierarchy of Needs (Motivation and Personality, 1954) According to this theory, human beings have the following needs. 1. Physiological needs for food, clothing and shelter. 86

12 2. Safety needs for security, protection from danger, and freedom from fear. 3. Social needs for affection, belonging, and relations with others 4. Esteem needs for achievement, recognition, and confidence. 5. Self actualization needs for using one s capacities and potentialities and becoming what one is inherently capable of being. According to Maslow, these needs are arranged in hierarchical order and any person establishes priorities for satisfying the needs. The researcher is interested in knowing whether and to what extent this theory is applicable in the case of women professionals in Kerala. Hence these needs were listed in the interview schedule and the respondents were asked to rank them in their order of priority. The result is presented in table 6.7 Table 6.7 Need Satisfaction of the Respondents Needs N Mean Std. Deviation Rank Economic Security Achievement Affiliation Self-actualization

13 Analyses of this data indicate that profession facilitates the satisfaction of all the needs as suggested by Abraham Maslow in his Theory of Needs. The arithmetic mean of the ranks given by the respondents for the various need alternatives were computed and accordingly, the data shows that achievement need has the highest priority. It is in fact, the need that motivates the women professionals to pursue their career. The second main concern is security needs, followed by self-actualisation needs, economic needs and lastly affiliation needs. It is observed that, economic needs have little significance for women in the professions. This finding is consistent with the earlier detection in the present study on the reasons for the choice of the particular profession. Affiliation Needs held the least rank. The fact is that women professionals are so busy juggling in dual role that, they do not have the time to engage in social activities that could lead to affiliation with others in social functions, club activities or even professional organizations. Analysis of data regarding coping strategies,(chapter 9)disclose that giving up social activities and membership in social clubs or associational activities is one kind of coping strategy that these women employ often. 6.3 Perception of Career in Comparison with Family. The orientation towards one s profession is said to determine the importance accorded to one s career. Hence, it is thought essential to ascertain what kind of orientation women professionals have towards their profession. The intention is to ascertain whether the professional role is perceived as prior to, equal to, or, as secondary to the domestic role. The respondents were asked as to how they perceive profession vis a vis family. The responses are given in table

14 Table 6.8 Respondents Perception of Career in comparison with Family Perception Frequency Percent Equally Important Career has priority over family Family has priority over career Total The findings reveal that 67.7 percent of the respondents perceive career and family by the same token, while, 28.9percent consider family, beyond their profession. It is surprising to find that only 3.4 percent of the respondents give profession a higher priority than family. This data was further analyzed to see whether there is any significance between the personal domain variables and the twin role sensitivity. The findings are given in table

15 Table 6.9 The Personal Domain Variable- Specific Perceptions of the Professionals on Dual Role. Variable Career& Family are Equally important Career is more important Family is more important Total Age (62.8%) 4 (3.5%) 38 (33.6%) 113 (100%) (60.7%) 3 (2.1%) 52 (37.1%) 140 (100%) (83.5%) 5 (5.2%) 11 (11.3%) 97 (100%) Religion Hindu 161 (74%) 8 (3.7%) 48 (22.1%) 217 (100%) Christian 60 (54.1%) 3 (2.7%) 48 (43.2%) 111 (100%) Muslim 16 (72.7%) 1 (4.5%) 5 (22.7%) 22 (100%) Profession Doctor 71 (71%) 6 (6%) 23 (23%) 100 (100%) Engineer 61 (61 %) 0 (0%) 38 (38%) 100 (100%) Advocate 69 (69 %) 5 (5%) 26 (26%) 100 (100%) Chartered 36 (72 %) 1 (2%) 13 (26%) 50 (100%) Accountant 90

