Professor Texas A&M University Texas A&M University
Abstract: Many societal expectations are imposed upon Vietnamese women regarding their role in society and family based on Confucianism and the Vietnamese patriarchy. After marriage, women are responsible for their family and their husband’s parents and siblings (Duong, 2001; Truong, 2008; Vu, 2018). According to a 2019 Vietnam’s General Statistics Office report, women spent 20.2 hours per week doing unpaid housework compared to 10.7 hours for men. Married women are therefore more at risk in the labor market than are men or unmarried women.
Vietnamese women professors are no exception as they experience unequal family responsibilities while managing their career. They have fewer opportunities to pursue tenure and promotion compared to male faculty due to family care expectations (Francis & Stulz, 2020; Gardner, 2012; Lendák-Kabók, 2020). Thus, empowering women professors to enhance their work-life balance is critically important to both universities and policymakers.
This study is significant in several ways. First, female faculty with work-life balance (WLB) is understudied in human resource development (HRD). Reviewing WLB studies published in four major HRD journals since 2015 revealed 18 WLB-related articles only. Nine of these were empirical WLB studies, but none focused on female faculty, a significantly under-researched group. Given more Vietnamese women in the academic labor force (International Labor Organization, 2021), WLB research of women professors is critically needed. Second, a review of 145 peer-reviewed English language empirical studies published since 2010 revealed women professors’ WLB was studied mainly in the US (46.8%) and Europe (10.4%). There has been no research in the Vietnamese context, as yet, of Vietnamese women professors. Therefore, our study will significantly contribute to the existing literature.
The primary purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of Vietnamese female faculty members with WLB. To address this purpose, we adopt the phenomenological approach from the interpretive hermeneutic lens proposed by van Manen (2014) wherein the two following research questions will be addressed: 1. What are the lived experiences of the Vietnamese female faculty members in navigating work and family life? 2. What strategies can be applied to empower Vietnamese female faculty members to achieve enhanced WLB?
In order to address these two research questions, we utilize purposeful sampling to recruit 15 Vietnamese female professors based on four criteria: (1) identify as women, (2) teach, do research, and service but not leadership or management, (3) currently work in Vietnam’s higher education institutions, and (4) have at least one child. In addition to the sampling criteria above, we also employ snowball sampling by asking participants to refer to persons meeting these sampling criteria (Patton, 2002).
In this study, we conduct two rounds of semi-structure in-depth interviews with the help of an interview guide. The first round of interviews is expected to last from 60 to 90 minutes where we will (1) state the purpose of our study, participants’ commitment, right, demographic information and (2) conduct intensive in-depth one-to-one interviews with the participants. The second round of interviews is quick follow-up interviews in which participants have a chance to check the accuracy of the interview transcripts (member checking) and ask for any clarifications or questions. All interviews will be conducted and recorded via Zoom. Each interview will then be transcribed before we move to the next participant.
In order to analyze data, we follow the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) process developed by Smith, Flower, and Larkin in 2009 because this method is aligned with our methodological choice and fits our research purpose and questions. The IPA process includes six steps: reading and re-reading interview transcriptions, making notes summarizing exploratory comments, identifying emergent themes, identifying connections between emergent themes, moving to the next case and repeat, and identifying patterns across cases (Smith et al., 2009). We use MAXQDA 2022 to organize and code the data from interview transcripts.
We have interviewed six participants so far. Following IPA steps and using MAXQDA 2022, we have identified two themes: supporters and stressors. Participants in our research received support from their supervisor and colleagues at work and from their mothers and husbands at home. On the other hand, two cases reported their husbands and mothers-in-law are their main stressors in life. Five out of six participants agreed that they did not have “me time” for themselves and were under the pressure of balancing their work and life.
