Question

Find out how a domestic worker or a construction labourer faces role conflict.

Answer 1

Based on the prompt in activity, role conflict occurs when the expectations associated with two or more roles that an individual holds simultaneously contradict one another.

Here is how domestic workers and construction labourers experience severe role conflict:

1. The Domestic Worker:
   • The Roles: She simultaneously holds the role of a wage-earning caregiver for her employer's family and the role of a mother/caregiver for her own family.
   • The Conflict: The expectations of her job demand long hours, strict punctuality, and emotional labor directed toward her employer's children or household. However, the expectations of her role as a mother require her to be present for her own children. This creates a painful conflict, such as when she is forced to leave her own sick child unattended at home in order to go to work and care for her employer's children to avoid losing her wages.
2. The Construction Labourer:
   • The Roles: He or she holds the role of a daily-wage manual laborer and the role of a parent or family provider.
   • The Conflict: The role of a construction laborer often requires migrating away from their home village, living in precarious, unsafe conditions on construction sites, and working exhausting hours. This directly conflicts with the expectations of being a stabilizing parent. The intense demands of their labor role often make it impossible to provide a safe, permanent home or ensure consistent schooling for their children, sometimes forcing the entire family, including children, into the hazardous environment of the work site.