Work Family Conflict : A Review of Female Teachers in Indonesia

The pattern of dual earning families began to replace the traditional family pattern as the dominant family model, thereby causing a shift in family models. Traditional family patterns, characterized by the role of men as breadwinner and the role of women as the one taking care of the household. In this globalize world, both men and women play a dual role as parents and workers. Recent research on work-family conflict (hereinafter referred to as WFC) ignores those in teaching profession. In reality, WFC can occur in all professions, not to exclude teachers and educators Studies on WFC have such important value because they reveal the relationship among work, family life, health, and general well-being of employees. This literature study aims at exploring WFC that occurs among female teachers in the Indonesian context. This paper also adressed that WFC occurs in female teachers as to provide understanding on WFC as a work and performance constraints.


Introduction
Since the late 20 th century, the pattern of dual earning families began to replace the traditional family pattern as the dominant family model, thereby causing a shift in family models (Bruck, Allen, & Spector, 2002).Traditional family patterns, characterized by the role of men as breadwinner and the role of women as the one taking care of the household and children, have become rare (Burke, 1997;Burley, 1995;Cowerman, 1989;Lewis & Cooper, 1995;Nieva, 1985in Chopur, 2011).In this globalize world the tendencies of both men and women play a dual role as parents and workers is getting common.Thus, both family and work become two important things that demands not little time and energy.However, being parents and employees at the same time may lead into disharmony in one of the two roles played.Disharmony in roles played can cause problems and conflicts (Netemeyer, Boles & McMurrian, 1996;Hennessy, 2007).
The existing literature suggests that most of the research on work-family conflict (here in after referred to as WFC) ignores those in teaching profession.In reality, WFC can occur in all professions, not to exclude teachers and educators.Further, the literature also shows difference of views on the level of WFC experienced by teachers (Cinamon & Rich, 2005;Tabassum et al., 2010;Aisha et al., 2010).Studies on WFC have such important value because they reveal the relationship among work, family life, health, and general well-being of employees (Bruck et al., 2002).Even Carlson, William and Kacmar (2000) confirm that WFC refers to stress perceived by individuals.Therefore, in these last few years, research on work-family conflict has experienced a rapid increase (Allen & Boerhannoeddin, 2012;Chopur, 2011;Gahan & Abeysekera, 2000).As stated by Carlson et al. (2000), WFC has become an increasingly interesting topic to be examined in the study of behavioral organizational.
WFC has come to Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek and Rosenthal (1964) attention where they beleived the conflict elated to dual role of individuals; the dual role here refers to work-related roles and other roles in life, or the pressure related to work-related roles which are conflicting with the demands of the role in the family (Ahmad, 1996(Ahmad, , 1997;;Bruck et al., 2002, Michel & Hargis, 2008;Seng, Bujang, & Rusli, 2009;Ansari, 2011).Furthermore, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) conceptualize WFC as "a type of role conflict (inter-role conflict) characterized by role pressure due to disharmony of the certain aspects of the roles played as parents (family life) and as employees (work life)", i.e. when individuals cannot make the execution of the roles balanced.Carlson (1996) states the definition put forth by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) contains the idea that WFC is a complex construct which can take many forms, namely time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, and behavior-based conflict and affect the two domains at once i.e. the work and the family domain.Referring to the definition, some researchers state that WFC has duality nature namely WIF (work interfere family) and FIW (family interfere work) (Carlson et al., 2000;Grandey, Cordeiro, & Crouter, 2005).Although everyone can experience it, however, WFC is primarily experienced by women (Treitsman, 2004;Dixon & Bruning, 2005;Ansari, 2011).According to Ansari (2011), this happens as women hold two main tasks as a wife and a mother which means that they have greater household responsibilities and hold greater roles in the family.Women serve as the main doers for most activities done at home, such as taking care of the house and of the children, and at the same time they also become an employee (Chopur et al., 2009;Erkal et al., 2007;MacDonald, Phipps, & Lethbridge, 2005;Marshall, 2006in Chopur, 2011).
