Conflicting Work-Family Ideals and Female Resistance in the Global South

Alcaraz-Barriga, Jose and Carrillo, Valeria and Vo, Lihn-Chi and Lavissiere, Mary and Lavissiere, Alex (2024) Conflicting Work-Family Ideals and Female Resistance in the Global South. Academy of Management Proceedings, 24 (1). ISSN 0065-0668

Abstract

What qualities does “the ideal worker” and “the ideal mother” have? Research has found that widespread ideologies do provide certain norms, values and practices as central to those ideals, which often lead to both work-family conflict (WFC) and female segregation from the workplace. In this paper we examine the narratives of a unique group of fifty female managers and executives based in “developing regions”, working in a male dominated industry. We contribute to the literature on conflicting work–family ideals by introducing a feminist, post-structuralist critical approach, as well as a Global South sensitivity to study those ideals. Our work offers a contextualized examination of the lived experience, patriarchal norms and extended family arrangements of these women, which lead us to uncover a triple juxtaposition of opposing expectations: a) the ideal worker, b) the ideal housewife-(intensive/good) mother, and c) the ideal extended family/community member. Together, these three ideals form what we introduce and elaborate as the patriarchal triad (PT). “Zooming in” aspects of both conformity and challenge, material and discursive tactics, we reveal the micro-political resistance efforts mobilized by these women against gender discrimination and in their search for self-determination.