16 The data show that there is no clear relationship between different age groups and the perceptions on dual role. While most of the respondents of all age groups consider family and profession as equally important, a greater number of respondents who consider family as more important than career belong to the age group This again can be attributed to the fact that for married women, family demands are maximum during the period of years of age. Perceptions on the relative significance of career and family roles seem to differ across different religious groups. There is true difference between the responses of Christian respondents in comparison with Hindu or Muslim respondents. While 74 percent and 72.7 percent of Hindu and Muslim respondents respectively, give equal priority to both career and family, only 54.1 percent of the Christian respondents consider so. So also, when, 22.percent of the Hindu and 22.7 percent of the Muslim respondents consider family as more important than career, almost half, 43.2 percent of the Christian respondents give greater priority to family. The possible reason for this is the strong prevalence of patriarchal ideology among the Christians than among the other two groups. There is no significant inter-professional differences in the importance attached to family or career. The responses are equally spread and there is not much variation. Hence it could be concluded that it is not the nature of profession, or, age of the respondent, but rather, the value system imbibed through socialization that mould the perceptions of the respondents and determine the importance attached to family and career. The fact that there is a shift in emphasis in different age groups, demonstrate that women professionals cling to the age old assumptions, imbibed through socialization, regarding the ideal role of women, and they give higher priority to family in the child rearing stage, but later, in the empty nest stage their priority 91

17 to family lessens. The disparity in responses with regard to respondents of different religious groups can be ascribed to the strong hold of traditional ideas regarding the appropriate role of women, which is also taken in through socialization. 6.4 Current Motivational Level of the Respondents Whatever be the initial reasons that drive one to take up a profession, the current motivational level is sustained by the unison of several factors. Acquisition of higher qualification and the motive behind it as well as the interest to remain in the work-world are definite indices of current work- motivation. Hence, the respondents were asked two questions;- 1. Whether they took any degree / diploma in the last five years and if so, what motivated them to do so? 2. Whether they would opt for voluntary retirement. The responses are given in table 6.10 Table 6.10 Current Motivational Level Statements Yes No NA Total Did you take additional degree /diploma in the last five years (21.1) (78.9) (0) (100) Would you opt for VRS (10.6) (82.3) (7.1) (100) 92

18 The data reveal that 21.1percent; a little more than one-fifth, of the respondents took additional degree or diploma during the last five years. This shows the interest of the professionals to be in the profession. The results also suggest that majority of the respondents do not favor VRS for them. When the question why was posed to them they all unanimously said that personal satisfaction and well being could not be attained in the domestic realm alone. Thus it could be concluded that the women professionals chose to be in the professional world and they are keen to remain there. It was seen that they do not choose between profession and domestic life; rather, they preferred to participate in both and that too by acquiring higher qualifications and thus updating their knowledge. Table 6.11 Motivating factors in taking any degree/diploma during the last 5 years Factors Frequency Mean Std.deviation Rank Better Remuneration Job Promotion Self-enrichment The respondents were asked to list the various factors that motivated them to take additional degree or diploma in the last five years, and to rank them in order of priority. The findings reveal that job promotion is ranked first by the respondents. It can therefore be inferred 93

19 that the respondents are committed to their career and they desire to rise up in the professional hierarchy. Self-enrichment gets the second highest score and this supports the earlier finding that women professionals are interested in their career and they want to update their knowledge and skill in the profession. The fact that better remuneration has the least rank again proves that women professionals are not goaded by economic reasons to pursue academic pursuits. To assess the current motivational level, the respondents were also asked what they would choose if they are given another chance. The results are given in table 6.12 Table 6.12 Respondents Preference, if given a chance Responses Frequency Percent Full time career with family Part time work with family Full time house wife only 1.3 Total The results reveal that 99.7 percent of the respondents prefer the combination of career and family. Only.3 percent preferred to be full time housewife percent preferred full time career with family role and 94

20 16.3 percent preferred part time work with family role. The data clearly indicate that the overall level of motivation among the women professionals of Kerala is high. This result support the finding of Mathur (1992) that level of motivation is enhanced by the educational level and was higher in the professional category as compared to the nonprofessional category. 6.5 Job Involvement By job involvement is meant the extent to which an individual associate himself / herself with the job. It is the degree to which a person identifies physically and psychologically with his or her work. Job involvement reveals the importance of the job to the person. Research studies over the past two decades which have explored the construct of job involvement have approached it from two different perspectives (Sekaran, 1989; Sekaran and Mowday, 1981). First, when viewed as an individual different variable, job involvement is believed to occur when the possession of certain needs, values, or personal characteristics predispose individuals to become more or less involved in their jobs. The second perspective views job involvement as a response to specific work situation characteristics. In other words, certain types of jobs or characteristics of the work situation influence the degree to which an individual becomes involved in his/her job. These two theoretical approaches to investigating the nature of job involvement suggest that it should be examined from both the perspective of the individual as well as the work environment. Indeed, Rabinowitz and Hall (1977) in their review of the literature on job involvement concluded that both approaches contributed significantly to our understanding. They found several studies, for 95

