Chapter seven. Women Lawyers and Work-Family Role Conflict

Transcription

1 Chapter seven Women Lawyers and Work-Family Role Conflict

2 193 Basic Concepts and Definitions The role can be defined as a system of boundary conditions to which the actors who play them are supposed to conform, and of the corresponding rights that these boundaries give. The role is an area of obligations and constraints that correspond to an area of conditional 1 autonomy. Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflict in which the role demands stemming from one domain (work or family) are incompatible with role demands stemming from another domain (family or work).2 According to Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal, roles are the result of expectations of others about appropriate behavior in a particular position. Role conflict is described as the psychological tension that is aroused by conflicting role pressures. 3 Role theory suggests that conflict occurs when individuals engage in multiple roles that are incompatible. 4 Work-family conflict can be time-based, strain-based, or behavior based. 5 Time-based conflict occurs when role pressures stemming from the two different domains compete for the individual's time (e.g., requiring employees to work late with little notice might make it difficult for employees to meet family obligations). Strain-based conflict occurs when the strain experienced in one role domain interferes with effective performance of role behaviors in the other domain. For example, a father who is anxious about his child's illness might not be able to fully concentrate on his job as copy editor, causing him to make mistakes in his work. Behavior-based conflict is described as conflict stemming from incompatible behaviors demanded by competing roles. For example, a manager in a financial services firm might be expected to be aggressive,

3 194 unemotional, and hard driving, but these same behaviors in the family domain would most likely lead to conflict with family members. Timebased conflict, the most common type of work-family conflict, is based on the 'scarcity hypothesis'. This hypothesis suggests that the sum of human energy is fixed and that multiple roles inevitably reduce the time and energy available to meet all role demands, thus creating strain 6 and workfamily conflict. 7 As can be seen in the examples above, work-family conflict is bidirectional. That is, work can interfere with family (work-to-fanlily conflict) and family can interfere with work (family-to-work conflict). These dimensions of directionality have been identified a~ distinct, reciprocal constructs that have independent antecedents and outcomes. 8 For example, some research has demonstrated that work-to-family conflict is primarijy caused by work-related stressors and characteristics and that it predicts family-related affective and behavioral outcomes, while family-towork conflict is caused by family-related stressors and characteristics and predicts work-related outcomes. 9 This is an important area of study for both researchers and practitioners, as more and more professionals are struggling with multiple roles (e.g., employee, parent, student, caretaker of elderly parents). Research to date suggests that high levels of work-family conflict are related to dysfunctional outcomes for the individual (e.g., life dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, poor health), for relationships (e.g., increased interpersonal conflict, divorce), and for the organization (e.g., absenteeism, tardiness, loss of talented employees). Work-family conflict has been related to important individual and.. I h b. 10. I k" organjzatlona outcomes, sue as a senteejsm, mtentjons to eave wor.

4 195 and decreased job, family, and life satisfaction. 12 Additionally, negative mental and physical health outcomes have been related to high levels of work-family conflict and work-to-family conflict. I3 Much of the research on work-family conflict has been based on the premise that multiple roles inevitably create strain l4, as suggested by role theory,15 and role scarcity.16 However, there is a growing body of research which has found evidence of positive spillover, both from work to home and from horne to work. The results of some of these studies support the enhancement hypothesis, which proposes that an individual's supply of ener~' is abundant and expandable. 17 Multiple roles may be life enhancing in that they provide additional sources of social support, increased skills, and heightened self-esteem and well-being. Baruch and Barnett, for example, found that women who had multiple life roles (e.g., mother, wife, employee) were less depressed and had higher self-esteem than women and men who had fewer life roles. However, it is the quality of roles that is important. That is, the greater the quality of a person's multiple roles (e.g., having an interesting, challenging job and a happy home life), the greater their self-esteem. 18 Several researchers have commented on the importance of understanding factors that are associated with (and/or are antecedents of) work-family conflict. For instance, it has been documented that employees with significant dependent care responsibilities (e.g., employees who have responsibilities caring for young children, employees with large families, employees who care for dependent elders) tend to report higher levels of work-family conflict. 19 Some studies have found that women experience greater work-family c0!1flict. 2o Research has also examined organizational factors (e.g., characteristics of the employee's workplace) that can affect

