Establishing work-family balance: The experience of employed women in Tehran Municipality

This study was conducted with the aim of recognizing the lived experience of women working in Tehran Municipality in establishing work-family balance. The research approach of present study was qualitative, and research method was based on phenomenology. The sample size is based on the theoretical saturation level of 27 working women with children under 12 years old. The data collection method is in-depth interview and the analysis method is content analysis, which were extracted in three methods of open, axial and selective coding. The findings showed that working mothers travel in two different worlds, one based on intimacy and empathy and love and the other based on purposefulness, efficiency, order and administrative hierarchy. Working mothers interpret the achievement of job opportunities and the double wage family model as an economic necessity and an indicator of social dignity and identity. They understood the dual role expectations and the threefold conflict of time, tension, and behavior. The hidden stress is due to repeated judgments and the stigma of not being good enough in the mother and running away from work after breastfeeding from their experience. As a result, there must be a more complex understanding of the different needs of working mothers. At present, families need women's economic participation, and women have a strong desire to work. Therefore, facilitating women's employment and reducing work-family conflict requires fundamental changes in the job structure, family protection laws and policies, and facilitating the outsourcing of household responsibilities and supporting increased male participation in domestic affairs.