The reality of working women between tasks at home and tasks in the world of work

Citation: Gourari A., Chenafi F. (2025). The reality of working women between tasks at home and tasks in the world of work. Science, Education and Innovations in the Context of Modern Problems, 8(3), 145-156. doi: 10.56352/sei/8.3.08.

The family is the cornerstone unit of society. In its traditions, it is a social, economic, and productive part, asking its members to collaborate and count on each other in all ranges, each according to their capacities, age, and gender, in order to cover their livelihood and improve their conditions and status in society. The family is basically built on blood bonds, but this tieis also built on a unity and biological integration, or a production, consumption, and defence of interests, or human activity. (Barakat, H., 2001, 175).

The family is also considered a basic public arrangement, for the survival and endurance of society that provides it with new members to do their roles in other social systems. As a result of modernity’s penetration and the basic constituents of identity and personality of the individual. The roles of both men and women have transformed and there are new standards for defining the status of persons in the family, such as the change of the status and role of women, after they had ached from absolute deprivation in the patriarchal system, as Pierre Bourdieu considers that “any behaviour that does not conform to family standards and rules is considered behaviour rejected by the family.”BOURDIEU, P, 1958, 44), the modern manufacturing society gave her the chance to attend school, and allowed her to progressively move to an upward social path, which opened up a wide meadow for her and made her an active part in the labor market; work outside the home was no longer the exclusive domain of men, and women’s contributions to work and production aided in providing economic support many families, and societies. Women's entrance into the workforce and their involvementin o productive sectors is a progressive act that includes mobilizing all human labor drives and productive services in an evolutionary advancementin society. This new situation has led to a revolution in women's social status and social roles. Despite the advantages women have gained by working outside the home in all societies, their work has been related to certain challenges they face personally, or those faced by themselves and their families (husband and children). Women's entry into the workforce has become a reality, and it is only natural that they will have some issues. In accordance with some of their roles in life as women, mothers, and wives, they have duties that they must fulfil, because they play a special role in family life. Undoubtedly, their work outside the home increases their basic burdens, which comprise contributing to managing the home and caring for and raising children. At the same time, women may need to work outside the home for several reasons, which may be financial, social, or otherwise.(Gourari A et al .,2020)

Women going out to work has become the question of the hour, subsequent in several outcomes that have impacted their families and increased their social roles, because the working woman often finds herself suffering in general from psychological, social and professional pressures, in addition to the conflict of roles that she faces as a worker with responsibilities, as a housewife

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA responsible for household chores, as a wife and mother. This necessitates a certain time and effort.(Gourari A et al.,2020)

From this standpoint, we find it needed to investigate the fact of this controversy by shedding light on:

• -    Married women's work and its role in redistributing family roles.

• -    Challenges and problems arising from her going out to work.

• -    Strategies for reunion of both home and professional space.

• 1-    Study concepts:

• -    The job:The effort used by a person, whether mental or physical, implication the individual's practiceor his manyinfluences in order to attain a benefit. (Muhammad Al-Azzawi, QaisKarim, 2012, 07) Muhammad AtefGhaith (1988, 30) outlines: "A group of actions embark onachieving a goal, with the help of his mind, hands, tools, and machines, which in turn influence and change him."

• -    Woman: Hussein Abdel Hamid Rashwan (1998, 312) views: “Women are the second type of the human race, and they have common characteristics with men, as they complement each other.” Women are part of society, as they are the wife, mother, and daughter...

• -    Women's work:Camelia Abdel Fattah (1984, 172) describes it as: “It is the work that a woman does outside the home and receives a financial wage for it. She performs two basic roles in life: the role of a housewife and the role of an employee.”

• -    In ourresearch, the notion is described as any productive social activity started by a woman outside the home, and this actionupshots in financial benefit for the woman’s work.

• -    Role:AhmedZakiBadawi (1993, 395) mention it as: “The behavior expected of an individual in a group and the dynamic aspect of the individual’s position. While position speak of to the individual’s status in the group, role refers to the exemplarybehaviornecessaryfor the position. An individual’s behavior is resulted in light of his expectations and the outlooks of others. These anticipations are influenced by the individual’s and others’ understanding of the rights and duties that are related to his social position. The limits of the role contain those actions that the group accepts in the prevailing culture.” This definition is considered one of the most significant definitions of role because it contains the most essential elements involved in this term.

• -    Role is a pattern of behaviorcharacterized by actions and behaviors that are consistent with the requirements of a specific position in society.

