Page 14 - TWIMS Posters 2023

DOUBLE SHIFT - DOUBLE Background
BURDEN: A STUDY OF SOUTH The interference between work and family is
recognised as having a significant link to an
individual’s stress and well-being. Managing this
interface is commonly believed to be more
AFRICAN WOMEN challenging for women than men, primarily due to
gendered expectations. Irrespective of gender,
manufacturing is considered a high performing work
system where employees are always emotionally and
physically engaged (Agarwal, 2022), making it
MANUFACTURING family life. Gender makes the experience of
difficult to assert boundaries between work and
work-family interference more complex for women
in manufacturing due to the entrenched legacy of
gender stereotypes, inflexible work environments
MANAGERS’ EXPERIENCE OF Intellectually, it appears to be accepted that a
and lack of support (Tabassum & Nayak, 2021).
woman’s role in society is critical to the productive
economy, both in the care roles they fulfil and as
STRESS RELATING TO WORK active members of the labour workforce (Power,
2020). However, at the level of social justice, little
transformation has taken place in society and the
world of work in relation to the care economy.
Globally women and girls are responsible for
FAMILY CONFLICT work in homes and communities every day (Moreira
approximately 75% of unpaid care and domestic
da Silva, 2019).
According to the 2022 World Economic Forum Global
Gender Gap Report, the gender gap in stress is a new
indicator that warrants measuring with women’s
overall stress levels reported to be higher than men’s
and indicators pointing to an increasing divide. It is
commonly reported in literature that women are
more likely than men to report physical and
AUTHORS: emotional exhaustion from paid work, symptoms
typically associated with ‘burnout’, than men (Artz et
al, 2022).
While there is vast academic literature on Work
Dr Lisa Kinnear and Family Conflict, there are limited studies into the
stress resulting from the interface and few that
Alicia Naidoo assume a gender lens. This study explores South
African women manufacturing managers’ exper-
ience of stress relating to work-family conflict (WFC)
in a context which remains male-dominated, and
The authors acknowledge the Toyota Wessels Institute women’s lived experiences are marginalised in
relation to industry expectations.
for Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS) for supporting the Conceptual Frameworks to understand
workplace stress
attendance of the 2023 International Gender Work and There are multiple definitions of stress, but for the
Organisation conference. Objective
The research focused on four key questions:
Presented: 1. What are women’s experiences of gender expectations with respect to their family role?
2. What are women’s experiences of WFC in relation to their role as a manager in manufacturing?
3. How do women manufacturing managers relate their experiences of work-family conflict to
at 2023 International Gender Work and their experience of stress?
Organisation Conference 4. What mechanisms do women manufacturing manager use to cope with the stress experienced
from work-family conflict?
Submitted to Gender Work and Organisation Methodology
Special Issue
The research took a qualitative approach and data researcher acknowledged her position as a women
was gathered through in-depth interviews with 14 manager in manufacturing.
New Jersey, United States of America women managers in the South African
manufacturing sector. The data was analysed
through Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis, identifying themes relating to women’s
experience of the double burden of work-family
interference. Quality controls for the reliability and
validity of the data were conducted and the
TABLE 1: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE
Race Age Children
African 5 25-30 1 Yes
Indian 4 30-35 4 No
White 3 35-40 5 Lives alone
Coloured 2 40-45 4 boundaries: A qualitative study of how stem women adapted to disrupted
purpose of this research it has been defined as
environmental events which act on an individual and
strain their ability to respond leading to outcomes
such as exhaustion and depression (Gonzalez-Mulé et
al., 2020). Two fundamental frameworks used to
understand workplace stress deviate from the
tradition of the individual cognitive lens, assuming a
more contextual approach. These are the Conser-
vation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 2001) and
Demerouti, 2017). Both theories have led to studies
the Job Demands Resource (JD-R) model (Bakker &
highlighting how the threat to securing of resources,
either real or perceived, result in workplace stress. The
JD-R model considers the physical and mental effort
and cost associated with family interfering with work
(FIW) and work interfering with family (WIF).
Management and gendered expectations
leading to stress in manufacturing
Much of the workplace stress literature has been
academically focused on the impacts at an employee
or individual level (McCarthy et al., 2019), however
focus on the stress experience of managers with
manufacturing contexts has been limited.
The hostility of the male-dominated work environ-
ment was raised by Kossek et al. (2021) as a key
understanding how women manage the experience
contributor to stress and highlighted a critical gap in
of hostile cultures. Shockley et al. (2017) argue that
gender dominated environments, like manu-
facturing, introduce an additional environment
specific stress for the least represented gender.
