Assessment of Domestic Support, Family-Work Balance and Marital Obligations of Career Women in Ogun State

Abstract

According to the literature, mothers who historically reared their children under their direct supervision are currently engaged in formal professions in a bid to support the family. However, a cursory literature examination on women career engagement and their marital obligations comes with divergent findings and thus implies gap in literature, which necessitates this study. The descriptive design of survey type was used and 500 career women were selected purposively across 5 local governments in Ogun East Senatorial District. Domestic Support and Marital Obligations Assessment Scale (DOSMOAS) (r = 0.93) and Work Engagement and Family Balance Assessment Scale (WEFBAS) (r = 0.84) were instruments used in data collection. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions, while linear regression and ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses. Results reveals that career women elicit poor domestic support, but excellent martial obligations. Findings shows they had negative work engagement due to stress and unfavorable working condition. Result shows that career engagement negatively influence marital obligations (β =-.137; t = -3.078; p < 0.05) and domestic support (β = -.282; t = -6.569; p < 0.05). Lastly, result established significant difference in marital obligations fulfilment among career women based on occupation (F(5, 499) =1841.407; P (.047) < .05) and was found to favour those working in ministries and teachers. The study concluded that career women to a moderate extent domestically support their family but, they elicit weak family-work balance. The study recommends that career women should explore less demanding occupation, but if unavoidable, they should map out an intervention approach with their spouse.