Die professionele oriëntasie en gesinslewe van die werkende getroude vrou

D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)During the past decades married women increasingly joined the labour market due to financial reasons as well as a need for self-actualisation, and this has had significant consequences for these womens' marriages and family lives. In addition to women joining the labour market for financial reasons, more and more women are obtaining higher academic qualifications enabling them to pursue professional careers and apply to join traditional male professional occupations, such as the medical and dental professions, the law professions, the engineering and architectural professions, as well as various other professions. Professions have been described by certain sociologists as greedy occupations. Professions tend to absorb workers to such an extent that work remain central in their thoughts even when at home, and sometimes compel them to work long hours, weekends and holidays. The division between home life and .work life becomes blurred and, to a certain extent, professional work becomes a style of life. Since the practising of a professional career requires rigorous work hours, dedication, as well as commitment, and the implications of practising such a career for the married woman with children, especially small children, are substantial. Firstly, to what extent will she be able to comply with the requirements of a professional career and adequately care for her family? Secondly, how will a professional career affect the quality of her marriage and family life? Will she be able to commit herself to both a family as well as a career? This study deals with research into the commitment of 642 married working women in the PWV-area to their work. Respondents were selected by means of a random sample obtained from the telephone directories of the PWV-area. Data was collected by means of conducting a telephonic and postal survey with the help of the opinion survey centre of the Human Sciences Research Council