The Motherhood Experiences of Women Employees: an Interpretive Field Study in Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT Motherhood is an extensive research topic that can be seen in different disciplines. Problems arising from motherhood are the main research questions of this research. Social constructivism has been chosen as a philosophical basis of the research in order to understand subjective motherhood experiences of female employees through their self- expressions. Phenomenological research approach has been chosen with qualitative research design. Participants of this study consist of 33 working mothers with 0-6 years old children in Turkey. For sampling method, snowball sampling method was used as a purposive sampling strategy. Qualitative data is gathered by using an unstructured interview form with 13 questions. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis method. According to research findings, the first priority of working mothers is motherhood. Keeping a balance between motherhood and work is a real challenge for working mothers. Working mothers experience various problems at workplace. Keywords: Motherhood, working mothers, women employees, gender, Turkey

Keywords

• Motherhood
• working mothers
• gender
• women employees

Abstract

ABSTRACT Motherhood is an extensive research topic that can be seen in different disciplines. Problems arising from motherhood are the main research questions of this research. Social constructivism has been chosen as a philosophical basis of the research in order to understand subjective motherhood experiences of female employees through their self- expressions. Phenomenological research approach has been chosen with qualitative research design. Participants of this study consist of 33 working mothers with 0-6 years old children in Turkey. For sampling method, snowball sampling method was used as a purposive sampling strategy. Qualitative data is gathered by using an unstructured interview form with 13 questions. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis method. According to research findings, the first priority of working mothers is motherhood. Keeping a balance between motherhood and work is a real challenge for working mothers. Working mothers experience various problems at workplace. Keywords: Motherhood, working mothers, women employees, gender, Turkey

Keywords

• Motherhood
• working mothers
• women employees

References

1. REFERENCES Albrecht, G.H. (2003). How friendly are family friendly policies?. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(2), 177-192.
2. Alonso-Almeida, M.M. (2014). Women (and mothers) in the workforce: Worldwide factors. Women’s Studies International Forum, 44, 164-171.
3. Arendell, T. (2000). Conceiving and investigating motherhood: The decade’s scholarship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62(4), 1192-1207.
4. Ayyıldız-Ünnü, N.A. (2015). Yönetim erkeklerin yönetimi mi? Yönetim bilimlerine eleştirel bir yaklaşım. In Sürgevil-Dalkılıç, O. (Ed.), Çalışanne: kadın akademisyenlerin kaleminden çalışma yaşamında annelik (pp.215-246). Ankara: Nobel Yayıncılık.
5. Baum, C.L. (2003). Does early maternal employment harm child development? An analysis of the potential benefits of leave taking. Journal of Labor Economics, 21, 409-448.
6. Beauregard, T.A. & Henry, L.C. (2009). Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human Resource Management Review, 19(1), 9-22.
7. Beets, G.C.N., Liefbroer, A.C. & De Jong Gierveld, J. (1997). Combining employment and parenthood: A longitudinal study of intentions of Dutch young adults. Population Research and Policy Review, 16(5), 457-474.
8. Bianchi, S.M. (2000). Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or suprising continuity?. Demography, 37(4), 401-414.

