Providing, Performing and Protecting: How Employed Single Mothers Navigate Work-Family Meaning

Abstract

The aims of this paper are two-fold: firstly, we aim to gain insight into how personal meanings attached to work and family are negotiated in the context of significant demands and conflicting values emanating from each domain. Secondly, we aim to expand understanding of work-family experiences beyond the prevalent focus on traditional couple-headed families by focusing on the experiences of employed single mothers. We draw on rich qualitative data from in-depth interviews and qualitative diaries kept by single mothers, with the aim of capturing detailed accounts of daily work-family experience. Our findings make three important contributions to existing work-family literature. Firstly, we extend existing family-focused identity frameworks, by revealing three distinct and novel ways in which single mothers ascribe meaning to work and careers in the context of family; namely as Providers, Performers, and Protectors. Secondly, we highlight the impact that ascribing such meaning has on their daily lives and well-being. Finally, we demonstrate the important impact of context, revealing how situational constraints inform the meaning given to employment and therefore how the meaning ascribed to work is not static but rather part of ongoing negotiations. We conclude by developing an original framework that encapsulates these findings and making suggestions for future research.