Are professional women overworked? Objective versus subjective perception of role loads

Abstract

This was a study of 164 faculty women's estimation of the time they spend on their professions, their housework and child care. The focus of the study was to compare their reports about time spent on these activities with their feelings of being overworked. The subjects were divided into four groups according to their marital and motherhood status. Although all subjects reported working many hours, they did not report feeling particularly overworked. Those who have children, and by their own report work well over 107 hours per week, felt no more overloaded than did the childless subjects who reported working about 78 hours a week. The study makes a distinction between objective‐quantitaties perception of role load and subjective‐qualitative perception of role load. It also offers possible explanations for the findings.