9. Brown, L.M. (2010). The relationship between motherhood and Professional advancement: Perceptions versus reality. Employee Relations, 32(5), 470-494.
10. Chang, Y.E. (2013). The relation between mother’s attitudes toward maternal employment and social competence of 36-month-olds: The roles of maternal psychological well-being and sensitivity. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22, 987-999.
11. Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociaology of gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.
12. Correll, S.J., Benard, S. & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty?. American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1297-1338.
13. Costa, B.M., Walker, A., Zinkiewicz, L., Berman, H., Cartledge, A.& Nheng, S. (2012). The maternity journey in an organisational context: A case study. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Organisational Psychology, 5, 43-49.
14. Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California, CA: SAGE Publications.
15. Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). USA: SAGE Publications.
16. Crowley, J.E. (2013). Perceiving and responding to maternal workplace discrimination in the United States. Women’s Studies International Forum, 40, 192-202.
17. Çakmak-Otluoğlu, K.Ö. (2015). İnsan kaynakları yönetimi ve çalışan anneler: Aile dostu işyeri uygulamaları çalışan annelere neler sunuyor? In Sürgevil-Dalkılıç, O. (Ed.), Çalışanne: kadın akademisyenlerin kaleminden çalışma yaşamında annelik (pp.73-109). Ankara: Nobel Yayıncılık.
18. Dedeoğlu, A.Ö. (2010). Discourses of motherhood and consumption practices of Turkish mothers. Business and Economics Research Journal, 1(3), 1-15.
19. Dillaway, H. & Pare, E. (2008). Locating mothers: how cultural debates about stay-at-home versus working mothers define women and home. Journal of Family Issues, 29(4), 437-464.
20. Donath, O. (2015). Regretting motherhood: A sociopolitical analysis. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 40(2), 343-367.
21. Duncan, S. & Edwards, R. (1999). Lone mothers, paid work and gendered moral rationalities. London: Macmillan.
22. Eurofound (2013). Caring for children and dependants: Effect on careers of young workers. Background Paper, Ireland. Retrieved from https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/efpublication/field ef document/ef1344en 0.pdf
23. Fowler, J., Gudmundsson, A. & Whicker, L. (2006, September). Work/family balance: HRM policy and practice in Australia. In Thorpe, R., McHugh, M. & Leitch, C. (Eds.), Conference Proceedings 2006: British Academy of Management: Building International Communities Through Collaboration, Belfast, UK.
24. Gatrell, C.J. (2014). Monstrous motherhood versus magical maternity: An exploration of conflicting attitudes to maternity within health discourses and organizational settings. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(7), 633-647.
25. Glass, J.L. & Riley, L. (1998). Family responsive policies and employee retention following childbirth. Social Forces, 76(4), 1401-1435.
26. Greenhaus, J.H.& Beutell, N.J. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of Management, 10(1), 76-88.
27. Hagelskamp, C., Hughes, D., Yoshikawa, H. & Chaudry, A. (2011). Negotiating motherhood and work: A typology of role identity associations among low-income, urban women. Community, Work & Family, 14(3), 335-366.
28. Hays, S. (1996). The cultural contradictions of motherhood. New Heaven, CT: Yale University Press.
29. Hays, S. (2011). The mommy wars: Ambivalence ideological work and the cultural contradictions of motherhood. In Skolnick, A. & Skolnick, J. (Eds.), Family in transition (6th ed.) (pp.41-60). Boston: Pearson.
30. Holden, G.W. & Edwards, L.A. (1989). Parental attitudes toward child rearing: Instruments, issues and imlications. Psychological Bulletin, 106(1), 29-58.
31. Laney, E.K., Carruthers, L., Hall, M.E.L. & Anderson, T. (2014). Expanding the self: Motherhood and identity development in faculty women. Journal of Family Issues, 20(10), 1-25.
32. Maher, J. (2005). A mother by trade: Australian women reflecting mothering as activitiy, not identity. Australian Feminist Studies, 20(46), 17-29.
33. Mayatürk-Akyol, E. (2015). Toplumsal yaşamda ve çalışma hayatında kadın ve anne kimlikleri: Kuramsal bir bakış. In Sürgevil-Dalkılıç, O. (Ed.), Çalışanne: kadın akademisyenlerin kaleminden çalışma yaşamında annelik ( pp.1-30). Ankara: Nobel Yayınları.
34. McIntosh, B., McQuaid, R., Munro, A. & Dabir-Alai, P. (2012). Motherhood and its impact on career progression. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 27(5), 346-364.
35. McMahon, M. (1995). Engendering motherhood: Identity and self-transformation in women’s lives. New York: Guilford Press.
36. McMahon, M. (2004). Motherhood: Social and cultural aspects. In Smelser, N.J. & Baltes, P.B. (Eds.), International encyclopaedia of the social and behavioural sciences (pp.10089-10093) Retrieved from http://www.elseiver.com/
37. Meurs, J.A., Breaux, D.M., & Perrewe, P.L. (2008). The family and HRM in North America: How demographic and social changes are shifting the way work-family issues are managed by organizations and employees. The International Journal of Human Resources Management, 19(8), 1455-1471.
38. Parker, R. (1994). Maternal ambivalence. Winnicott Studies, 9, 3-17.
39. Pas, B., Peters, P., Eisinga, R., Doorewaard, H. & Janssen, T.L. (2011). Explaining career motivation among female doctors in the Netherlands: The effects of children, views on motherhood and work-home cultures. Work, Employment and Society, 25(3), 487-505.
40. Phoenix, A., Woollett, A. & Lloyd, E. (1991). Motherhood: Meanings, practices and ideologies. Newbury Park: CA: Sage. Polkinghorne, D.E. (1989). Phenomenological research methods. In Valle, R.S. & Halling, S. (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology: Exploring the breadth of human experience (pp.41-60). Newyork: Plenum Press.
41. Read, D.M.Y., Crockett, J. & Mason, R. (2012). It was a horrible shock: The experience of motherhood and women’s family size preferences. Women’s Studies International Forum, 35, 12-21.
42. Ridgeway, C.L. & Correll, S.J. (2004). Motherhood as a status characteristic. Journal of Social Issues, 60(4), 683-700.
43. Ruddick, S. (1994). Thinking mothers/conceiving birth. In Bassin, D., Honey, M. & Kaplan, M.M. (Eds.), Representations of motherhood (pp.29-46). New Haven: CT: Yale University Press.
44. Tuaç, P. (2015). Çalışan annelerin hukuki olarak sahip oldukları haklar: Hamilelik, lohusalık ve analık dönemlerine ilişkin yasal düzenlemeler. In Sürgevil-Dalkılıç, O. (Ed.), Çalışanne: Kadın akademisyenlerin kaleminden çalışma yaşamında annelik (pp.111-147). Ankara: Nobel Yayınları.
45. Uta Garey, A. (2009). Motherhood. In O’Brien, J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of gender and society, California: Sage Publications. Retrieved from http://www.sage-reference.com/gender/Article n290
46. Uttal, L. (1996). Custodial care, surrogate care and coordinated care: Employed mothers and the meaning of child care. Gender & Society, 10(3), 291-311.
47. Veiga, J.F. Baldridge, D.C. & Eddleston, K.A. (2004). Toward understanding employee reluctance to participate in family-friendly programs. Human Resources Management Review, 14(3), 337-351.
48. Walzer, S. (2007). Motherhood. In Ritzer, G. (Ed.), Blackwell encylopedia of sociology. Blackwell Reference: Blackwell Publishing Retrieved from http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/tocnode
49. Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2013). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri (9th.ed.). Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık.