Employed Mexican women as mothers and partners: valued, empowered and overloaded

Abstract

This study was designed to explore the daily lived experiences of a group of employed, low-income Mexican women in their maternal and spousal roles. The participants were 41 auxiliary nurses recruited from two large urban hospitals in Mexico. Data were collected through the Women's Roles Interview Protocol (WRIP), which solicited the participants' perceptions of the satisfaction and stresses they experienced in their roles as mothers and spouses, and their descriptions of the coping strategies and the resources they used to deal with stressful life experiences related to these roles. Data analysis consisted of a qualitative thematic analysis of the narrative responses to open-ended questions in the WRIP. Satisfying aspects of the maternal and spousal roles, as identified by the participants, included giving to and receiving from their children and being valued and supported by their partners. Spousal approval of their work was also satisfying. These employed mothers, however, experienced many stressful aspects of functioning in multiple roles, including lack of resources, being absent from their children, self-doubt about their maternal role functioning, role overload and spousal absences. The women coped by juggling priorities and utilizing family resources. From the data analysis, the investigators developed a conceptual framework for understanding these women's experiences with parenting and marriage. The centrality of the family, a sense of value and empowerment as women in maternal and spousal roles, and the reality of role overload are discussed within the Mexican culture context of machismo, its female counterpart hembrismo, and family life. Implications for women's health are framed within a context of family and work.