5 196 work-family conflict. For example, the impact of workplace culture on employees' perception of work-family conflict has been widely noted?l Recently, work-family conflict has been examined from a systems perspective demonstrating that one member of a couple's experience of work-family conflict can significantly impact their partner's experience of work-family conflict. 22 These work and family "crossover effects" of stress and strain from one member of a dyad to the other have been recently presented in a theoretical model developed by.:!3 Practitioners are interested in the extent to which various interventions, such as family-friendly policies and programs, and the supportiveness of the work-family culture, actually reduce employees' work-family role conflict and how this can have significant impact on a number of work, family and personal outcomes. 24 It is commonly thought that mothers who work outside of the home experience more strain and stress than mothers who stay at home. This seems to be especially true for mothers of young children. With women entering the work force on a regular basis, numerous opportunities to research the stresses of both work and home life have become abundant. Hyde et al (1995) suggest there are two main theories. The scarcity theory states that humans only have a fixed amount of energy to be used over all roles. In contrast, the enhancement theory says that the more roles one has, leads to more psychological well-being. This in turn increases self-esteem, social status, and social identity. Wiersma suggests that role overload leads to restriction of a social life, friendships, and family ties. If a woman has too many roles to juggle, her persona11ife will suffer. 25 To decrease depression, a simple pattern should be followed. The mother should stay home as long as possible, then return to work slowly going back part-time working into full-time. The pressures of managing

6 197 multiple roles are greatest and the psychological benefits of employment are the least among married women with small children. 26 Mothers that are employed full-time exhibit a higher level of anxiety than mothers who do not work outside of the home full-time. To fairly calculate the differences between working mothers and nonworking mothers the work environment and non-occupational environment have to be taken into account. These studies have shown that employed women are less depressed. Mothers that take a short maternity leave of six weeks or less show a higher level of depression. These are the same women who have significant marital concerns. 27 Hemmelgarn and Laing suggest that women with high maternal identity have lower role strain. 28 Pleck said the "female work role is only partly actualized because it is especially vulnerable to family role demands".29 Role Conflict Among Working Women Any attempt to make significant changes in our lives takes time. Deciding what to change, how to go about making a change and then implementing it is time-consuming. Time is also required to lay the foundation to manage ones' profession and business and look after family. Unfortunately, time is a luxury for most advocates, particularly for many female advocates. Many women who have cart.!rs have, in effect, two jobs. One job is their professional career with the other job at home. If one is married or the head of a single-parent family, then being a lawyer is second job. So how do women, those juggling two jobs, manage to look after both professional and familial world at the same time. One of the highly pertinent areas while analysing issues related to gender is to understand the nature and degree of conflicts among working

7 198 women in performance of familial and professional roles. Role conflict is the result of tension and strain arising out of multiple dimension of a role set in an individual. In respect to lawyers a conflict is perceived between their ideal role expectations and articulation of their role. We can analyse theses conflicts in three different ways, namely, Organizational conflict, Professional conflict and Familial conflict. As all the lawyers in the sample are engaged in private practice hence the chances of occurrence of organizational conflicts are very few. Nevertheless all the lawyers function with in the defined parameters of the code of conduct for the lawyers prescribed by the Bar Council. The bureaucratic governmental organizations may demand conformity to prescribed rules, which may tend to develop bureaucratic role-image on the part of professionals. The professional conflict may emanate from the lawyer's inability to meet professional expectations, and incompetence in discharging their duties. It may also be seen as related to professionals own work satisfaction which could be anchored in the opportunity he has in applying knowledge to specific cases or to make contribution to the increasing pool of lulowledge. The familial conflict is most crucial in the lives of working women. Much of the analysis of work-family conflict is based on the sex status of professionals. Woman's self image is built chiefly around their family roles, whereas men are ~onditjoned more by occupational roles. With regard to professional work and familial work, it is the woman who has to take the middle path. In the absence of such adjustments women suffer with severe conflict. This is because societal role definitions and expectations from these categories are radically different. The data in Table 29 along with Table 30 analyse the existence and the degree of professional and familial role conflict among women lawyers practicing at various levels in Delhi.