Manufacturing organisations are premised on the
“ideal man”, who can work long hours without
domestic responsibilities.
Stress experienced by South African women due to
work-family demands has more nuanced complexity
due to the unique intersections of race,
socio-economic backgrounds and cultural gender
expectations, shaped by a history of apartheid with
its own brand of patriarchy
Although literature identifies agentic and collect-
ivist orientations in family and culture, these
orientations are often nuanced and affect how
individuals deal with stressors. This study recognises
the lack of homogeneity of a South African national
culture and the need to understand women’s
individual lived experience.
The sample represented women from a range of
cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds due to the
diversity of familial characteristics and conse-
quently WFC experiences. The demographic
characteristics of the sample are represented in the
table below:
Domestic Dual Earner
Partnership
11 Married 10 Yes
3 Partner 1 No
3 N/A
Findings
Family Interfering with Work (FIW) “I was always the first female manager, first
The study found that women’s family roles were
varied and described as leadership roles in the
quality lead of department and no one tells
home, relationship-related roles, or gender-neutral you anything, but they just watch. Most
roles. Despite the variations, Indian and African
male colleagues would watch my actions to
women primarily played leadership roles in their
critique them.”
household functions. These leadership roles were
either emotional or practical decision-making roles. The second prominent theme affecting all respond-
Simultaneously, most African and Indian women ents as a cause of stress, was the intensity of the
experienced gendered role in their family due to
environment, with explicit agreement on the
cultural upbringing expectations, whilst the white
category of the high paced and high-intensity
and coloured women interviewed did not. output expectations of manufacturing. All women
“Your parents expect this, and your in-laws you cannot switch off from when you go back home
referred to the environment as being one in which
expect that, and they expect you to have a
physically.
still
manage
career
successful
and
The third theme that caused stress in some respon-
domestic chores and take care of your
husband, but household expectations are dents was dissonance with their personality
caused by adaptive behaviour in the manufacturing
always still there.”
environment. Some respondents spoke of naturally
The most common FIW theme was gender starting to emulate male leadership traits which
became stressful as it impacted the role they had at
consideration which translated into the constraints
experienced as women regarding their working home. Some respondents recounted the stress of
forcing themselves to display authoritarian
hours and family responsibilities.
leadership behaviours at their work site but
which may be attributed to women valuing their
The experience of FIW was less common than WIF changing back to their more nurturing persona
when back at home.
family role more and therefore not perceiving it as
interference.
Work Interfering with Family (WIF) “Religion requires us to be submissive
The overall finding was that the most stressful wives (in a good way), but work requires
experiences for respondents are linked to their this strong, tough woman and that’s a
conflict for me”
work roles. The manufacturing environment culture
was unanimously described as causing the most
stress in respondents due to the patriarchal nature Lastly, women managers felt stressed by the
of the culture and the high intensity of the need to prove capability for themselves and in
environment itself.
addition for the benefit of other women. More
The first theme that emerged highlighted that the than half of the respondent group acknowledged
male-dominated culture was the most significant
contributor to work related stress. Aggressive and they needed to succeed for the greater good of
rude interactions, with frequent microaggressions, other women. Acting as a role model within a
hostile environment creates an additional and
had a compounding effect on being the minority in challenging responsibility for women which
a male-dominated workplace.
warrants further investigation.
Conclusion
The most significant finding was that gendered
expectations, both in the family and (predom- A notable implication of the study is that, despite
efforts to encourage greater diversity, the manu-
inantly) in the workplace create additional stress – facturing industry in South Africa will continue to
over and above the typical constructs giving rise to
lose women to more welcoming and less-
conflict, such as time constraints, work or family pressurised professions and working environ-
intrusions, and difficulty in creating boundaries
ments. This does not bode well for growing the
between the work and family domains. On the talent pool in an industry that is vital for boosting
whole, the female managers resorted to job creation and economic growth.
unsustainable coping mechanisms (such as
engaging in emotional detachment) instead of Manufacturing organisations would do well to
reflect seriously on what long-term steps they can
pursuing more sustainable problem-focused
take to bring about substantive gender
study revealed structural problems within the
solutions (such as soliciting support). Overall, the transformation in the industry. Through the insights
that it has produced, the study not only makes a
manufacturing industry which is based on
patriarchal norms that do not acknowledge the practical contribution to businesses in South Africa
care economy and how this impacts female
but also offers an important platform for further
managers’ performance and well-being. research.
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