1. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict 1
Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
Lisa Torres
Grand Canyon University: COM-355
December 6th
, 2015
Professor Oleson

2. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
For centuries, there has always been a specific gender role for men and women. Men
would take the work role, while the women would take the family role. Today, however, we see
a dramatic change. In the 21st
century, more and more women are being active in the workforce
just as much as men and even, some men taking over the family role. In addition, with the
increasing amount of families with both a working mom and dad, it is more likely for this to
create conflicts between work and family. This will be further analyzed in the following study,
by examining the role of emotions, specifically, guilt in work-family conflict.
Review of Literature
One of the biggest gaps in research on work-family conflict, is the lack of information on
the different emotions that are expressed in response to conflict. According to Kossek and Ozeki,
“not having the ability to do two things at once may be different than feeling badly about it,
suggesting that negative emotions do not universally flow from conflict” (Kossek & Ozeki,
1998). There has not been much studied on specific emotions in response to conflict besides
moods and emotional distress (MacDermid, Seery, & Weiss, 2002). Although these types of
research work well for between-individuals, emotions are more transient than regular mood
states and have a bigger possibility in influencing changes in a daily routine at work and the
home (Judge, Illies, & Scott, 2006). Research shows that guilt is related to family-interfering-
with-work, while gender role orientation interacts with both types of conflict, which predicts
guilt (Livingston & Judge, 2008). Individuals that were more traditional have endured more
guilt with family-interfering-with-work and individuals that were less traditional, endured more
guilt with work-interfering-with-family (Livingston & Judge, 2008). Guilt, according to Tangney
(2003), is defined as “a self-conscious emotion that is evoked by self-reflection and self-
evaluation” (Tangney, 2003). It is an unsettling feeling that correlates with the understanding
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3. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
that someone has went against a moral or social standard (Jones & Kugler, 1993). For example,
Guendouzi (2006), suggested that the internal conflict and moral guilt could be a never-ending
psychological cycle for working women. This shows that “both family-interfering-with-work and
work-interfering-with-family could result in increased feelings of guilt for going against a social
standard of role fulfillment. Specifically, work-family conflict prevents one from fully being able
to meet the needs of either the family or work role, meaning that one is not capable to fully
perform both roles” (Livingston & Judge, 2008). Such as the myth that a mom can do it all, and
if not, they fail at that role. Thus, there are individuals who feel guilt for going against the “good
worker” standard vs. going against the good mom/dad/husband/wife standard (Livingston &
Judge, 2008).
Other research studies have found that conflict would arise if an individual had a strong
impression of obligation to adhere to with the certain expectations that come with a role (Bleske-
Rechek, Fuerstenberg, Harris, & Ryan, 2011). Gender role orientation is a “form of compliance
with these expectations, or the degree to which one identifies with the traditional conceptions
(i.e. expectations) of his or her gender role” (Bleske-Rechek, Fuerstenberg, Harris, & Ryan,
2011). Gender roles have been embedded within various cultures, which tend to be vary
polarized. For instance, when women are more likely to be identified a family role than men are
(Bleske-Rechek, Fuerstenberg, Harris, & Ryan, 2011). For example of a traditional gender role
orientation, an ideal family worker is a woman who stays and is only in the family role, vice
versa for men. Also, women being best at duties in relation to the family and men being best at
duties in relation to work (Bleske-Rechek, Fuerstenberg, Harris, & Ryan, 2011). Egalitarian
gender role orientation submerses these specific roles and believes that both men and women
should set aside an equal amount of time for both work and while at home (Hochschild, 1989).
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4. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
Before the postindustrial revolution, work was able to stay at work. Family “work” (the women’s
responsibility) did not conflict with paid work, and being the man’s responsibility, did not
conflict with family because the man was not allowed to work from home (Livingston & Judge,
2008). However, because of the increase of work importance, and the financial and technological
changes in the workforce, many Americans are deciding to use their free time with family in
order to work more (Stroller, 2006). Some researchers even argue that postindustrial work is
almost unrecognizable from free time (Lewis, 2003). The work role is the economic role and is
needed to support the family, making it more as a crucial function in the work role without
interruptions (Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991). This rings true for both traditionalist men and
women. For example, some women who do not even see their work role as their main role, could
view the economic benefits of the work role an important part of the family’s needs, and thus,
believe that they need to act like they highly value work (such as the men do) (Livingston &
Judge, 2008). Unlike egalitarian men and women who are more likely to try to create a balance
between the two without associating gender domains, thus possibly experiencing more guilt
when work conflicts with their family lives (Cinnamon & Rich, 2002). Thus, it is noted that
gender role orientation controls the family-interfering-with-work/guilt relationship, being
actively positive with those high in traditionalism (low in egalitarianism) and gender role
orientation controls the work-interfering-with-family/guilt relationship, being actively positive
for those low in traditionalism (high in egalitarianism) (Livingston & Judge, 2000).