8 199 Table-29 Do Women Lawyers Experience Familial and Professional Role Conflict? Expressed La~ers at Opinion District High Court Supreme Court Total Court Yes No Can't Say Total Together at all the three levels an overwhelming 71% of the lawyers feel that they experience role conflicts, in varying degrees, between their familial and professional lives. 16% of the lawyers say they do not experience any such conflict and almost the same number i.e. 13% of the lawyers could not decide. Experiencing role conflict is more a result of one's marital status. Men and women are different and have different roles to perform. We can see some of these differences in the areas of communication, recognition of achievement, perception of equality, and 10 the area of preferences/prejudices. Of course, the extent of those differences varies per individual. There are, however, some generalities when considering stereotypical distinctions, which should be examined One generality is that women are more detail-oriented than their male counterparts. It is demonstrated in the manner in which women conduct their personal and business lives. Generally, women direct their attention to all of the specifications of a presentation. They also concern themselves with the minutiae that make their home lives more manageable. Most men, on the otht:r hand, tend to overlook many details and are only interested in the bottom line. Of course, this is not always the case. If a lawyer is detail-

9 200 oriented in the practice of law, she is also In her personal life. Unfortunately, attending to those details takes time. Figure -17 Do Women Lawyers Experience Familial and Professional Role Conflict? 30 Yes No Expressed Opinion Can 't Say o District Court!ill ( (igh Court 0 Suprcmc Court Society dictates that women are supposed to take care of the family and home. Yet, even though female advocates work just as many hours as their male colleagues, women are sti]] expected to maintain the household, work around everyone's schedules and so on. Thus female lawyers

10 201 definitely face a problem in finding out time for thei!" profession that is very demanding in nature. Since we are dealing with female lawyers, a predominant maleoccupational category we may profitably pose the question to gauge the degree of role conflict among women legal pr~ctitioners. Table 30 The Degree of Role Conflict Degree of conflict District Court High Court Supreme Court Total Large extent: High Some extent: Medium Very little: Low Occasionally Total The data in Table 30 attempts to measure the degree of role conflict in case of 71 such lawyers who admitted that they face difficulty managing familial and professional work simultaneously. At the District Court out of 32 a considerable 65% of women lawyers experit:nce role conflicts, at the high Court almost all the lawyers in the sample i.e. 85% and at Supreme Court 63% of female lawyers agree that they confront problems while carrying out their duties at familial and professional level. Of the 71 lawyers in the sample 30% of the respondents experience conflict to a large extent (to a high degree), 35% replied to some extent (to a medium degree), 23% of the lawyers feel very little (to a low degree) and 11 % replied that they do not experience role conflict much but occasionally.

11 202 Figure -18 Degree of Role Conflict 12 II To large extent To some extent Very little Occasionally Degree of conflict o District Court ~ Hjgh Court 0 Supreme Court However, what ever may be the degree of work-family role conflict, women lawyers feel time constraints whi1e discharging their duties. The vast number of responses regarding these constraints are discussed and summarized in next few pages. The type of jobs in which men and women go has traditionally been radically unequal with men going into tough and higher paid jobs, stable and hard core professions. And women going in for low paid and temporary forms of employment. This kind of stereotypical differentiation

12 203 could also be seen in the kinds of professions people pursue in modem contemporruy world. Even with in a profession the jobs are divided according to the gender differentiations predominantly. As is the case with criminal practice, which is more a domain of male lawyers as compared to female cecause of number of reasons discussed earlier. There is a lot of evidence that certain jobs are perceived as women's job because they fit stereotypical views about women. These views exist at two levels: 1. They refer to stereotypes about what women are good at. For example, women lawyers can handle cases related to gender issues, marital discord, adoption etc. more effectively because of being familiar with the nature of other women or the prospective clients. It is often believed that because they are caring, mild and soft natured they cannot handle criminal and hard-core cases effectively. Thus they are good for peripheral practice. 2. Secondly there is a view of women's working life and its relationship with bringing up families. This takes us to the issue of familial and professional role conflict. Expectations that women will either want to leave the work or job or should be coerced into leaving it when they have children has operated as a barrier to equal opportunities with men. Thus training and career advancement could be denied on the grounds that it was an ineffective fonn of investment if women were going to leave. Taking career breaks especially in the profession such as law definitely brings about a negative influence on the reputation, prestige and career advancement, which a lawyer could otherwise achieve. In order to gain recognition in legal profession one has to remain regular in practice. Returning to work after a break for child rearing might mean retuming to a lower level than male contemporaries who had stayed in the system. Even after that the concentration of female lawyers often remains divided because of familial responsibilities and marital roles.

