A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia

This article explores the paradoxes relating to the intricate relationships of women, work and home in Malaysia. In general, employment activity enhances women;s economic independence and influences their negotiations about the divisions of labour in the home. But in Malaysia, the situation concerns...

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Main Author:	Rokis, Rohaiza
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Institut Sosial Malaysia 2009
Subjects:	H10 Societies
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/1/9-_Author_%28MJSPS%29.pdf

id	iium-41185
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-411852015-03-12T03:37:25Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/ A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia Rokis, Rohaiza H10 Societies This article explores the paradoxes relating to the intricate relationships of women, work and home in Malaysia. In general, employment activity enhances women;s economic independence and influences their negotiations about the divisions of labour in the home. But in Malaysia, the situation concerns the issue over conflicts of priorities, which seems to challenge the traditional gender roles of woman, wife, mother and homemaker. What happens when family commitments come into conflict with the demands of employment? when the two seems incompatible, which one gets priority? The research proposition rests on the stance that traditional and normative values still confine female professionals in Malaysia to set the priority for family work more than professional work despite modernisation. This article therefore attempts to identify their priority when the private-traditional sphere collides with the public-modernised sphere. It is derived from an in-depth structured interview method on 34 female professionals such as engineers, chemist and geologists who work at one petrochemical company in Malaysia, as well as higher-ranking ministerial personnel and human resource managers. The study found that even though female professionals enjoy their work, they still consider family and home as the priority in life. Modernisation has not able to change women's traditional attitude towards home commitment. Though they may be modernised, educated and professional, when it collides with home affairs, these women are still traditional at heart. Institut Sosial Malaysia 2009 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/1/9-_Author_%28MJSPS%29.pdf Rokis, Rohaiza (2009) A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Social Policy and Society, 6. pp. 21-33. ISSN 1823-0865 http://www.ism.gov.my/default.php?page=Journals
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	H10 Societies
spellingShingle	H10 Societies Rokis, Rohaiza A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
description	This article explores the paradoxes relating to the intricate relationships of women, work and home in Malaysia. In general, employment activity enhances women;s economic independence and influences their negotiations about the divisions of labour in the home. But in Malaysia, the situation concerns the issue over conflicts of priorities, which seems to challenge the traditional gender roles of woman, wife, mother and homemaker. What happens when family commitments come into conflict with the demands of employment? when the two seems incompatible, which one gets priority? The research proposition rests on the stance that traditional and normative values still confine female professionals in Malaysia to set the priority for family work more than professional work despite modernisation. This article therefore attempts to identify their priority when the private-traditional sphere collides with the public-modernised sphere. It is derived from an in-depth structured interview method on 34 female professionals such as engineers, chemist and geologists who work at one petrochemical company in Malaysia, as well as higher-ranking ministerial personnel and human resource managers. The study found that even though female professionals enjoy their work, they still consider family and home as the priority in life. Modernisation has not able to change women's traditional attitude towards home commitment. Though they may be modernised, educated and professional, when it collides with home affairs, these women are still traditional at heart.
format	Article
author	Rokis, Rohaiza
author_facet	Rokis, Rohaiza
author_sort	Rokis, Rohaiza
title	A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
title_short	A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
title_full	A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
title_fullStr	A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia
title_sort	clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised malaysia
publisher	Institut Sosial Malaysia
publishDate	2009
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/41185/1/9-_Author_%28MJSPS%29.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:59:00Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:59:00Z
_version_	1777410496592347136

A clash of priority between work and home: an experience of female professionals in a modernised Malaysia

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