WFC can occur in all kinds of professions, especially in professions related to giving services, like teachers.Teacher is a kind of profession that possesses a high possibility of experiencing occupational stress (Nikmah & Nasution, 2011).Further, some researchers state that teaching profession has been recognized internationally as one of the professions that possesses the highest stress level (Hakanen, Bakker, Schaufeli, 2006;Prieto, Soria, Martinez & Schaufeli, Wafula in 2008, 2010).The workload of teachers is influenced by several factors including the more formal and difficult procedures in doing their work making them find hard times in planning their own work.In addition, teachers are not just responsible for improving students 'knowledge but also responsible for social and emotional development of their students, thus increasing the responsibility of the teaching profession" (Peeters & Rutte, 2005in Wafula, 2010).
Current research suggest that teaching profession becomes a profession that is prone to experience WFC, therefore this literature review is intended to explore the WFC that occurs among female teachers, specifically within the Indonesian context.The review explores the existing research condition on the WFC, how WFC in Indonesia is faced and ended with call for future research in the topic discussed.

Teachers: Between Family and Work
For most women, teaching is regarded as a good profession because they can optimally allocate time and energy to play their role in the family.As stated by Cinamon and Rich (2005), teaching profession is considered to be a suitable profession for women because it is considered of not possessing too much workload and at the same time it helps women to combine roles in workplace and family with such low level of conflicts.Furthermore, Cinamon and Rich (2005) reveal that teaching profession possesses certain characteristics, such as a low level of career commitment and more time available to devote to family, making it an ideal profession for women.
Ironically, a number of studies show that most of the female teachers are not able to separate their professional role and role in family effectively (Cinamon & Rich, 2005).They feel that their role as a teacher and as a mother at the same time is not easy and enjoyable.They feel forced to undergo three jobs at the same time, namely teaching, taking care of the housework, and taking care of the children.Even some female teachers mention that they have to do four jobs at the same time.In addition, some studies report that female teachers who have younger children feel more pressure to play the dual role simultaneously, particularly in helping their own children to learn and in meeting the needs of their children, as well as being a good teacher (Acer, 1992;Claesson & Brice, 1989;Elbaz-Lubisch, 2002;Spencer, 1986, in Cinamon & Rich, 2005;Wafula, 2010).Further, Blasé and Pajak (1989) found that teachers generally feel happier and prefer to play their role as a teacher more efficiently than their role as a mother (Wafula, 2010).Similarly, as stated by Schweber (2005), who wrote an article entitled "It's All an Illusion", to achieve a balance between work and family for these female teaches is a mere illusion.Schweber also explains that she prefers to be considered a poor lecturer for being a good mother, rather than to be considered a poor mother for being a good lecturer (Wafula, 2010).
According Cinamon and Rich (2005), the literature on female teachers' commitment to work and family as well as the level of conformity of the dual role they play shows that most women assume that the role of female teachers in the job they do and role in the family is equally important, and they resolve issues with other women experiencing WFC.However, there are also unique characteristics of the teaching profession, which are different from the characteristics of other professions, and which provide comparison and risky inference.So Cinamon and Rich (2005), advised to examining the relationship of the role at work and at family experienced by these female teachers directly, particularly the conflict that arises when someone is trying to play both roles well.

Work-Family Conflict Experienced by Female Teachers
A number of researchers in the field of education have conducted comprehensive studies about the relationship of professional life and family life of female teachers because there seems that the two domains influence each other (Cinamon & Rich, 2005).Research on the relationship of the two domains provides deeper understanding to researchers and educational managers on thoughts and the behaviors of these female teachers.Although this is considered an interesting topic to study, Cinamon and Rich (2005) citing Goodson (1997) state that the existing studies have not shown real attention to researching family and professional life of female teachers.Most of the studies on WFC focusing on female are conducted to professions other than teaching profession.The teaching profession is not perceived as an important field for investigation because it is considered that those in this field do not experience much WFC.