13 204 This kind of conflict and division of time between home and profession has resulted into women having unequal opportunities. This acted to the advantage of some men by reducing possible competition in profession and reinforcing the domestic division of labour, which put the main responsibility for housework onto women. Over the last few years, there has been much discussion of creating equal opportunities by not denying women rights to certain jobs or training. However, the rhetoric of equal opportunities may be much harder to deliver in practice than was originally conceived. This is partly because social institutions outside the workplace remain unreformed. Despite all the claims of liberalization, equality of opportunity, emancipation and upliftment of women, it is very difficult to break away the dominant patriarchal structure, which guides our behaviour in day-to-day life. While it may be possible for well-paid and highly placed women to pay other women to look after their children in their absence, thus avoiding a career break and any effective downgrading of their position, for many women in low paid work, it is impossible to buy nursery and child care at a price which would make it worthwhile returning. Thus equal opportunities may benefit one group of women (the professional, middle class) and do nothing for less well-off women. Thus the differential level of practice for women lawyers gives them respective status and honour (not necessarily economic status because success measured in economic sense depends upon practice and d:gree of stability in career which may differ from lawyer to lawyer and is not contingent upon higher level of practice, in other words practicing at a higher level does not guarantee economic success although it may help in providing a status to the lawyer). Thus managing familial and professional roles at the same time is a tough task, which poses a number of challenges for women working outside home. As woman's role in the family is often seen to be of as

14 205 'primary caretaker', looking after vanous needs of family members married women professionals tend to experience greater degree of role conflict. In the case of unmarried women the burden although remains less but the social norms restrict her open movement outside the house and pose time limitations for work. In the case of married working women the burden gets doubled. The pressures and role expectations are even more if a woman is staying in a joint family with her in laws. There are many problems and familial conflicts encountered by women living in joint families. On the other hand living with joint family could be an advantage, because if the family is cooperative enough they can extend support for working women and even take care of children while she is at work. This advantage women staying in nuclear families do not have. Whereas women staying in a nuclear family enjoy more freedom, they can manage to have both space and scope to exercise their will, they can move according to choice and can make time and work schedules flexible according to their needs and priority. At the same time they have to rely either on servants or neighbours or baby sitters to look after their children when they go for work. In nuclear families working women have to make other kinds of adjustments and compromises which are related to task and managing home front. Most of the women lawyers feel that husbands tend to be more cooperative and accommodating in nuclear families, where as in joint families their behaviour is guided and influenced by the family, such behaviour is shaped according to asymmetrical authoritative structure of the family in which men have greater power to make decisions. In fact in nuclear families husband and wife make joint decisions on important issues. It's more of a mutual understanding. Where as in joint families its more of compulsive adjustments rather that mutual commitment and understanding. A large number of women lawyers feel that they are facing

15 206 constraints because of time. They cannot prioritize either home or profession because both are demanding and need full time devotion, hard work and commitment. Lack of time on one hand and consequently lack of concentration on the other leads to work-family role conflict. Managing both the roles with equal commitment is bit difficult. Working women feel that they have to maintain a balance and make compromises. This situation may sometime also leave a sense of!,ruilt among women lawyers; they feel that they have been neglecting either of Lheir responsibilities. Neglecting family roles makes them feel guilty as if they are not fulfilling the role of a mother or wife or daughter in law and are not able to confonn to the expectations of these roles. On the contrary neglecting professional work in favour of family makes them feel that they are being unjust to their career and caliber; they are not being just to their individuality as they are not able to utilize their education, potential and professional acumen. This leaves a feeling that they are not making use of their potential to the fullest, and not utilizing their intelligence in the desired manner. To quote a young and enterprising lawyer: 'Unless one flourishes in a career it does not give a sense of satisfaction to an educated women. By striking the balance between the two women often face number of hardships and role conflicts. But to overcome this conflicting situation they make lot of adjustments and compromises.' A number of women said that time management needs to be done and works should be done according to priority and importance. Working women in any profession practically face number of difficulties. A lot of adjustment and effective time management is dependent upon the kind of family and relationship they have with their family members and their husbands.

16 207 One of the middle aged lawyer reports: 'Women in professions such as teaching do not face many problems as compared to women engaged in other professions. In teaching women can manage to utilize their time because the occupation is not very demanding as compared to law. Lawyers have to work very hard in order to establish themselves and to achieve success. The more we work better it is for us, but we face problems managing family and professional life together.' Thus female lawyers have to manage with the limited time they have which restricts her success in professional career. Lack of proper concentration along with barriers of gender equality further make the situation difficult for women lawyers to cope with. Success in legal profession depends upon developing a client base. Developing clients is a painstaking and time-consuming endeavour. It is also inconvenient and requires a flexible time table. It can be a difficult proposition for a woman lawyer who is already juggling her other jobs. Furthennore, managing all of those different jobs requires tremendous amount of energy. Women, who try to manage more than one job, live with exhaustion and, oftentimes, guilt. Women lawyers can feel trapped. They may have to heed to their family members' schedules, build up everyone's ego, and then try to accomplish something for her in the remaining time with diminished energy. The task is sometimes next to impossible. While she is at work, she may secretly feel guilty about not being at home caring for her children or the household. Conversely, when she is at home, she may feel that she is not accomplishing those things necessary to handle her law practice properly. It is inordinately difficult to arrange enough time to manage both tasks and still attend to the accompanying details. A female lawyer often has to juggle her own schedule to accommodate everyone else's agenda moving hers to the last priority. She may dilute her efforts in anyone area to ease her guilt and see to others. Her time is stretched to the limit, and

17 208 undertaking any additional work exacerbates the strain. She tries to make time where there is none. Furthermore, failing to handle each job adequately causes guilt to flourish. To develop a flexible schedule, one must have cooperation from the family members. That will only materialize if one engages in open communication with them. An interesting fact reported by a lawyer: 'We all are socialized into masculine or feminine roles since our childhood. The respective roles have specific expectations, obligations and duties associated with it. In the childhood somehow or the other things go on smoothly but as we grow these difference become more wide and the gap between the two broadens. This gap is more evident in the fact that men try to carve out space and time from their professional duties to have fun and to relax. Where as women try to steal time from their professional engagements to fulfil their familial obligations. Men have to look after only their professional role with utmost dedication and commitment. I do not deny the fact that they refrain themselves from other familial and social obligation but these are never a compulsion on him but rather a matter of choice, if he wishes to do so. Where as for women either she has courage to break the well-defined boundaries and limits of roles crafted for her (which is almost impossible) or she has to juggle between number of duties which she has to fulfil. The social structure provides them a route to create balance between social and professional life in which men have full freedom to relax where as women have to strike a balance between two realms of life in which her freedom and enjoyment remains a dream throughout.' Thus we conclude that the possibility of competing demands on time of professionals emanating from extra-occupational sectors should be recognized. It is also important to understand and to examine the source and degree of role conflicts among the professionals. Much of the analysis of role conflict is based on the sex status of a professional. The social and professional stereotypes are such that full-fledged professions are considered to be predominantly male occupations. Women lawyers experienced greater role gratification and more strain compared to full-time homemakers. Few women lawyers perceive that their work outside the

18 209 home provides positive effects on their family. Women lawyers perceive that husband and families have positive attitudes toward their roles. Given the predominant role-obligations expected of female professionals in the familial context role conflicts are more widespread among them. In so far as the predominant societal role image of females is that of home-bound housewives and so long as they themselves would accept it, extra familial occupational roles are likely to create intense role conflicts for then\ as acceptance such roles would entail actual or imaginary inadequate perfonnance of traditionally defined familial roles. Conversely, the male being accepted as the chief breadwinner the societal expectations compel him to concentrate on occupational role:; even at the cost of familial roles. In brief women professionals experience much conflict as compared to male professionals. Given the Indian situation, the children and older people both are supposed to be pampered. It is usually the professional duties that suffer from lack of adequate attention. Professional working women have higher motivations to achieve and to develop their own potentials; however, there is still the negative side of factors existing such as demands from traditional family values, demographic-social changes which hinder efficient management of housework, the nuclear family system, competition in the work-place, etc. Most of the women lawyers in the sample perceive that their multiple roles provide positive effects on their children. They also perceive that husband and families have positive attitudes toward their roles. It may imply that returns from their occupatiop are highly beneficial to their family members. Women lawyers in Non-Governmental Organizations NGOs are non-governmental organized collectives with a purpose. 'Organized' encompasses a wide range of structure, from informal unstructured association and groups to highly structured and formalized