21 example, where individual characteristics such as age, education, sex, tenure, need strength, level of control and values were linked to job involvement, although these linkages were not very consistent across studies. Similarly, they described other studies in which job involvement was related to situational variables in the work environment such as leader behaviour, decision making processes, interpersonal relations and job characteristics as well as with work outcomes such as job satisfaction, turnover and absenteeism. Furthermore, they suggested that individual difference and job characteristic variables were about equally important in determining job involvement. In contrast to the latter finding, Saal (1978) in a study of manufacturing employees found that perceived job characteristics were a better predictor of job involvement than individual difference variables. This conclusion has received further support by Knoop (1986), and in a recent study by Elloy, Everett and Flynn (1991). The authors found that situational characteristics as well as outcome variables each displayed comparable amounts of common variance with job involvement and considerably more than did personal characteristics. Thus, in recognition of the clarification of job involvement made by Kanungo (1979, 1982b) and the subsequent development of valid instruments to measure the construct, the purpose of this study is to further examine the relationship between job involvement and certain individual, family and work domain variables. In this study, job involvement is assessed; by analyzing the responses to the seven behavioural frequencies mentioned in table

22 Table Job Involvement of the Respondents. Behavioural Frequencies Never Rarely Sometimes Always Total Office bearer of the professional (38.9) (18.6) (24.6) (18.0) (100) organization Participate in Seminars (4.9) (30.9) (48.6) (15.7) (100) Carry work home (22.3) (34.0) (36.6) (7.1) (100) Concerned about the way I do my job (3.7) (7.4) (22.3) (66.6) (100) I do my best (1.4) (5.1) (26.6) (66.9) (100) Preoccupied with job related matters at (10.6) (19.1) (59.7) (10.6) (100) home Stay back after office hrs if there is extra work. (5.1) 913.1) (52.3) (29.4) (100) 97

23 These responses were categorised from high to low on the basis of the scores obtained. The final scores ranged from 7 to 28. The scores ranging from 7 14 were given the rating of low, those amid were considered as moderate and those were understood as high. The results suggest that 34.3 percent of the women professionals are highly involved with their profession, 62.3 percent demonstrate moderate involvement and a marginal 3.4 percent show low involvement in their respective professions. The respondents have chosen the particular profession out of their interest on the same and that may be the possible reason for their high degree of job involvement. Table 6.14 a. Association of Job Involvement with personal domain variables Variables P value Accept / Reject Ho Age of the Respondent.159 Accept Ho Education.257 Accept Ho Religion.627 Accept Ho Profession.063 Accept Ho Income.097 Accept Ho Cross tabulations with different personal domain variables and job involvement were conducted and Chi square was computed to understand their association. Since the P value in all cases is greater than.05, the hypothesis that there is no true difference between different personal domain variables is accepted. Hence it can be inferred that job 98

24 involvement is not associated with age of the respondent (P value.159), education (Pvalue.257), religion (Pvalue.627) profession (Pvalue.063) and income ( P value.097). The findings suggest that the intensity of participation in the professional activities is independent of one s personal attributes. Research studies over the past two decades which have explored the construct of job involvement have approached it from two different perspectives (Sekaran 1989). First, when viewed as an individual different variable, job involvement is believed to occur when the possession of certain needs, values, or personal characteristics predispose individuals to become more or less involved in their jobs. The second perspective views job involvement as a response to specific work situation characteristics. In other words, certain types of jobs or characteristics of the work situation influence the degree to which an individual becomes involved in his/her job. The findings of this study confirm the first perspective. Table 6.14 b. Association of Job Involvement with family domain variables Variables P value Accept/ Reject Ho Type of family.013 Reject Ho Spouse-support.000 Reject Ho Family support.013 Reject Ho Family orientation.001 Reject Ho Age of children.024 Reject Ho 99