• 2-    Women's work and its role in redistributing family roles:

Women's work is regarding a motivating factor for men to participate in household task and to help their wives. Therefore, it contributes to fluctuating the traditional roles of both husband and

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA wife, and redistributing family roles. After women's role was limited to housework, they start to participate in work outside the home, which previously was exclusivelyfor men. Men, in turn, it startsto participate in the domestic work that was previously the exclusive domain of women. (Gourari A et al.,2020)

2-1: Role variation according to gender: (sexual division of labor):

In fact, It is notable that the roles of the father and mother within the family are considered by clarity. The woman has the tasks for which she was created: pregnancy, breastfeeding and care, caring for the child and raising him appropriately, and taking care of her husband's concerns and rights, as well as the tasks of her home as a woman. The woman carry on showing respect and appreciation towards her husband, and the man assert his presence and with authority in matters related to family affairs. One study has exposed that there is a link between social status and the authority relished by the male. Though, a kind of contradiction has emerged. The more the husband claima full authority for himself because he is male, even if he really relinquishes much of his authority to his wife. Still, the man has more control over family than his wife because he owns the resources and capitals l. (Othman, S., M., 2006, pp. 31-32).

There are three forms of role distribution between spouses:

The first pattern:

In this pattern, the roles of the spouses are by a religious reference and a conservative traditional character. The wife’s performance is limited to the traditional roles as a mother and homemaker (Abdul Moneim Samara, I, 1999, 76), while the husband do his roles in a traditional, stereotypical manner. He makes the contributory roles to offer for the family’s material needs, in addition to preserving the leadership roles. Some husbands practice this leadership role with intensity and control until the wife has become just a follower. This pattern is similar to what “Gilford” called:Glifford in the “separatist” pattern based on marriage, (Shukri, A., et al. 2009, 125) “This type of division of roles is certainly what entails discrimination between the sexes.”KHOUDJA, S, 1991, 33).

The second pattern:

The distribution of roles was characterized by a democratic nature, as it was “characterized by a moderately liberal outlook” (Henry et al., 1982, 270). It permit the wife to participate in realizing some of the family’s material needs, through her joining work outside the home, in addition to her participation in leadership roles and making important decisions related to the family. This pattern is close to what “Guilford” called GliffordIn the "participation model," roles are

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA dispersed equally between spouses. But, in this model, the wife does not leave her traditional, stereotypical roles as a mother and homemaker. Rather, her role in working outside the home is added to the traditional ones (Shukri, A., et al., op. cit., 125).

The third pattern:

In this pattern, the family tended to focus leadership roles and the responsibility of decisionmaking on the wife alone, and the husband began to participate in these roles to a small extent, and her roles focused on the means through which he sought to achieve the material needs of the family. This pattern accepts and encourages women to enter all fields, crossing all the red lines that society has set to determine the type of work that women are allowed to do. It rejects “the legal rulings and social reality that may contradict these principles” (Al-Bayanouni, A., 2006, 46). This pattern differs from what “Gilford” called Glifford“In a ‘pattern’ that focuses on one spouse more than the other.” (Shukri, A., et al., op. cit., 126).

What led to this array of patterns were economic changes that led to associated changes in attitudes and values regarding roles and relationships within the family, as well as beliefs regarding the status of women and their traditional role as mothers and homemakers.(Gourari A et al .,2020)

We conclude that women's work has affected the traditional distribution of familiar roles, and therefore contributed to the loss of the social values , which outlines certain tasks for men and others for women, while ignoring the shared jobs that both can accomplish with equal efficacy without troubling the innate human arrangement. Here, Emile Durkheim's thesis on the social separation of labor that is truly exemplified, and how to shift from a organized society, which relies on the simplicity of social relations and the natural division of labor, to a society characterized by the complexity of relations and the overlap of jobs between persons, which are the most essential features of contemporary society. (Belkacem, I, d.t., 163).

2-2: The role of labour in determining women’s status:

It has been revealed in a study directed by the researcher: yarrow «That (48%) of working mothers from the middle class work to run a service to society and satisfy the need to stay in the company of others, and that work provides them the opportunity to attain their selves... and that

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA women join the work for the reason of not feeling the functional disability that might detached them from society. (Awad, A., D.T., 374-375).

Women's work marks their role and socialclass, as it gives them independence.Freedom that she did not like in the past, meaning that the working wife is closer to the procedure of fairness between spouses within the family, where the husband occasionally leaves the final decisions to the wife or refersstraight at other times, and this is what was confirmed by a study conducted in the Arab city of Amman on the relationship of the working wife with her husband (Belkacem, A, previous reference, 81), and in the same context, the Algerian researcher “Farouk Ben Attia” extended in his study on “Women’s Work in Algeria” that the growth of the status of women so the wife is dependent on her going out to work and obtaining a private income, which makes her own and gain awareness of herself. (Benatia Farouk, 2005, pp. 41 - 50).

