Work Commitment of Employed Married Women

Since married women typically curtail their employment behavior to accommodate the needs of their family, it is often assumed that women have a relatively weak and unstable work commitment. However, it is erroneous to infer work commitment from behavior, since work behavior is motivated and constrained by a myriad of personal and social conditions. The relationship of familial and work characteristics in women's expression of work commitment was examined in 420 employed wives interviewed in 1976 as part of the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). All subjects were employed as either professional, managerial, sales, or clerical workers for 10 or more hours per week and reported having a child less than 18 years of age. Three PSID questionnaire items were used to determine the work commitment dimensions of subjective orientation, work plans, and work preference. Other PSID items were used to construct the work/family variables work hours, husband's attitude, and fertility plans. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant main effects of work hours and husband's attitude, and a single interaction effect of husband's attitude by fertility plans. Other results indicated that the significant interaction effect was predominantly a function of work plans, while both main effects were predominantly functions of work plans and subjective orientation. These findings are consistent with other studies reporting that women who work part-time express higher work commitment in terms of subjective orientation to employment than do women who work full-time. (NRB)