THE ROLE OF FAMILY SOCIAL SUPPORT ON WORK STRESS FOR FRONTLINE WORKING MOTHERS IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

Due to the increased entry of women into the workforce, there have been changes in socio-economic and familial changes in Bangladesh. Traditional family demands on women also increase along with this. Thus, working mothers experience more stress than men. In the context characterized by minimum formal support structures, working mothers need to resort to family resources to cope with stressful situations arising from work and family roles. Hence, this study aims to investigate the role of family support in alleviating work stress. Data were collected from 332 frontline working mothers (banks= 179, healthcare= 153) employed in banking and healthcare organizations located in Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. Grounding on the COR theory, the findings revealed that emotional, instrumental, and housework family support negatively influenced work stress of working mothers in banks, whereas instrumental and housework family support had negative influence work stress of mothers in the healthcare sector. The findings imply that family social support generates valuable resources for working mothers in the healthcare and banking professions in dealing with stressful work situations during pandemic situations. Family support is also a valuable resource for working women in a patriarchal society where gendered stereotypes shape working women's work stress. This study provides a clear understanding of how various family supports reduce the work stress of women. This study suggests organizations enable working mothers to cope with any unintended detrimental effects of using family support