Mauritius has seen incredible changes during the past few generations in the socio-economic environment. Globalisation and scientific changes also have opened new avenues to Mauritians that have been previously unavailable to them. It really is becoming a modern culture where women are appearing out of the private spheres of the home into the general public sphere of the overall economy and politics.
Nevertheless while having adapted to the new financial opportunities, there's been a rise in the participation of ladies in the formal wage. The proportions of ladies in workforce in Mauritius from season 2009-2012 have increased significantly from 18, 500 to 191, 600 (Economic Friendly Indicators, reports Mauritius). Women have benefited significantly from the upgrading of these economic position but at exactly the same time have succumbed to stresses and strains of dealing with their new tasks in the 'new years' modern culture.
Moreover, The White Paper on Women in Development emphasises on the increasing occupation of ladies in the labour market and the greater sense of personality and how freedom believed by women themselves have caused positive development. Such being the situation, it is too much of a glorification to state that this reflects the changing assignments of women in the Mauritian society.
1. 2 Woman's triple role within the family
Women play a very essential role within the family and the population. They will be the pillar of the home and they accordingly add in sustaining the family. Thus, women are from the triple role of successful (work outside the home), reproductive which is related to household tasks associated with children and family and community management. In the same framework, Dunscombe and Marsden (1995) explained that ladies in paid employment endure the responsibility of working a 'triple shift'.
1. 3 Changing functions of the family
Modernization and industrialization have brought about the breakdown of the prolonged family to the introduction of the nuclear family, where family members are more self-employed and there is less connection with kins. Nowadays, another form of family which is becoming very popular with the rising rate of divorce is the single-parent family. Days gone by two- generations have helped bring a great upsurge in the number of families with duties both at the job and at home. Nowadays, single-parents, working women and dual-earner couples are heavily involved with parenting (Carnier et al. , 2004). Therefore, today people are stressed by the pressure of work, family and community requirements.
It is argued that the family in professional society is shedding a lot of its functions. Sociologist like Fletcher (2000) claims that, the family's functions have increased in 'detail and importance'. The role of the family has modified from a manufacturer to a consumer. Goods and services are more and more being bought and used - houses, autos, furniture and education. Hence, the highly materialistic world requirements that both husband and wife go out to work. The controversy is the fact women would then contribute to the family budget while men wouldn't normally contribute to family members work.
The result is the fact that less time is put in in the family. Sometimes, children are unattended and interpersonal problems crop up leading to instability and turbulence in the family.
1. 4 Changing status of women across times
The main thing today is the fact that there has been a progressive improvement in the position of women. They have indeed achieved more political equality with men and they have equal rights in education. Most types of job are suitable for women today. Identical opportunity function has helped discard discrimination.
The 'Economic Magic' of Mauritius is largely reliant on the growth of the making sector which was created in 1970s. It has been the main engine of economic development in Mauritius and has consumed many unemployed labour. The original women who were uneducated represented a simple pool of labour for the industrialists. The brand new 'economical leverage' has welcomed the earning of second salary amidst the family.
Everyone whatsoever levels of modern culture is becoming aware about the stress households face nowadays in order to struggle to balance their responsibilities at home and at the job. This is evidenced from the fact that all too often people have to select from the demands of work and family, elderly parents and family members. In Mauritius the two demographic tendencies in the increase participation rates for working mothers and dual-career couples have a serious influence on the spheres of work and family. It really is generally recognized that the comprehensive pressure arising from work environment and from family environment can produce high-levels of work-family discord for many employees.
In quick, development is wonderful for any country but at the same time it offers added extra burden on women specifically balancing the conflicting needs of family life and job.
1. 5 Functionalist perspectives on work and family
According to functionalist, young families are living in a post modern way of living which is very good for the culture as they prefer not to have children for their career plus some would rather stay-single and they are going based on the needs of the contemporary society. P and B Bergers dispute that the bourgeois family already instructs children the particular world want for case, strict moral principles and value economical success. E. Leach (1996) argues that the Nuclear family is stressed. They are simply exploited by the capitalist and they're alienated; they work because they haven't any choice. Family are nowadays privatized, they don't want visitors to know what is going on in their backyard.
1. 6 Problem statement
It is principally through the family that sociable worth and knowledge are transmitted from technology to generation and therefore this reinforces the cultural textiles. Like any other country, the Mauritian's Government is playing a fundamental role in trying to maintain the total amount between work and family life. When the family is stable, this will have a direct impact on the society and therefore on the country.
On one side, the family life in Mauritius is being eroded when confronted with the demands of work and progressively long hours in at work. Practically, many customers of the Mauritian family go back home after work at different times and the traditional family meals which were customary before, are actually reserved for weekends. Many parents make an effort to find time to invest with the children during the working week. The twin stresses of work and family life are bringing up stress levels within the home and creating much pressure. Parents are struggling to fit almost all their tasks into shorter time frames because of lack of time. Scheduled, to the constraint of the time imposed by work schedule, various communal problems have cropped up. Infact there exists increasing divorce rate (0. 47 per 1000 people) and heading by this, the assumption is that children are experiencing recourse to medicine, alcohol and cigarette smoking.
On the other hand, despite the so called equality of sexes advocated by feminists, it is seen that the responsibility of caring for the family relies largely on women. Hence, housework and caring for children remain mostly "women's work". Women's works have been marginalised throughout the annals. Women will focus on their work than family. Therefore, family being a basic institution it's very necessary to really know what is creating the breakdown of the family, how children can cope with it and its own negative effects on children especially adolescents.
1. 7 Aim
This project seeks to make an analysis on the impact of the partnership between work and the problem of children within the modern family.
1. 8 Objectives
- To probe into different occupational areas in Mauritius to gauge the impact of focus on family life balance;
- To see whether women have the ability to take care of their triple role within the modern family;
- To see whether the idea of family being functional in the society as advocated by functionalist really stand in the Mauritian contemporary society,
- To see whether children belonging to single-parent households more damaged than other children;
- Find out respondents views on does cultural problems like Juvenile Delinquencies are developing due to lack of guidance of parents in the present day family; and
- Propose results and alternatives.