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5. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
Methods
The purpose of this study was to test the implement of work-family conflict on emotions
and the mollifying implications of gender role orientation. In order for this to be successfully
done, a 15 question survey focusing on gender role orientation and demographic variables was
created and given to 10 participants, both male and female, with age ranges from the Thirties
(30-39) and to middle age (40-64). The participants were first asked to assess the level of guilt
they felt throughout their work week. Then, in order to assess the gender role orientation and the
other variables such as guilt and work-family conflict, the participants had to fill out a Likert
Scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree-being egalitarian gender roles) to 5 (strongly agree-being
traditional gender roles). Some examples were: “The man be more responsible for the finances
more than the woman,” “Having a job or career is just as important as being a wife and mother,”
“the requirements of my job interfere with my home and family time (or vice versa),” and “I feel
guilty or blameworthy for not having more time for work (vice versa).”
Results
Of the 15 questions that were given, 51% answered neutral, 18% agreed, 8% strongly
agreed, 14% strongly disagreed, and 12% disagreed. The question that all 10 participants gave a
neutral response was to, “Both man and woman should be responsible for the finances.” Because
51% of the participants answered neutral for all questions, it is safe to say that these specific
participants vary in agreeing with either having egalitarian gender roles or traditional gender
roles, depending on the type of question that they answered. In regards to the three questions that
focused on guilt and feeling blameworthy, out of the 10 participants, about half of them either
agreed or had a neutral stance to feeling that type of weight on their shoulders. There were 5
women and 5 men that participated in this study. Results show that the women were more likely
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6. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
to have an egalitarian view than traditional or leaned towards the egalitarian side. The men, on
the other hand, were more likely to have a traditional view than an egalitarian view. The women
also had a higher degree of feeling guilty in work-interfering-with-family than the men. While
the men had a higher degree of feeling guilty for family-interfering-with-work. Another
interesting result is the women had a higher degree of working more during their free time than
the men. These result are very significant because it shows just how much of an effect guilt has
on families and how it plays a big role in conflict with work-interfering-with-work/work-
interfering-with-family, whether that participant has an egalitarian gender role point of view or a
traditional gender role point of view, the participants with these viewpoints had either a high or
neutral degree on guilt. In order to go deeper into these results of this study, they must be further
discussed.
Discussion
The results given lead to numerous points of further discussion. First, it is evident that
family-interfering-with-work (FIW) conflict is directly linked to guilt and work-interfering-with-
family (WIF) conflict is obliquely in relation to guilt, through communication. Individuals who
expressed more of a traditional point of view, related more to family-interfering-with-work guilt.
Unlike those with an egalitarian point of view who related more to work-interfering-with-family
guilt. Meaning, those who have more of a traditional point of view on gender role norms, are
more likely to endure guilt when their family responsibilities conflict with their work
responsibilities, however are not as likely to feel guilty when their work conflicts with their
family time. Thus, guilt, a usually negative emotion, is a direct result of work-family conflict,
when controlled by a kind of role distinction (gender role orientation). Second, the results also
confirm that many Americans may actually be desensitized to the imminent intrusion of conflict
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7. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
with their family time. Most of the participants chosen for this study work full-time, meaning
that it may be quite normal for their work responsibilities interfering with their family time and
less prone in feeling guilty about the conflict. However, it does not mean that they do not feel
anxiety when dealing with WIF. Finally, everyone that participated was married and did have
children, whether they were younger or older. These specific characteristics had definitely
impacted the findings and could have been very different if some of these participants were not
married or did not have kids. Meaning, there could be a possibility that if they were not married
nor had kids, they would feel less guilt with WIF.
Limitations and Future Research
Every study, no matter how strong it is, has its limitations. First, in regards to gender, as
it influences the life roles and work-family conflict, it is not the strongest source of conflict.
However, adding the addition of gender role orientation, helps discuss the effects of work-family
conflict. Second, there are numerous other measures that focus on gender roles. The measures
the researcher focused on in this study, gave specific results, and there could be a significant
change in the results if the researcher was using other measures and more participants to conduct
this study. Third, the researcher chose family members as participants because they were easy to
get into contact with. The con to this is that the researcher could be biased, because the
participants were not randomly chosen. Thus, this means that is it very possible that these results
do not represent a larger population well. Finally, the amount of participants was only 10,
making it also difficult to represent a larger population.
Based on what was covered in this particular study, there are implications for future
research. This research only focused on gender role orientation when foreseeing reactions to
conflict, for both men and women. Future research could go further into this topic by only
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8. Gender Role Orientation: Work-Family Conflict
focusing on cohabitating partners, single mothers/dads, and even homo sexual partners. Even
though there has been previous research has been done on how egalitarian wives may be effected
by their traditional husbands and vice versa, there has not been many studies focusing on other
types of families gender role orientations and its effects.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from this study, it is evident that guilt is present in WIF and FIW
conflict. Second, egalitarianism and traditionalism can be seen as opposite ends of a sequence,
meaning that most people can be both purely egalitarian and purely traditional. Finally, more
women had an egalitarian gender role viewpoint while men had a traditional gender role
viewpoint. With the rise of Feminism, we can also point out that more and more women are
Liberal while men are still very traditional. These findings lead to various implications for future
studies, which can further explore gender role orientations and its effects in WIF/FIW conflict.
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References
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Cultural Psychology, 5(4) 275-292. Doi: 10.1037/h0099256
Cinnamon, R. G., & Rich, Y. (2002). Gender differences in the importance
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Guendouzi, J. (2006). “The Guilt Thing”: Balancing domestic and professional
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