19 210 collectivities. NGOs are both indigenous and international they are private foundations, funding indigenous organization to implement programs, indigenous women's groups, such as village woman credit association, groups based on occupational distinctions, or group informally created for working mothers. Effective women's movements have always had good leadership arid while some of them have been "outsider" initiated, local woman have subsequently assumed the leadership. Two notable e.g., in India are the self employed woman's organization (SEWA) and working women's Forum (WWF) NGOs can help women change their perceptions about themselves, their role and status and provide women with opportunities to become leaders and institutionalize collective action. They should help women recognize and act in pursuit of their economic, social and political interest. As Irene Tinker, writes, the "critical" point about development programs supplying basic need is that it includes consciousness raising, a change of attitudes, organized and mobilization for social and political participation, structural change and institutional and legal change. Ultimately women must be able to collaborate with men in the community. NGOs mayor may not be able to deal with women subordination and domestic violence directly, but they can, by focusing on women's priority needs, develop their consciousness to confront these problems on their own. A particular type of conventional behaviour is constructed with in NGOs mirroring the way the gender relations are structured in society. For the last two development decades, a few feminist policy advocates had organized a demand to include women in development policies and programs. Although most NGOs work on improving the conditions of women in the society, they have consistently failed to advance or strengthened the role and participation of women in planning and decision making process.

20 211 Law has provided opportunities to women who have grappled with its machinery to realign social norms, to allow their full participation in the opportunities and challenges of the workplace, to defeat age-old injustices and presumptions. Yet the empirical reality indicates that the disparities of society at large exist also within the legal community. The fact that employers and others have been able to continue discriminatory practices against women lawyers is partly a function of the silence surrounding the practices, according to a recent report on Gender bias and women working in the legal system. 3D A system of justice which guarantees equal access to justice to all regardless of race, culture, gender, economic status or any other quality is one of the critical pillars for any emerging democracy. Allover there is a need to transform the administration of justice to create a system, which is cheaper, simple, more effective, efficient and generally fair catering for humane cause. There is a need of a system, which is representative of and responsive to the needs of the community, which requires legal assistance and those who cannot afford it. Few lawyers feel that the way in which the legal system deals with issues of particular relevance to women must be fully examined in order to abolish the discrimination of women and her consequent exploitation. For many years women who work within the legal system have voiced their concerns about the laws and the legal system. NGO's providing services to women have identified problems with the laws on domestic violence, rape, maintenance, inheritance and other matters, which deeply affect women's lives. Now women who are already in the profession, and have knowledge about the system, voluntarily represent a number of issues and fight problems. The reality is that women have largely been rendered invisible in the legal system. They tend to require legal remedies for problems and

21 212 violence, which occur in their private world - with their husbands, partners, children, other relatives or friends. But the laws upon which they rely have historically been fonnulated and applied by men and are not infonned by the genuine needs of women. The practices and procedures of the legal system are also alienatin~ for women, particularly those who are "ictims of violence. Laws, which have been introduced, to deal with the concerns of women are in a number of respects, known to be ineffective in their practical operation. Those who are covered have often found that the attitudes of the police, and magistrates diminish or negate the protection, which should be offered. Maintenance orders are notoriously difficult to enforce. Rape laws contain procedural rules, which allow complainants to be subjected to humiliating cross-examination, and many rape prosecutions lead to verdicts of not guilty despite sarong indications of guilt. All the lawyers in the sample feel an urgent need to develop a strategy to open the legal system to women so that they can confidently and successfully pursue their rights. However, all levels of government, government departments, NGO's and civil society have a role to play. The following Table represents tile views of the respondents on the desired role of women lawyers in non-governmental organizations. Table- 31 Role of Women Lawyers in Non-Governmental Organizations Expressed Opinion District Court High Court Supreme Court La~ers at Total Yes Marginal No Can't Say Total Of all the 100 lawyers in the sample 23% in all say that women play and in future also could play an important role in NGO's. The highest