• 3-    Problems arising from working mothers:

A woman's responsibility within the workplace has given her a feeling of social identity and value, as well as equality beside men, and her capability to bear tasks and responsibilities like men (Gourari A et al .,2020).Moreover, it has also shaped a network of social relationships within society. Yet, this does not deny the presence of difficulties that a mother surfaces, whether at the home or at work level. Among them, we mention the following:

3-1: Reconciling work and home:

3-1-1: Division of labour within the home:

The incapacity to balance work and home is a matterthat all working women, particularly mothers, ache from. Housework is never-ending, so women see it as a constant nightmare and she must complete it before leaving the house and after returning from work.

Therefore, the split of labour became less clear than it was earlier, where the wife’s work was only at home, and the man’s work was outside.

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3-1-2: Division of labour outside the home:

3-1-3: Children of working women:

At the early person's life, the family symbolizes almost the whole of society, counting the treatment, guidance, provision, needs, and sense of self-sufficiency they receive. So, the family must offer a complete upbringing that comforts them to interact and communicate with other members of their gender. Researcher Zerdoumi categorised it into three phases: the early childhood education step, the moral education step, and the social upbringing step (Zerdoumi, N, 1982, 60). This nurture is one of the parents’ duties towards their children, but what we see today is that this role is completely placed on the mother’s shoulders, as the mother is the closest person to her child, while the degree of children’s need for their mothers varies according to their ages. Besides, it is clear that infants need their mothers more than others, as they depend on the mother for all their needs, who offers them tenderness and warmth. (Gourari A et al ., 2020)

Hence, “the wife’s work outside the home may result in her being deprived of performing her natural mission and basic function, which is motherhood” (Rashwan, H, 1998, 94). The child’s association with his mother and his love for her helps him to gain many habits, which he learns through imitation. We find many studies that have sparked great dispute on the subject of women working, particularly mothers. We find the British researcher Paula Bates says: “Taking care of children and raising them is a profession in itself, it takes a lot of time and effort, and if you do not accept this, then bear the feeling of guilt” (Al-Kattani, F, 2000, 87). The child needs his mother’s presence constantly, and the mother must dedicate herself to her child, mainly during the period of birth, and her workoutside makes her neglect her children’s rights.(Gourari A et al .,2020)

3-1-4: Family lifestyle:

By familial lifestyle, we mean if the family to which the woman belongs is a “nuclear family” or an “extended family,” and when “the family style is imposed, the degree of conflict in it is very low. But, when the spouses clear the family style they want, there is anoption that one of the

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA spouses will impose the style they want on the other, and thereforeclashes and conflicts arise between them” (Al-Kattani, F, 2000, 103). Hence, the family style is regarded a problem in the life of the working woman, and it may be a motive for her to go out to work, whether she lives in an extended family or a nuclear family, in order to help the husband afford the expenses of living: such as paying the rent, electricity and water bills, kindergarten fees...

Whatever the situation, the husband's view that his wife works still extremely important, as it affects his understanding of her worksurroundings and his collaboration with her. Though, we must separate between the husband's opinion that she works under the prevailing conditions, and his being enforced to agree it under the stress of financial matters , his low income level, and his incapability to run into the family's basic needs. (Al-Naqula, 2011, 109)

3-1-5: Within the professional atmosphere:

It is well recognized that when women go to work, they mix with a different social class than the one they were born with, and this class characterizes the class of men who are current at work, so women interact with them because they are part of the work milieu, there is the manager, the deputy manager, and male and female colleagues, and some women are exposed to violence, whether verbal, physical, or sexual harassment, even if this sensation is rare in our society, we cannot ignore that it is one of the most important problems facing women in the Arab world as a whole, an example of this is from Al-Shorouk newspaper: “A school principal in Al-Sharaga insults a teacher in front of her students, and records her absences that have no basis in truth, so the case was transferred to the Al-Sharaga court for a case of insult and cursing.” (Al-Shorouk Al-Youmi newspaper, 2008, p. 15)

• 4.    Strategies that help working women go out to work:

The historical role of women in the independence and stability of the family was facilitated by the important roles they perform, such as bearing children, caring for them, watching over them, raising them and educating them, as well as meeting the requests of family members. In the study or (Gourari A et al .,2020) it has been pointed that women play a central and distinct role that helps them increase generations, and instantaneously they were capable to recover their educational situations, which higher their chances to work, and therefore their aptitude to shoulder new social roles. In the face of this, their natural role of caring for their children cannot be left, and because they devote long hours outside the home, this steered them to change the task of caring for children to other persons or institutions, which are:

4-1: Seeking help from your husband or relatives:

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The closest person to a child after the mother is the father. Then, the father must help the mother take care of the child in the incident of her absence from home, mainly the infant, who must be surrounded by whole care and great attention from the parents. Otherwise, the right place and appropriate people from relatives or neighbours must be selected to take care of the child, by implanting the moral and social customs prevailing in society. (Gourari A et al ., 2020)

4-2: Nurseries and kindergartens:

So long as nurseries and kindergartens exist for working mothers, it is a basic need that releases them of their daily matters, regardless of the extent to which these centres are formed in public and private institutions, and regardless of the suitable conditions under which the center functions, the situations, and the qualifications of its staff. (Al-Naqula, J., 2011, 53)

“It is one of the complementary establishments that add to the process of socialization of the child. It goals to shelter children and runthem with means of comfort and pleasure during the absence of their parents. The nursery cannot be regarded like all schools, nor a place for teaching professions and crafts. Somewhat, it is a place well-found with tools for play, entertainment, and learning, and is a matter to health and legal conditions that permit it to welcome children from the first months of their lives till the age of four or five. This place is stimulate children and encourage them to spend their time with games, having fun, and learning the basic principles that join them to teamwork” (Girgis, M., 2005, 288). The goal line of this institute is to train children and help them switch from a state of total dependence on others to a state of moderate independence, as well as to acquire sound practices that with the ethics . Some studies have confirmed that “children who attended kindergarten are superior to those who did not, in all aspects of development, and that the programs that children practice contribute to the development of their personal and social behaviour.” (Ahmed, S., 1999, 84)

4-3: Preparatory education:

Pre-school education is of great attention as it prepares the child for ingoing regular school with a mental, intellectual and physical development in which the child becomes familiar to entering the classroom and sitting in front of the blackboard and the teacher. This manner, he gets rid of the fear that many children feel at first glance when they go to a regular school.

Yet, not all burdens and tasks can be entrusted to the mother, as the child also desires the mother's love and care. The objective of these institutions is to alleviate the burdens of working mothers, but they cannot replace the real role of the mother. So, there must be a combination between the mother and the institutions that raise these children and educate them agreeing to the right approach and prevailing social values. (Gourari A et al ., 2020)

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4-4: Use of modern technological means:

Recently, modern machines have invaded all aspects of family life, such as: the refrigerator, the washing machine, the sweeper, in addition to various means of communication such as the smartphone and the Internet. All of this has helped the family overcome in time and effort, the management of household affairs, in addition to the ease of obtaining products and commercial capabilities such as preserved foods and others. All of these factors have allowed women to work outside the home and to reduce the family’s requirements and responsibilities, and have helped the working mother. (Gourari A et al ., 2020)

Through her wage, which contributes to raising the family's standard of living, she can buy modern household necessities that help her (Madwi, Najia, 2014, 136). It has been revealed that modern household uses are an important and needed main means that help the wife intertwine the home and the outside world. (Mansour, Al-Sharbiny, 2000, 144)

It saves her time and effort in balancing her various household duties, which she performs in a short time, with her outside work.

We conclude that the sense of roles balance or the lack for married working women depends on a number of elements, such as working hours and the type of the husband's to her , the size of the family and the number of children in it, their aptitude to help with housework and the presence of other relatives who may help with one or more children during the mother's absence . Moreover, the availability of services such as nurseries and kindergartens, modern technological tools, and time management make it easier.

Conclusion:

Women have been change the traditional view of society about their going out to work, and realize their rights. They gained professional experience by increasing their skills and qualifications, thus reaching the highest positions in various fields. But, they faced complications and harms in unifying their family work and their professional work. A woman’s primary job is to raise her children and take care of her family. Then, what is requested from a working woman (wife and mother) is to balance her family duties and her work outside the home, so that the stability of the family is not shaken.

Still, this did not dampen her willpower to reach the same levels as men. She overlooks for the so-called complementary organizations, such as nurseries, preparatory schools that work to raise and care for children during the period of absence, and she use modern technological and electrical

Sci. Educ. Innov. Context Mod. Probl. P-ISSN: 2790-0169 E-ISSN: 2790-0177 Issue 3, Vol. 8, 2025, IMCRA household means. This helped the mother to settle and balance her family role with her professional tasks.