There are views believing that the characteristics of the teaching profession ae similar to those of the family role and hence female teachers are assumed to experience lower levels of WFC.However, different views are expressed by Claesson and Brice (1989) as quoted by Wafula (2010), stating that balancing professional role as a teacher and family's role as a mother is not something easy.Teaching students is clearly exhausting, and making those giving the lessons, i.e. teachers, lack the energy to become both a good mother and a good teacher (Bilken, 1995;Thomas & Schaufeli, 1984, in Wafula, 2010).
In fact, the teaching profession posseses extremely high demands, but the lack of control of the work thus enlarges the possibilities for teachers to experience fatigue (Wafula, 2010), in which fatigue is one indicator of WFC (Greehaus & Beutell, 1985).This could also explain the bidirectional nature of WFC, in the sense that when work interferes with family matters, stress may happen to the individuals concerned, and this stress further might affect the fulfillment of their professional role at work (Hill, Yang, Hawkins & Ferris, 2004in Wafula, 2010).Referring to this, examining WFC in women who make their living as teachers is important.

General Overview of Female Teachers in Indonesia
The data from the National Central Bureau of Statistics released in 2011 shows that the need for teachers all across Indonesia increased by 7 to 10 thousand annually (Tanudjaja, 2013).Despite the high demand, teachers in Indonesia face a number of problems related to (1) the poor quality of teacher training and education which affects the quality and competence of teachers, (2) the improper system of recruitment of teachers, in which it is not based on the needs and quality or competence, but is full of nepotism, making uneven teacher distribution especially in remote areas, (3) the development of teachers' competence and career which do not fit the national teaching and education objectives, and ( 4) the rights of the teachers which often are suspended by those in authority (Kompas.com, November 26, 2012).However, teacher still becomes the profession which is very interesting for most women in Indonesia.Teacher is a profession thought to be suitable with the basic nature of women, especially those who are married and have children who have high tendency to educate, to guide, and to direct-the nurturing nature of women (Triwahyuni, 2009;Khilmiyah, 2012).
In Indonesia, the role and function of teachers becomes one of the important factors in the world of education.Teachers are the most important part in the process of teaching and learning, both in the formal, non-formal, or informal education.Therefore, in any effort to improve the quality of education in Indonesia, teachers cannot be separated from various things related to their existence (Maharani, 2011).The sociocultural philosophy of education in Indonesia has put the function and role of teachers as related to various aspects of education.A teacher also holds the role as an educator, meaning that they not only have to transform knowledge to students but at the same time also have to act as the moral guardian of their students.It is also common among the society of Indonesia that a teacher is considered as "the second parents", after the parents in global education process (Churiyah, 2011).Therefore, teachers have both educational and social responsibilities (Murtiningrum, 2005).
Teachers as a subject in the world of education Indonesia have important tasks and roles; this may become hard and difficult especially for women who are married.The career of female women who are married is obviously more complex than male teachers due to differences in socialization and in combination of attitudes and the expected roles (role expectations), behaviors and sanctions related to the career of married female teachers (Moya et al., 2000in Khilmiyah, 2012).A variety of roles played by these female teachers can affect their career, especially those who are married and have become a mother.On the one hand, female teachers should work and maintain their career, while on the other hand female teachers could not relinquish her role as a wife and a mother in the family (Khilmiyah, 2012).Thus, married female teachers in Indonesia are often positioned to have dual role, and even multirole (Churiyah, 2011).
There is a fact in Indonesia, researchers found that some teachers ever experienced a loss of passion to teach, and this shows an indication of lack of dedication to their profession as a teacher; some teachers ever feel bored and overwhelmed with their duty, feel that teaching takes too much of their time, want to go home as soon as possible, and are not be happy if they have to do overtime work exceeding the normal working hours (Tanudjaja, 2013).However, this loss of passion may even increase as more schools nowadays carry out a full-day learning model and give more responsibilities to teachers such as to follow picketing schedule, to be a homeroom teacher, to supervise extracurricular activities, to do administrative work, and to perform many other activities (Churiyah, 2011).Some other conditions may add to this loss of passion such as unhealthy body, uncooperative students, hectic teaching, and family matters.Consequently, teachers may experience disappointment, boredom, and depression, making them apathetic towards their work and feel overwhelmed by the routine tasks (Tanudjaja, 2013;Churiyah, 2011).All of these will culminate into the high level of absence, as according to the data released by the Ministry of the National Education (2010) every day there enormous teachers all around Indonesia who are absent for various reasons (Laila, 2010).
