An Ethno-phenomenological Study of Pregnant Women’s Experiences regarding Household Roles

Household labor has been indicated as a feminine role even in the present millennium,in which gender role orientations have been changed. As pregnancy is an important time for studyingthe division of household labor, this study aimed to discover the meaning of the pregnant women’sexperiences of household roles. An ethno-phenomenological study, in which van Manen approach to phenomenology wasits core and focused ethnographic approach was its supplementary component, was used to conductthis study. 25 pregnant women with maximum variation were recruited via the purposeful samplingduring 2016-2017 in Mashhad, Iran. In-depth semi-structured interviews, vignette interviews aswell as observations were used for data collection. Six-step van Manen’s descriptive-interpretivephenomenological approach was used for concurrent data collection and analysis. MAXQDA, version10, was used for data organization. Data analysis led to the emergence of an overarching theme entitled: “couples’ preservation,keeping up and protection of the household roles”. This was derived from two subthemes includingthe mother’s efforts to play the household roles and spouse confrontation with the household chores. The consequence of all endeavors of pregnant women along with their husbands developsthe experience of preserving and maintaining the importance of household roles. As pregnancy is animportant period for considering division of household responsibilities, it is necessary to design andimplement gender sensitive programs to empower pregnant women and their families as well.