Women’s Hidden Work: Perceptions and Values

Author(s):

Leonard Cairns(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 07 A, Women, Migration: Hidden Work, Access to Work, Factors of Success in VET

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-14

16:45-18:15

Room:

K 23/21,1 FL., 36

Chair:

Marja-Leena Stenström

Contribution

Abstract:
This research paper addresses the issues surrounding mature women’s perspectives and values about what has been termed “women’s hidden work”.
A great deal of what has been traditionally women’s work at home (ie domestic activities including child rearing) has been invisible or hidden in terms of social perspectives, GDP and census counting of workers and work has been a broad issue over many years (Hakim, 2004).
This study, through a set of surveys and semi-structured interviews of mature aged women in a country town in the state of Victoria, Australia, seeks to explore just what perceptions these women hold about the nature of their lifespace activities at home in terms of whether they see these activities they completed as “work” and how it was and should be valued. This study will also involve a comparative sample group from Regensburg, Germany conducted as part of a jointly funded German DAAD and Australian Group of 8 Universities grant.

Objectives:

To explore mature women’s perceptions of their life experiences and whether household activities they completed are seen by them as “work”.

To determine what value these women place on the activities of child rearing and housework completed many years earlier.

Method

Method: A sample of mature women are being surveyed and interviewed as to their perceptions and valuing of “domestic duties” activities such as housework and child rearing at home completed in their life over many previous years. A similar sample will be studied in Regensburg, Germany. Instruments include, Women and Work Self-Appraisal Scale, (a new self-efficacy scale, which for validity this new scale will be compared with the General Self-Efficacy Scale), Women and Life Experiences Survey, and a brief Women’s Work Attitude Scale. Semi structured interviews will record the perceptions of the detail of domestic activities, their duration across a week and how these women saw the activities in terms of ‘work” or otherwise. Results: This study is underway but results are not yet analysed. Results will be reported as a set of tables and transcript extracts as to the nature of the women’s perceptions and their judgments whether the home-based activities were seen as ‘work” and what value they are given by the women interviewed. A comparison will also be made across those in the sample who were in paid work at the same time as completing home duties with those who were not in paid work.

Expected Outcomes

Conclusions/Discussion: Hakim (2004) in her analysis of Marginal, Voluntary and Household work completed by women suggests that those who were in full-time paid work compared with those women who stayed home for domestic duties had different approaches to the household tasks with the full time workers being more efficient and taking less time to do similar tasks. The perceptions of what the women thought and the value they applied to such tasks has not been fully examined before this study. The results of this study will clarify what views women have held about the nature and value of the activities they completed at home during their lifespan. Scientific and scholarly significance: This study contributes to the clarification of the issues surrounding the nature, perceptions and value of women’s domestic work in households. Specifically addressed are the questions of whether women have seen domestic activities (including child rearing) as “work” and what value they attribute to these activities. Differences in perceptions among those women who were also in full-time employment when compared with those who were exclusively engaged in “domestic duties” will contribute to the debate.

References

References: Bevege, M., James, M., and Shute, C., (1982), (Eds), Worth her Salt, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger. Billett, S., Harteis, C., and Etelapelto, A., (2008), (Eds)., Emerging Perspectives of Workplace Learning, Rotterdam and Taipei, SENSE Publishers. Birch, C., and Paul, D., (2003), Life and Work, Sydney, UNSW Press. Carr, A., (2007), Positive Psychology, London and New York, Routledge. Hakim, C., (2004), Key Issues in Women’s Work, Glasshouse Press, London. Livingstone, D.W., Mirchandani, K., and Sawchuk, P.H., (2008) (Eds), The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work, Rotterdam and Taipei, SENSE Publishers. Lyubomirsky, S., (2007), The How of Happiness, London, Sphere. Noon, M., and Blyton, P., (2002), The Realities of Work, (2nd Edition), New York, Palgrave. Probert, B., (1989), Working Life, Melbourne, McPhee Gribble Publishers. Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995), “Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale”, In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs, NFER-NELSON Windsor. Seligman, M.E.P., (2002), Authentic Happiness, North Sydney, Random House. Statt, D.A., (2004), Psychology and The World of Work, (2nd Edition), Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Waring, M., (1988), Counting for Nothing, Wellington, Allen and Unwin New Zealand. Warr, P and Wall, T., (1975), Work and Well-being, Harmondsworth, Penguin, Warr, P. and Clapperton, G., (2010), The Joy of Work, London, Routledge. Warr, P., (2002), (Ed)., Psychology at Work (5th edition), London, Penguin Books. Warr, P., (2007)., Work, Happiness, and Unhappiness, New York, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Author Information

Leonard Cairns (presenting / submitting)

Monash University

Faculty of Education

Clayton

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