25 With regard to the variables in the family domain, the hypothesis that there is no true association between family domain variables and job involvement is rejected. The findings suggest that family domain variables have a predominant role to play in determining the job involvement of the respondents, since it is seen that all the family domain variables influence the level of job involvement. This finding speaks of the spillover effect of family on the work life of women professionals and it can be inferred that job involvement is significantly related to family situations. As argued by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) when a person s career sub identity grows, a person will become more ego-involved in that particular role and exhibit higher levels of motivation. This, in turn, may increase time commitment to that role and produce strain that may interfere with another role. As a result, role pressures and inter-role conflict emerge. But, if one has dependable support systems at home, one can involve oneself more and more with the work, but if the support system is absent, due to role pressures and conflicts, one s job involvement will lessen. This argument is supported by empirical evidence (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). The foremost family-related variable that determines job involvement, which has drawn wide attention, is number of children at home (Pleck et al., 1980). Given that child care responsibilities normally rest on women, working wives with more children are likely to experience greater time shortage for women (Voydanoff 1984). Younger children generally require more attention from working parents, and thus more time is needed to spend on them. Family orientation is another attitudinal factor that may determine job involvement. It is postulated that working women who have stronger identity with familial roles are less likely to involve themselves with the job than is absolutely required. Owing to the traditional sex-role 100

26 ideology, women are socialized to have a stronger orientation to and greater involvement in the family than men. Table 6.14 c. Association of Job Involvement with Work Domain variables Variables P value Accept / Reject Ho Years of Service.023 Reject Ho Hours of work/day.001 Reject Ho No.of working days/week.010 Reject Ho Regarding the work domain variables, the hypothesis that there is no true difference between the work domain variables with regard to job involvement is rejected. The results show that job involvement is associated with years of work at.023 levels, hours per day at.001 level, and, days per week at.010 levels 6.6 Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction describes how content, an individual is with his or her job. It is the way an employee feels about his job.although we know much about the antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction in general, little is known about this phenomenon as it manifests itself among women professionals of Kerala. Especially when such women manifest the characteristics of independence and empowerment, the job satisfaction experienced by them, as well as its determinants, may be unlike that of working women, in general. 101

27 In the present study, job satisfaction was ascertained by asking the respondents, How satisfied are you with your job? The responses were categorised on a five point scale.the result obtained is given in table Table 6.15 Job Satisfaction Level of the Respondents Level of Satisfaction Frequency Percent Highly satisfied Satisfied Undecided Unsatisfied Highly unsatisfied 3.9 Total The results indicate that 31.4 percent of the professionals experience a high level of job satisfaction. 65.1percent of the respondents are satisfied, and a marginal 2.3 percent is either unsatisfied or highly unsatisfied. From this it might be inferred that more than 90 percent of the respondents perceive their professions to be satisfying. The possible reasons for this lie in the fact that the respondents have chosen the particular profession out of their interest and that the professions enable the satisfaction of the several needs proposed by Maslow s Theory of 102

28 Needs and hence being in the profession provide a sense of fulfillment to the women professionals. How do job satisfaction relate to other variables? In order to assess the association between job satisfaction with the variables, chi-square test was performed and the hypothesis that there is no true difference between the different variables in the personal, family or work domain and job satisfaction of the respondents was tested. The details are given below. Table 6.16a. Association of Job Satisfaction with Personal Domain Variables Variables P value Accept/ Reject Ho Age of the Respondent.001 Reject Ho Religion.065 Accept Ho Education.072 Accept Ho Profession.074 Accept Ho Income.043 Reject Ho On analysis of the level of association between job satisfaction and the different personal domain variables, the following conclusions are drawn. Among the personal domain variables, job satisfaction is positively and significantly associated with age and income of the respondents. It is seen that the respondents of higher age groups have higher levels of job satisfaction. It can be inferred 103

29 that respondents of higher age would have got accustomed to dual role; besides, the domestic sector would have turned less demanding. Hence they can concentrate more on the profession and naturally, career would prove to be more satisfying. So also, it is seen that relatively greater job satisfaction is perceived by respondents who have higher income, in comparison with the others. It is inferred that the feeling that one is getting what is due lead to higher to job satisfaction and vice versa. Job satisfaction is seen to be independent of religion, education and profession of the respondents and hence the hypothesis there is no true difference between different religious, educational and professional groups and the level of job satisfaction is accepted. Table 6.16 b. Association of Job Satisfaction with Family Domain Variables Variables P value Accept/ Reject Ho Type of family.003 Reject Ho Spouse-support.000 Reject Ho Family support.002 Reject Ho Family orientation.001 Reject Ho Age of children.000 Reject Ho Job satisfaction shows a positive association with all the family domain variables. Hence the hypothesis that job satisfaction is neutral to 104