22 213 proportion of the respondents, almost 50% of these 23 lawyers are practicing at Supreme Court level. 31 % feel that occasionally they come across such cases where women are working for non-governmental organizations. All the respondents replied that in our society there are plenty of women in need of Jegal help. These kinds of cases generally are reported in legal aid cell situated at Patiala house District Court. Any iawyer can heip these people who are in need and mostly these cases are dealt without charging any fees. 33% of the lawyers expressed that they do not know much about the matter and 13% of the lawyers replied that neither they are nor they know any such lawyer who is associated with activities of any NGO. The proportion of younger lawyers especially exhibited zeal to work in various areas to help women in distress. Almost all the lawyers feel the need to actively participate in the activities of various NGO's to represent people in need and to address problems as mentioned below. Women are under-represented in almost all spheres of life, be it social, familial or professional and their problems are least cared for. Status of women requires improvement, with improved educational status and freedom of movement, which most of the time a girl child is not allowed for; There is a lack of support structures for women on issues as disparate as child care facilities and sexual harassment policies; There is a lack of facilities to accommodate women with disabilities; Resources are required for providing training and capacity building for women; There is a need to provide gender sensitivity training for all Departmental staff; and

23 214 o o c o o o o There is a need to provide training for working to cope up with the problems, which they face at office and at family front. To enable them to deal with stressful situations in which they can break easily. Women's access to justice, particularly in the context of violence against them Women's legal rights in family life and relationships, and the problems of enforcing those rights Women's participation in the legal profession Legal rights to social security The position of women in employment and in the unpaid workforce Media portrayals of women. Contemporary notions of access to justice encapsulate a broad understanding of the ways in which the law, Courts, tribunals, other legal structures and law enforcement agencies can restrict ordinary persons recourse to justice. For example, laws, which provide women with unenforceable maintenance orders, have no actual value and do not provide access to justice. Lawyers feel that if defenders of law, i.e. women lawyers take a strong initiative then there is a possibility that women do not remain unrepresented and can stand for their status. Following could be considered as most important Issues, which these women lawyers can take up along with NGO's working for women In distress: a. Enhancing access to legal infonnation, advice and representation; b. Use of accessible language, so that lack of knowledge does not bar any ones access to the justice and being represented. c. Alternative dispute resolution strategies;

24 215 d. Amendments to the laws for the benefit of vulnerable groups, particularly in the areas of violence against women, family law and sexual offences; and e. Establishing a coherent and human rights based legal system Lack of infonnation about the law and the legal system and lack of resources to actively pursue rights inhibit or prevent access to justice.. Issues of caste, class and rural isolation are compounding factors in obtaining access. Thus it becomes very crucial for the lawyers to take into account various factors with the help of which women belonging to any remote area could be brought into the main stream through NGO's which work towards this area. It is thus essential that transfolmation of the legal system comprehensively integrates the issue of gender, and women lawyers are required to represent women in distress. Men and women have different requirements and this must be confronted and addressed at all levels. Reform of the laws, changes to the way Courts operate and the attitudes of personnel are all part of tite challenge ahead. In summary we find that educational development, structural changes in the economy, urbanization and wider occupational opportunities have accentuated inequalities in some cases and reduced in others. Changes in the nonns of behaviour and the value system also affect the nature and culture of different groups. Traditionally values were modelled on the ideal behavioural pattern of various classes and even gender categories in society, which restricted women's' role to their homes. Family roles have been found to contribute more to role conflict than work roles. Women often get caught in higher role conflict than men because many women put more importance on family roles than they do on work roles. Work and family roles have different meaning for men than for women and these differences can be related to mental health, especially distress. Work affects gender when the meaning of work is the issue because women see

