Abstract
The issue of women’s employment behaviour has attracted significant academic attention in recent decades. However, the focus of most research to date has been on women’s employment in Western contexts. This thesis extends the research on women’s employment by examining the factors that influence women’s attitudes towards employment and their behaviour in a non-Western context, namely Lebanon.At the centre of the thesis is the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’ (TRA), which stipulates that a woman’s intention to perform or not to perform a behaviour (viz. be employed) is the immediate determinant of that behaviour and that a woman’s attitude towards her behaviour (viz. whether she favours employment or not) predicts her behavioural intention. In line with the TRA, the thesis highlights the role of subjective norms, referring to a woman’s perception of how important others think she should behave, as a hitherto under-researched dimension of women’s employment intentions and behaviour, and one that could be regarded as especially important in a non-Western context.
The thesis examines the extent to which women’s attitudes are mediated by their gender-role orientation and, in turn, the variety of factors that could plausibly affect women’s gender-role orientation, including economic/human capital factors (education, financial constraints) and socio-demographic/cultural factors (age, marital status and presence of children, early family socialisation, mother’s education and mother’s employment, religion and extent of religiosity).
The model of women’s employment intentions and behaviour is investigated through statistical analysis of a survey of 1,014 women in Lebanon, randomly selected. The female respondents answered an extensive survey, formulated after a series of pilot focus groups, about their employment attitudes and behaviours.
The findings of the thesis reveal that women’s current employment status in Lebanon is mainly determined by the attitudes of significant others, while women’s future employment intentions are primarily influenced by their own attitudes towards employment. A favourable attitude towards employment is significantly associated with women holding a more egalitarian gender-role orientation. Women’s gender-role orientation, in turn, is significantly influenced by various economic/human capital and socio-demographic/cultural factors.
Date of Award | 1 Apr 2022 |
---|---|
Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
|
Supervisor | Janet Walsh (Supervisor) & Riccardo Peccei (Supervisor) |