Work- family life reconciliation: An exploration of strategies employed by female
Abstract
This paper uses a life history methodology to explore how three female senior members of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana have attempted to reconcile the demands of work and family life. They indicate that they experience role overload at work, fatigue and stress and this affects their ability to honour family and cultural obligations. To deal with this imbalance between the two domains these female employees have relied on support from extended family members, spouses and other domestic helpers in the discharge of their domestic roles. They have also relied on colleagues and subordinates and taken advantage of legislation that supports them as spelt out in the conditions of service. In spite of these the female employees have also employed both integration and segregation as strategies to manage the conflict that has arisen over the years between their work and family domains. These have been employed to manage time and the stress experienced as a result of the imbalance. They have called for the Counselling Centre to offer more support to female employees and the Gender Centre to help the University fashion out a work-family life policy.