Going back to work after childbirth: women’s lived experiences

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed at understanding the experiences of first-time mothers who returned to work after paid maternity leave. It explored the challenges new mothers faced during the transition of having a baby, taking 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and then returning to work. Background: Traditionally women left paid employment and stayed at home while their children were still young, but recent times have seen a change in local women's labour force participation and the actual lived experiences of Maltese women in the context of transition to parenthood had not been explored. Society still seems to expect that the idea of balancing work and family life is principally a women's issue as traditional gender roles still appear to prevail. Methods: The qualitative paradigm was used to conduct the study by means of a semi-structured interview schedule at three different phases throughout the experience. Ten women were chosen to participate in this study by purposive sampling. The theoretical framework used to guide this thesis included phenomenology, transitional theory as described by van Gennep and feminism. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used during the analysing phase. Results: The resulting three super-ordinate themes identified how after childbirth maternity leave is 'a time of preparation and planning ahead' followed by a period when 'lightening strikes on rejoining the workforce' and 'weathering the storm' via an attempt to balance work and family life. Conclusion: Findings showed that while society encourages mothers to return to work after the birth of their children, few attempts have actually been made to support them during this delicate transition. This study identified the need to improve local policy with regards to family-friendly measures and the importance of an increase in local maternity leave duration. Moreover, the midwife was identified as an important figure that can help empower mothers and prepare them for what is yet to come.

O sofrimento do regresso ao trabalho após a licença parental

“…Se as suas famílias fossem nanceiramente mais abastadas teriam optado por car em casa com o bebé, aspiração igualmente partilhada por muitas outras mães trabalhadoras (Nichols & Roux, 2004;Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012). A articulação entre estes dois polos identitários fez também emergir a tensão característica dessa conciliação (Lipovetsky, 2007;Martins, 2012).…”

“…Porque as mulheres continuam a ser as principais cuidadoras (Martins, Abreu, e Figueiredo, 2014;Pinquart & Teubert, 2010), são geralmente as mulheres que mais desinvestem pro ssionalmente para gerir os múltiplos papéis e é também consensual em Portugal que, em caso de incompatibilidade ou di culdades na conciliação, a abdicação da carreira seja feminina (Aboim, 2010). O corpo de conhecimento que descreve a experiência vivida pelas mães no regresso ao trabalho após a licença parental é, no entanto, escasso (Nichols & Roux, 2004;Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012). Este estudo pretende explorar sentimentos e experiências de mães que regressam ao trabalho durante os primeiros seis meses de vida da criança e surge em complementaridade a um outro artigo que desocultou as estratégias utlizadas na conciliação do papel parental com o de trabalhador (Martins, 2012).…”

Focusing on Maternal Health Beyond Breastfeeding and Depression during the First Year Postpartum

“…Evaluating data from a large mixed‐method descriptive study these researchers identified that role conflict/overload, family stress, family/child issues, financial issues, and psychosocial issues presented challenges to adjustment upon returning to work. Spiteri and Xuereb () in a study conducted in Malta focused on the new mothers’ thoughts after returning to work. These authors found that women were unprepared for life changes associated with having a baby and returning to work.…”

Technology to Mediate Role Conflict in Motherhood

“…Indeed, research has demonstrated mothers are likely to experience a 'weathering of the storm' on returning to work, in an attempt to balance work and family life [17], relying on other working mothers for support and resocialisation [10]. Academic research is not necessarily keeping pace with organizational practice, as organizations such as Deloitte and Shell are now developing programmes to support women transitioning through parenthood in the form of coaching programmes.…”