Women's lived experience of strategies for balancing the Occupational and maternal role

Women’s most important roles in the Islamic lifestyle are those of maternity and rearing children, but today many women, because they have a job, are also obligated to play a correct occupational role, and therefore striking a balance between occupational and maternal roles is of particular importance. In recent years, the number of female members of academic staff has been on the increase, and since these women have undertaken a great volume of occupational tasks, achieving the equilibrium between their occupational and familial roles involves certain difficulties. Thus, using the qualitative research method, the present study aims to identify the women’s strategies for finding the balance. To this aim, interviews with 20 female members of academic staff and a content analysis of the interviews have been conducted to extract the strategies. According to the research findings, the strategies include eight categories: diligent efforts to achieve occupational goals, efforts to be a good mother, self-effacement, reduction of occupational goals, time management, a division of labor, family planning, and outsourcing of some family tasks.