Moreovern Sugijanto (2011) conducts a study to 326 respondents, all teachers, and reveals that 168 teachers (51.5%) feel really stressful with their work, and 60% of the respondents said that they experience occupational stress.Another study from Arismunandar (2008) concludes that 24,000 (30.27%) out of 80,000 teachers experience occupational stress (Nikmah & Nasution, 2012).In addition, data from the Education Department of of Bantul in 2007 shows that 65% of the teachers in Bantul experience occupational stress, consisting of 45% female teachers and 20% male teachers.The overall findings indicate that female teachers are more susceptible to occupational stress and WFC.This condition may be dangerous for the students.The current teacher certification program, in which it seeks to improve teacher quality through various training that supports teaching profession and requirement for teachers to write scientific papers, also adds another pressure for teachers (Khilmiyah, 2012).

Family-Work Conflict
Some researchers note that the relationship between work and family is a topic that is increasingly attracting attention within the last 20 years in relation to the significant changes that occurr in the workforce resulting in changes in family structure and the nature of the work (Watson, Buchanan, Campbell, & Briggs, 2003in Gahan & Abeysekera, 2000).Changes to the family and the working environment are caused by both the increasing participation of women in the workforce, as well as the growing number of married couples having dual income (Corteso, Colombo, & Ghislieri, 2010;Amstad et al., 2010).
On the other hand, changes are also shown through the declining number of traditional nuclear family, families with a single parent which bring impact on the effort to combine family duties with job duties, stepmother families, foster families, dramatic increase in part-time work, and increasing commuting between work and home because working individuals are required to have greater regional flexibility (Voydanoff, 2005c;Gahan & Abeysekera, 2000).All of the above reasons contribute to the increased stress of work and WFC (Kacmar & Carlson, William, 2000).Therefore, policies related to the issue of work-family matters become important for any organizations, for management and academic practitioners, for the government, and is also important for the well-being of the individuals (Bardoel, Moss, Smyrnios & Tharenou, 1999;Hammer, Saksvik, Nytro, Bayazit, 2004;Kramer, 1997, Abeysekera & Gahan, 2000;Boles et al., 2001;Rashid et al., 2010).The balance of work and family will continue to be such a great challenge to decades ahead, hence further analysis of WFC and its antecedents or consequences is still needed.Therefore, studies on the challenges of WFC are highly possible to continue if changes such as described above keep taking place.
One of the earliest and most cited frameworks in the literature of WFC was developed by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985).Adopting inter-role conflict theory postulated by Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek and Rosenthal (1964), Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) developed a model of the antecedents of the WFC.Quoting Kahn et al. (1964), which defines the inter-role conflict as "the occurrence of two or more pressure set at the same time that such compliance to one would make it difficult for adherence to the other" or the demands of the role at work conflicts with the demands of the role at family.Based on this definition, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) define WFC as "one of the forms of conflicts among roles in which stress coming from work and family domains is not mutually aligned in some specific aspects".This definition is often used by subsequent researchers who examine WFC.
Work-related and family-related responsibilities are definitely important for most individuals, but if both are done at the same time, they often produce demands that are not aligned each other (Boles et al., 1997, in Hsu 2011).According to Hall andRichter (1988 in Aisha et al., 2011), the relationships between work and family are asymmetrical, that work has greater influence on the family rather than the other way around.While Frone, Russell and Cooper (1992) as quoted in Aisha et al. (2011) state that work-related responsibilities are more often annoying family-related responsibilities than the vice versa.
Further, Voydanoff (2005) states that WFC is cognitive evaluation of resources and demands of work and family, involvement in one domain (e.g.work) will limit participation in the other domain (e.g.family).Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) show that people will spend more time doing roles that are most important to them, leaving less time for other roles and this magnifies the likelihood for the person to suffer a conflict of roles.
