The life image of the female shift workers – The ones with children under age twelve as examples
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Chang, Ru-Chuan
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
The paper will begins with the experiences of the female shift workers, to understand their engagement will and the flexible mechanism of working time arrangement. On the other hand, to analyze how the working experiences influence the personal life experiences. Finally, to analyze the feelings and comments towards the shift working experiences, and to sketch the life image of the female shift workers. Beyond this, the conclusions can be the reference as the future making for the shift work labor policy. The targets of the paper are as follows,
1.To get the reasons why the female workers enter into the shift work.
2.To see the working time arrangement of the female shift workers.
3.To comprehend the influence of the shift work on the personal life of the female shift workers.
4.To understand the women’s subjective perception about the shift work.
The research is based on the feminist epistemology and asks 45 female shift workers with the children under age twelve by the deep interviews. The life image of the female shift workers is portrayed through the following four aspects with the grounded theory as the material analysis method.
1.The analysis of “the factors of the labor participation - forced to choose under the economic pressure”：Economics is the main reason of the labor engagement. No matter with the general phenomenon of the singles have to work or the needs of the dual worker family after getting married both push them into the shift work. Futhurmore, the research believes that the stable work of the governmental institutions, the large hospitals and the big companies is another very important factor with the compensation effect to cover the negative influence of the shift work besides the “higher salary” reason. For both singles and marrieds, the family factor is also an account besides the economics factor. It is mainly because that the women are taught to be an expressive role in the process of socialization. The female workers are forced to accept the care’s responsibility at the same time. As a result, marriage is an important divide. The interviewees enter into the shift work again will seek for “the less chance to shift, the lower burden” jobs as a way to get the balance between the work and the family. In addition, “the inevitability between the studies and the profession” is found. It means the fact that the nurses and the policemen realize the future works needed to shift as early as students.
2.The analysis of “the speciality of the working experience - flexible working time arrangement”：The most difference between the shift workers and the normal workers is unstable working time. The heterology of the working time arrangement of the female shift workers includes the shift work and the rota work. Except the unstable working time, we also find out the five important mechanisms for the flexible arrangement of the working time, including off、doing all nights、collocation、exchanging and substitution. The interviewees usually satisfy their family need with the five important mechanisms especially after getting married, even after having children. The children need life and medical cares. Once after four years old, the send-and-take and the activities of children need the shift of working time, too. However, the flexibility is under the structural restraint. The success of flexibility arrangement yet calls for the cooperation of the colleagues. Thus, the mechanisms reflect the double oppression of capitalism and partriarchicalism towards the female shift workers. Those are the means of the female workers to resist the social structure, to look for the autonomy, and to adjust between the work and the family.
3.The analysis of “the life experience beyond works-personal life influence”：the research finds that the workers cannot fall asleep in the recess owing to the opposition of time out of shift work. The sleeping quality is seriously influenced and let the physical force wasted. By the way, the less communication between the interviewees and their husbands and children also generates negative influence on their relations. Especially after giving a birth, the children have to be taken care of by the mother-in-law, husband, or other relatives. As for the housework, it is chiefly undertaken by the daughter-in law and the mother-in law in the big family. In the nuclear family, the husband is more possible to share the housework. As for the human relations, we can find out that the interviewees are bounded. They almost communicate with colleagues and the people of the same profession. Therefore, they feel the human relations is affected.
4. The analysis of “subjective feeling under labor Experience - autonomy and family support”: These interviewers, due to economic factors or work change difficulties, they have to continue their current condition. But, they still hope that they can change to a normal work in the future. In addition, because the abnormal shift time has caused them into an abnormal life style, affect their interior ideology and make triple burdens on their job, body and family. This triple burdens is actually came form the concept of a male should go out to work while a female should work inside the house, and it is widely accepted by the male shift workers and their parents in law and the female workers’ own mothers. Even links the female to be in shifts worker itself to approve such values. In addition, this research discovered that the interviewers unfolds autonomy, and this is precisely the general profession of career woman’s with no autonomy, Mainly because working time can arrange an order according to class and grade in advance in shifts can therefore help the interviewer to handle the matter , takes advanced courses, test and so on, but needs to ask for a leave. Next, such time elasticity lets the interviewer feels that own time quite much , mainly because there is a lot of holiday time to spend with herself.
Besides the above analysis of this research discovered that the workers in shifts have already to have under the constitutive limit of having structural restriction, the interviewers will adopt the transition of the work field, make great efforts to study and ask to be transferred and promoted, takes medicine to recuperate, the elasticity disposes the key operation of man hour that the limitation makes, the female duty personally fulfills under the difficulty action tactics motion strategy, about husband household work processing should to, has individual space and time, tactics in order to as work or job, body or health, and family suitable and is right and balanced among family. Finally, this article proposes regarding social mother’s duty as a goal, the government should implement and carry out the friendly family policy actively, the policy recommends this research of the enterprise friendly female workers in schemes of shift work policy.
Subjects
女性主義認識論
輪班工作
主體性
自主性
母職
feminist epistemology
shift work
subjectivity
autonomy
motherhood
Type
thesis
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