Is Gender Still Important in Defining the Work-Family Conflict of Married Employees in 21st Century?

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XI, November 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Is Gender Still Important in Defining the Work-Family Conflict of Married Employees in 21st Century?

Nida Zahoor¹, Nazlina Zakaria²*, Nor Azimah Chew Abdullah^3
1, ²*, ³School of Business Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia

Abstract¬: The purpose of this research was to analyze the importance of gender in defining the work-family conflict of married employees in 21st century. Especially in workplaces with higher work related and work environment related stress. To achieve the research objective, 362 married male and female bank employees (181 each) who had at least one child, were selected for the study. The research results disseminated that although there is no significant difference in level of work related stress, work environment related stress, and work-family conflict of married employees. But unlike males, work-family conflict of married females is highly dependent on their level of work related stress. Hence, gender still plays an important role in defining the source of work-family conflict. Even though it is no longer important in determining their level of work related stress, work environment related stress, and work-family conflict. So, banks and other organizations should focus on lowering the work stress of their employees: to reduce the work-family conflict of their employees, and to flourish the performance and culture of their organization.

Keywords: Work-family conflict, Work Stress, Gender, Banks, Married employees

I. INTRODUCTION

Increased globalization, technological advancement, workload, and availability of younger workforce have posed many challenges to work and family management [1]. Due to these frequent changes in the labor market, attainment of a balance between work and family has become nearly impossible [2]. Due to inseparable nature of work and family, there is always a tug war situation in equilibrating both. This continuous pressure burdens the individual, and consequently stress [3], [2] and work-family conflict (WFC) generates [4]. The situation becomes hypercritical for married individuals [5], especially those who have to take care of their families [6], [7] and have young children [7].
These work-family issues of labor are increasing everyday due to rapid changes in labor market. To address these issues, employees have to tune themselves according to the demands of labor market [2]. Because, companies have also increased work responsibilities and working hours, to cope up with the market changes, and to cover the broader job scopes. Consequently, employees are experiencing increased levels of job demands [8]. These increased job demands are further yielding work stress [9]. These labor issues are true for every competitive labor market.

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