25 216 work as a prevention from taking care of her family properly, whereas men see work as the key importance which will lead him to take care of his family. This difference in meaning is then interpreted as the cause for women's higher levels of distress. Work roles and gender in this case also seems to benefit men, leaving them with lower levels of distress compared to women. Because of modernization and consequent changes a large number of working women are entering into various spheres of activities. Consequently they have to shoulder another responsibility that is to perfonn the duties at the work place efficiently. The society has approved women working because of growing economic necessity, but the sociocujtural attitude towards women's' role in the family and in the whole society has still not changed. The educated working women are being influenced by egalitarian ethos while the traditional authoritarian and male dominated set of patriarchal social structure continues to be the same. This produces tensions and conflicting situations especially for working women. When married women take up employment outside their home, the job demands increase their volume of overall work, since they have to perform these along with their familial roles. The perfonnance of dual role (workfamily) cften creates a professional role conflict. Traditionally a married women's world is defined as her home, she is primarily required to look after the welfare of the husband, her progeny and other members of family if any. The professional role on the other hand makes continuous demands on her time and energy. In doing so some of the expectations of the members of her domestic 'role-set' are liable to be left unfulfilled thus role conflict occurs in a greater degree. The attitude of working wives is likely to be greatly influenced by the addition of the work role to their roles as housewives and mothers. At the same time attitude of men on the other hand has not changed in the same ratio due to patriarchal feelings. It is this lag between change in their attitudes that is likely to make adjustments, to the familial and professional roles, more difficult and complex. Whether a

26 217 choice or economic necessity, combing the two major roles, work and family, is not an easy task. It requires not only skill but also physical and psychological acceptance of adjustment to the change brought about by the combination which creates an intolerable strain and role conflict in the lives of working women. They are becoming victims of large number of conflicts when performing their varied roles. Their roles are complex and diversified and in conflict with each other. Thus while professional success contributes to reduction of the role conflict, organizational constraints accentuates it. 31 References 2 4 () Boudon, Rand Bourricaud, F. (1989), on 'ROLE' in 'A Critical Dictionary 0.( Sociology', The University of Chicago Press. p.308. Grecnhaus, 1. H., & Beutell, N. 1. (1985), 'Sources of Conflict between Work and Family Roles', Academy of Management Review. 10, Kahn. R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R., Snoek, 1. D., & Rosenthal, R. A. (1964), 'Organizational Stress '. New York: Wiley. Katz,. D. & Kahn, R. (1978), (2nd Ed.), The Social Psychology of Organizations' New York: John Wiley & Sons. Ibid. Grecnhaus, J. H., & Beutell, N. J. Goode, W. J. (1960), 'A theory of role strain '. American Sociological Review, 25, Marks, S. R. (1977), 'Multiple roles and role strain: Some notes on human energy. time and commitment '. American Sociological Review, 42, Frone, M. R., Russell, M" & Cooper, M. L. (1992), 'Antecedents and outcomes of Work-Family Conflict: Testing a model of the Work-Family Interface '. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, Fronc, M. R.; Yardley, J. K.; & Markel, K. S. (1997), Developing and testing an Integrative model (~lthe Work-Family Inter/ace' Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50(2) Barling, J; MacEwen, K. E.; Kclloway, K.; & Higginbottom., S. F. (1994), 'Predictors and Olltcomes q( elder-care-based Interrole Conflict', Psychology and Aging. 9(3), Burke. RJ. (1988), 'Some Antecedents and Consequences 0.( Work-Family Conflict', in 'Juurnal of Social Behavior and Personality'. In E.B. Goldsmith (Ed.) 'Work and Family: Theory, Research. and Applications ',3(4), Bcdian. A. G., Burke, B. G., & Moffett., R. G. (1988). 'Oufcomes of Work-family Conflict among Married Male and Female pt(~(essi()nals '. Journal of Management,

27 Barnett, R. & Rivers, C. (1996), 'She works/he works: How Two-Income Families are Happier, Healthier, and better-off, San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins. 14 ChaprnaIl, N.J, Ingersoll-Dayton, & Neal, M. B. (1994), 'Balancing the Multiple Roles of Work and Caregiving for Children, Adults, and Elders '. In G. P. Keita and J. 1. Hurrell (Eds.). 'Job Stress in a Changing Workforce: Investigating Gender, Diversity. and Family Issues '. (p ). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 15 Ibid. Katz, D. & Kahn, R. (1978). 16 Ibid. Goode, W. J. (1960). 17 Ibid. Marks, S. R (1977). 18 Baruch., G. K., & Barnett, R. C. (1987), 'Role Quality, Multiple Role involvement. and Psychological well-being in Midlife Women', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51,