Based on a review of the literature on work and family, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) identify three kinds of WFC: (a) time-based conflict, (b) strain-based conflict and (c) behavior-based conflict.This conceptualization has been used consistently by many subsequent researchers over the past two decades to measure a variety of antecedents and consequences of WFC.
Various roles can conflict one another to win the time owned by one.A conflict occurs when the time spent for one role individuals have makes it difficult for them to run other roles (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985), or when time pressure in one role makes it physically impossible for individuals to comply with expectations of other roles (Bartolome & Evans, 1979in Carlson et al., 1999).The time spent for doing activities on one role generally cannot be redirected to do activities in other roles (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).
Strain-based conflict will occur when fatigue symptoms from performing one role make it difficult for individuals to perform the other role they have (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).Here, the two roles can be said to be in disharmony in the sense that fatigue in one domain makes it difficult for individuals to comply with requests or demands from the other domain.For example, employees who are experiencing depression or stress will find it difficult to be a good parent who loves the children, or improving attention on family matters and responsibilites will make it difficult for them to complete their job duties on time (Chopur, 2011;Hennesey, 2007).
Behavior-based conflict is said to occur when the specific patterns of behavior in the role may not be incompatible with the hope-the hope about the behavior of another role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).In other words, the patterns of behavior in the role (in-role behavior pattern) from a single role (such as the need to be aggressive at work) may not be aligned with the expectation of behavior in other roles (i.e. should be nice and many succumb at home).As an example of a man who became a managerial business executives could be expected to behave aggressively and objective in his work, while members of his family may have different expectations with him as members of his family expects that being familiar, trial, emotional and even willing to be vulnerable in its interaction with them (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).
Behavior-based conflict is said to occur when specific patterns of behaviors related to the role may be incompatible with the expectations about the behavior related to the other role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).In other words, the in-role behavior patterns from one role (such as the need to be aggressive at work) may not be aligned with the expectation of the behavior related to the other role (such as the need to be nice and loving at home).As an example, a man who becomes a managerial business executive is expected to behave aggressively and objectivevely in his work, while members of his family may have different expectations on him as to have him being caring, protecting, emotional, and even willing to be vulnerable in his interaction with them (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).

Two Direction Work-Family Conflict
Pressure related to work and family roles can happen simultaneously in two directions.This means that overload demands of the role from work (such as long working hours, inflexible work schedules, and so on) can cause interference and disruption to family (WIF).Likewise, overload demands of the role from the family (such as taking care of the children, taking care of housework, and so on) can cause interference to work (FIW).These conditions make WFC to be called to possess two diections (Gutek et al., 1991in Carlson et al., 2000).Some researchers state that the combination of WIF and FIW will ultimately determine the level of WFC (work-family conflict) experienced by an individual (Gutek et al., 1991in Gahan & Abeysekera, 2000;Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985;Netemeyer et al., 1996).
One interesting thing is that both roles have different translucent power, in which the family-related role tends to be less structured and less formal, and therefore is easier to be replaced by another role (Eagle, Miles, & Icenogle, 1997;Frone, Russell & Cooper, 1992in Grandey & Cropanzano, 1999).Compared with FIW, WIF happens more and has greater influence on work and family (Burke, 2004in Hasan et al., 2010;Grandey, Cordeiro & Crouter, 2005).
Most of the studies have measured the duality of WFC by observing the directions of the effect it brings, in which each direction has its antecedents and effects.Both directions of WFC are found to have links with the world of work, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to quit the job, burnout, absence, work-related strains, and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB).This also happens to matters associated with family life such as marriage, family satisfaction and fatigue, also with any other influences that do not come from any particular domains, in which this kind of impact is also found to have a relationship with the two directions of WFC.These impacts include life satisfaction, psychological fatigue, somatic complaints, depression and drug abuse (Amstad et al., 2010).

