Comparison of Work/Life Balance Issues Faced by Women

Throughout this research it was observed that despite German participants who had different approaches towards assuming domestic responsibilities, Iranian and Turkish women seem to have accepted nearly most of the responsibilities in their household and with their children. Looking at the previous part of the research regarding the

support of life partners, it was observed that the definition of support for women in these 2 countries was mere emotional. The majority of the women in these two countries found their life partner supportive when they merely encourage them to keep on with their job and they don’t expect their husbands to share the domestic duties with them. In some cases even when their life partners were not complaining about their possible neglects in doing the house chores or don’t interfere with their work, they perceived it as a sign of emotional support.

“I mean I am lucky in this matter. I never had any problems. As I said before, I’m married now and my husband never told me “no, you can’t do this or youhave to do this like that or this.”

He is always supportive of my decisions contrary to all standard Turkish men” (TR4)

In some cases in both Iran and Turkey it was also observed that women have internalized their domestic responsibilities to an extent that they viewed the time spent performing these duties as their personal time. These findings comply with Jamali’s assessment stating that some women tend to internalize the caretaker role to an extent that they feel guilty when they pursue entrepreneurship.(Jamali, 2008)

“I also make some time for myself to make my home more beautiful.” (TR1)

This internalization goes even further to a point that some of the participants viewed themselves through the quality of their roles and even related womanhood to being a good mother, caretaker and wife.

“My personal time is the time that I work, I do all the house chores by myself, I don’t want to ask for any help in this matter, I don’t want to forget my other side as a woman and a mother.”(IR5)

Women also are responsible for their health and physical and emotional health. They have to spend some time taking care of themselves aside from all the responsibilities related to their family and work; however they seem to neglect this aspect of their life the most due to their role overload (Mathew, Panchanatham, 2011). This research’s finding also support this theory. In Iran and Turkey women stated that they have dedicated themselves to their family and work, also some German participants mentioned that due to their heavy workload and expectations from their partners and family has forced them to neglect their own personal life.

“Actually I’ve never lived for myself. What life? There is no time for that. In Iran we sacrifice ourselves for our kids.”(IR1)

“I don’t have any me time just for myself. My only “me” time is going to the supermarket and buying something that I really like to eat or going out to a restaurant that I like. So that’s something on my to-do list that I have to improve just to have more time.” (GR2)

All of the participants unanimously believed that the distribution of household and childcare responsibilities were not even among men and women in general in their country. They all expressed that they hope one day this matter would be considered as not a duty for women but rather a choice. German participants explained that changes have started happening in their country with the new generation; however, the pace of this change is much slower in Iran and Turkey. The participants in Germany also explained that the facilities and regulations support women in their decision to be an active member of the society and these regulations also change the existing perception.

“All responsibilities are mainly on women. I understand if the woman is not working and her husband is the only breadwinner, then it’s understandable to expect the house chores from the woman. But nowadays in this country a system in which just the man works doesn’t sound feasible and naturally both sides have to work, yet still all domestic responsibilities are on women and explaining equality to men is so hard because most women have accepted these responsibilities.” (TR1)

“Women are considered responsible for everything related to children and house chores even when they are working. I know a lot of families that this is the case for them.”(IR4)

“I guess we are on the way to live it more fair and I guess it’s probably for both parts. For the women to say what they need and to speak up and for guys to change in a few points. I think we are all learning there and well in my generation, our parents did it in the traditional ways so we were raised and conditioned in another way. So we are learning to change that. And I would say that in our society if I look half a generation behind me like 10,15, 20 years younger. There is totally much more equal.” (GR5)

Figure 13: WLB Techniques Used by Women in Turkey, Germany and Iran 0

1 2 3 4 5 6

Time management Hired External Help

Got Help from Family

Job Delegation

Turkey Germany Iran

In terms of the techniques and tactics that women apply to maintain WLB, the results portrayed difference in each country. (see figure 13) Women in Iran seem to rely on themselves in this matter rather than relying on their family. They mostly mentioned time-management as their method. On the other, Turkish participants’ primary technique to reach WLB was relying on their family for help. It appears that families especially mothers and mother-in-laws help out in chores like cooking or help take care of the children while their mothers are at work. German participants mostly used a combination of techniques and time-management, job delegation and hiring external help were the most mentioned tactics by them.

The majority of the participants in Iran and Turkey didn’t think that their domestic responsibilities have interfered with their work productivity. On the other hand, German participants believed that even though their responsibilities in their life have had an effect on their entrepreneurial process, they seem to view it as positive matter stopping them from becoming workoholic.

4.10.5. Comparison of Perception of Success among Women Entrepreneurs in