Lingard, H and Lin, J (2003) Managing motherhood in the Australian construction industry: Work-family balance, parental leave and part-time work. Construction Economics and Building, 3(2), pp. 15-24. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
A survey of women in the Australian construction industrywas undertaken to examine women's work experiencesin construction. Questionnaires were distributed to threehundred women in construction occupations and 109completed and usable questionnaires were returned.Women were found to be seriously under-represented insite-based roles. Site/project engineers worked longer hoursthan other occupational groups and expressed significantlygreater work-family conflict. Lack of flexibility and theinability to balance work and family were common themesin the qualitative comments made by many respondents.Even when women indicated that part time work options andmaternity entitlements were provided by their organizations,many expressed a reluctance to use them and perceivedcareer penalty associated with this usage. It is concludedthat more flexible work schedules and the implementationof family-friendly policies may encourage more women intosite-based roles in construction. The paper concludes thatthe rigid work practices presently in place act as a subtleform of discrimination. The provision of such policies willonly be effective if cultural and attitudinal change is alsoachieved.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | women; construction; parental leave; part time work; work-family balance |
| Index terms: | option, survey, part time, work-family conflict, occupation, discrimination, construction industry, women, questionnaire, penalty, project engineer, work practice |
| Subjects: | management, data collection methods, profession, sociology, decision analysis, professional ethics, regulatory law, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Risk Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Legal Issues, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here