The Development of Studies on Work-Family Conflict in School Context
In these recent years, the majority of the studies on work and family conflict are conducted in many different disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, business management, workplace well-being, as well as gender and family research (Ansari, 2011).These studies are carried out on different subjects, such as employees of the private sector, managers, jailers, nurses, lawyers, accountants, postgraduate students, and academic practitioners (teachers and professors).WFC research on teachers begins to experience fairly rapid development.It is characterized by the increasing number of studies on WFC performed on the teaching profession of teachers at various education levels.These developments certainly cannot be separated from the demands for more research on the relationship between work and family life among teachers, as postulated by Cinamon and Rich (2005).
Based on the literature review carried out, some research on WFC on school teachers which were conducted after Cinamon and Rich (2005), among others, were carried out by Bragger et al. (2005), Ayo et al. (2009), Wapula (2010), Cinamon and Rich (2010), Tabassum et al. (2010), Aisha et al. (2011), Karimi et al. (2012), Ismail and Nordin (2012).These researchers have conducted studies with regard to WFC experienced by school teachers against various impacts posed by the conflict.The results of these studies generally conclude that teachers experience WFC in different levels.
In Indonesia research on WFC also shows fairly rapid development.The studies also done to different professions, such as nurses, managers, bank employees, public servants, police officers, accountants, academic practitioners, and others.With regard to the above explanation, studies on WFC conducted in Indonesia in school context have also been done.Some of the studies are done by Murtiningrum (2005), Goddess, Mawardi, and Suvianita (2006), Triwahyuni (2009), Vitarini (2009), Nohong (2009), Churiyah (2011), Apollo and Cahyadi (2012), Nikmah and Nasution (2012), Tanudjaja (2013), Abel and Prihastuti (2013).These studies suggest that WFC addressed to school teachers have already been done in Indonesia.It is based on the belief that the profession related to service provision such as a teacher is one of the professions that is vulnerable to experience WFC.
The results of the previous studies show that female teachers in Indonesia experience WFC in two forms, namely WIF and FIW.Both of these conflicts are experienced by female teachers in Indonesia with different levels.Differences in the levels of WFC experienced by these teachers are caused by several things, such as the environmental factors, motivations, characteristics of the job as teachers, as well as workload and culture embraced by these female teachers.Thus, the levels of WFC experienced by one teacher can differ from other teachers.
Conflict theory states that the expected role in family or work domain can be against one another, thus giving rise to different norms and expectations (Burke, 1986;Evans & Bartolome, 1984;Zedeck & Mosier, 1990;Michel & Hargis, 2008) and hence an increase in the execution of the role in one domain (work) will lower the implementation of the role in the other domain (family), making WFC to occur.

Conclusion
Work and family are two things central to most individuals.However, many individuals have difficulty in uniting the demands of the two domains.Over decades, continuous increasing demands associated with work are experienced by both men and women.There are always physical and psychological consequences taking place in individuals who experience an imbalance on performing roles of the two domains.
The increasing interest and number of studies on WFC point out that this topic becomes increasingly interesting for researchers in various fields of study.However, such studies are still focused only on the aspect of the work-related role and the family-related role.In fact, there are many other aspects to review by researchers associated with the roles undertaken by individuals.Research addressing aspects outside work-related role and the family-related role, such as social roles, is still rare.In fact, social development role is also believed to be a contributor for the occurrence of role conflict experienced by individuals.
Harmonious relationship of work-family matters for female teachers is seen as important for their performance in the workplace.As a matter of fact of the Indonesian context, with the collectivist culture with high power distance and uncertainty unavoidance, as Irawanto, Ramsey and Ryan (2011) suggested that female teacher are obliged to upfront their role in the family.In their as teacher it may creates WFC.Therefore, knowing how WFC happens to female teachers can provide the knowledge that teaching profession is also very susceptible to WFC, although it is often assumed that WFC experienced by teachers is different from WFC in other professions.Thus, identifying the types and characteristics of the problems associated with family-work relations in teaching profession is an important thing to do.Therefore, knowing WFC experienced by teachers will lead to comprehensive understanding to researchers and other parties who have an interest to WFC in teaching profession.A more comprehensive understanding is needed, so that advice about the form of intervention required to reduce WFC in teaching profession can be found.