30 the family domain variables is rejected. The type of family and the extent of spouse and family support are associated with job satisfaction. When 52.8 percent of the respondents in the joint families reported high job satisfaction, only 26.0 percent of the respondents in the extended families and 27.9 percent in the nuclear families reported so. The assistance one gets in the discharge of domestic chores and nurturing of children in the joint families can be understood as the reason behind this response. Similar is the case with spouse support. The empathy and support of the spouse too lead to higher job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and family orientation prove to be inversely related, the result being, the greater the family orientation, the lesser, the level of job satisfaction. Similar is the situation with age of children. Respondents with older children seem to be more satisfied with their career in comparison with respondents who have younger children. These reveal the spillover effect of family on the work life of women professionals and it can be inferred that job satisfaction is significantly related to family situations. Table 6.16c. Association of Job Satisfaction with Work Domain Variables Variables P value Accept/ Reject Ho Years of Service.000 Reject Ho Work sector.073 Accept Ho Work schedule.037 Reject Ho Hours of work/day.006 Reject Ho No. of working days/week.056 Accept Ho 105

31 Among the work domain variables, years of service, work schedules as well as the number of hours of work per day, of the respondents are associated with the level of their job satisfaction. Hence the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between job satisfaction and years of service, schedule of work or hours of work per day is rejected. Naturally, with increase in the years of service of the respondents, their age would also be increasing, the children would have grown up and the family related obligations would lessen, so much so, the women can concentrate more on the profession. Higher levels of job satisfaction is found among respondents who have fixed or flexible working hours and among those who have limited number of hours of work per day. The rationale for this could be ascribed to the primacy attached to the domestic role. Irregular and long working days would interfere with the time availability of the respondents at home and hence this situation leads to lowering the level of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is not significantly associated with sector of work and with the number of working days and hence the hypothesis, there is no true difference between different work-sectors, or, number of working days and job satisfaction is accepted. 6.7 Conclusion In this chapter, the researcher examines the perceptions of women professionals in the context of their domestic role and professional role. It focuses particularly on women professionals perception and prioritization of family role, perception of work role, factors that determine the choice of profession, the needs satisfied by the profession, perception of career in comparison with family and the current motivational level of the respondents. The analyses of domestic role perceptions reveal that the respondents have patriarchal perceptions and 106

32 they seem to be very much under the influence of gender role socialization. They assign topmost priority to family and are keen to safeguard the interests of the family even at the expense of their career prospects. Regarding perceptions on profession, the study found that profession provided satisfaction of all the various needs, as propounded by Maslow s theory of Needs. The choice of the profession is determined primarily by their interest in the particular field. Another significant finding is that economic considerations have the least priority among the women professionals. The possible reason for this could be the high socio economic background of the respondents and the interest in the profession being the prime motivator for the majority of the respondents. The rationale for this can be attributed to the impact of gender role socialization. An attempt is made in this study to examine the relationship between job involvement and certain individual, family and work domain variables. The study also found that the majority of the respondents are highly or moderately involved in their profession. It is also seen that the level of job involvement is dependent mostly on the family domain variables. Thus, though job involvement could be an outcome of career salience, the findings of the study disclose that objective characteristics at home like, Type of family, Spouse-support, Family support, Family orientation, Age of children may also have significant impacts upon the amount of involvement put in one s profession. For this reason, it is believed that job involvement is determined by family domain traits above and beyond one s work domain characteristics This finding is supported by Voydanoff (1988) who remarks that the traditional gender roles that place higher priority 107

33 on domestic obligations for women (such as child care) and, factors associated with family life are likely to exert greater influence on women s attitudes and behaviors and thus have a significant impact on job involvement of women. The present study is also concerned with an examination and understanding of job satisfaction in the lives of professional women. The findings reveal that they derive a fairly high level of job satisfaction. Further, the study has tried to examine the various factors, which influence and affect the level of job satisfaction among women professionals. The results of this and similar studies will enable be to identify and more accurately assess the impact of variables that can be used as predictors of job involvement. Such information should, in turn, be of considerable value in explaining variations in the level of job involvement, both within and between organizations 108