Urban Career Women and Stress in Southeast Asia

Abstract

A theoretical and conceptual review of stressors facing urban career women in southeast Asian countries is presented within a chronological age-bracket framework. Similarities and distinguishing differences from findings in the United States, Europe, and Australia are discussed. Younger attractive women were more likely to encounter sexual harassment and be taken less seriously at work. In the middle years, family demands with young children pose more of a distraction for the women. Southeast Asian career women have an edge compared to their Western counterparts in better access to support for household duties and child-minding from live-in maids and parents. However, they are expected to care for elderly parents and be responsible for efficient home management. In higher management appointments, they face similar stressors in critical perceptions of their authority and leadership by both men and women subordinates. Management initiatives to inculcate attitude change and transparency in addressing convoluted and irrelevant gender-role expectations can yield substantial organizational benefits.Psychological stress is experienced when the resources and capabilities of a person are insufficient at a specific point in time to meet demands and expectations. This definition acknowledges that a set of environmental variables may evoke a negative experience of stress or not, in a dynamic sequential or cyclical fashion, depending on the ebb and flow as well as cumulative nature of demands on the person. When able to meet expectations, a set of environmental or internal demands can be interpreted by an individual as a positive challenge rather than a psychologically negative stressor.The ten countries that comprise the geographical grouping referred to as ASEAN include Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines. While many of these countries have a rural hinterland, this review will focus on the lifestyle of working women in the urban centers. This article will make reference to both challenges and stressors as the former translates to the latter for the majority who make the transition within one or two generations from rural to urban living.There is some empirical research on the related topic of life satisfaction across nations that include some ASEAN countries (Kuppens et al. 2008). It does not differentiate between the genders. Women at work face some unique challenges. Liu et al. (2008) found that women reported more overall psychological strain and depression in a study drawing on university faculty and staff based in Tampa, Florida. An exhaustive literature review did not reflect any peer-reviewed publications in PsychLit (searched on 21 September 2009) on stressors faced by urban career women in ASEAN. This article will adopt a chronological approach in identifying stressful scenarios faced by urban career women in southeast Asia across the age-span. It is intended to serve a theoretical and conceptual role as precursor to separate research investigation...

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