Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, University of Sistan and Baluchistan

3 شهید مطهریSenior student of Sociology, University of Sistan and Baluchistan

10.22059/jwdp.2022.344209.1008222

Abstract

Research background: The transformation of society and the independence of the work environment from the family environment and changes in some other institutions, including the generalization of formal education, the economic need of households for women to work outside of the home, and the increasing need of society to employ women's labor. In the industry and service sectors, it led to the entry of women into the labor market, and as a result, the number of employed women increased. Therefore, the connection of life with employment or being a housewife is one of the most important issues for the quality of life of women in society, which can play a fundamental and decisive role in managing the lives of employed and housewives married women. Meanwhile, in recent decades the issue of quality of life has attracted the attention of many scientists. Although it is important to study the quality of life of all the strata of society, in the meantime, paying attention to the way of women life and their quality of life can be very effective in improving the health of families, today's and tomorrow's generations, and ultimately the entire society.

Research aim: Considering the change in the lifestyle and traditional roles of women in today's society, as well as their extensive participation in various fields, the present research aims to rank the factors affecting the quality of life of employed and housewives married women.

Research method: The current research is a type of applied study with the nature of a descriptive-survey research method. The target statistical population in Mehrestan city consists of 16 married women (employed housewives or just housewives) with at least 5 years of married history and a master's degree in sociology, who, due to the unwillingness of some of them to cooperate in research or the impossibility of accessing them, finally 13 (including 7 employed-housewives and 6 only housewives) experts cooperated in completing the questionnaires and were studied as the statistical sample of the research. It is worth mentioning that due to the limitation of the studied society, the enumeration method was used for sampling. The collection of information in this research is based on library studies (books, articles, reliable scientific databases), standard questionnaires, and paired matrix questionnaires (experts). To measure the validity of the questionnaire, identifying the factors based on the Likert scale, considering the standard questionnaire, face validity was used, and measuring its reliability based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient shows good reliability. Also, according to the calculated inconsistency rate, which is less than 0.1, the expert questionnaire has good reliability. Data analysis was done using AHP hierarchical analysis model and Expert choice software.

Findings: The findings of the research indicate that among the 6 affecting factors on the quality of life of employed and housewives married women in Mehrestan city, the factor of social relationships was recognized as the main factor. In the following, the social security factor was ranked second, the social support factor was ranked third, the social status factor was ranked fourth, the cultural capital factor was ranked fifth and the public health factor was ranked sixth.

Conclusion: The results of this research showed that the factor of women's social ties in their quality of life is in a higher rank than other factors, and the factors of social security, support, and status are in the next rank. In other words, the most important factor in women's quality of life is having a network of healthy social relationships with favorable social security, support, and status compared to others. Cultural capital is also effective in women's access to resources and improving their quality of life. Also, with the increase in women's general health, their quality of life increases. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that employed married women are attracted to the social framework due to their participation in social activities, and as a result, they do not see a difference between individual and social values, and they have a sense of responsibility and trust towards social values and norms that increases social integration. Therefore, they feel that the fate of the community is related to its components and they see the community as a suitable place for their evolution. Therefore, this positive attitude towards the community and people brings social acceptance and increases the social health of the individual, which, as a result, improves the quality of life of employed married women and increases their psychological security(.

Keywords: quality of life, social support, social relationship, social status, women.

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