Abstract
Both men and women may experience gender role strain in their daily lives. It
is a little explored phenomenon in Pakistan. This study looked into the
perceptions of Gender Role Strain in educated Pakistani men and women. Two
semi-structured focus groups were conducted in 2016 at Gender Studies
Department of Lahore College of Women University, Lahore. Fourteen
participants (7 men and 7 women) were recruited through purposive sampling
technique, having age range from 30 to 45 years. The participants were married
government employees. Manifest content analysis revealed four major themes:
a) Burden of Responsibility as a source of Gender Role Strain b) Physical and
Psychological manifestations of Gender Role Strain c) Societal norms and
expectations leading to Gender Role Strain d) Coping with Gender Role Strain.
The findings indicated that the responsibilities allocated according to a
persons’ gender can turn out to be a major source of Gender Role Strain. This
strain may be reflected in psychological and physical complaints that people
experience. Societal standards and beliefs add to role strain not only to the
daily lives of women, but of men as well. The coping strategies used mostly
by the participants included religious coping, time management, outlet and
displacement of anger, and others.
Hana Arshad, Sarah Shahed. (2019) Burden of One’s Gender: Perception of Gender Role Strain in Educated Men and Women, Journal of Arts and Social sciences, Volume 6, Issue 1.
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