IMPLICATIONS OF WORK-LIFE CONFLICT AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES: A GENDERED PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
Given the harsh realities making professional working women experience challenges balancing their work and family demands arising from limiting conditions of gender roles, the purpose of this paper is to examine work-life balance (WLB) difficulties confronting Nigerian female medical doctors and its overall impact on social sustainability. Using a qualitative methodology and informed by institutional theory, data was gleaned from semi-structured interviews with 34 female medical doctors working in Nigerian hospitals. In contrast to previous research providing evidence of how institutional regulations are addressing WLB problems in western contexts, this study indicates that challenging organisational time expectations, unsupportive work-life culture and gender chauvinism exacerbates work-life imbalances and social sustainability problems confronting Nigerian female doctors. The study elicits work-life vulnerabilities impairing social sustainability in a non-western context. Whilst significant evidence of western work-life balance realities exists in the literature, similar studies that explores Sub-Saharan African contexts are rare.
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