Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Self-employed women

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Self-employed registered nurses : the impact of liminality and gender on professional identities and spaces : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Manning, Elizabeth
    This thesis explores the experiences of self-employed registered nurses in Aotearoa New Zealand working in the practice area of professional advice and policy. Liminality theory and gender theory, with a feminist post-structuralist lens, were used as theoretical approaches. The participants spanned the masculinist areas of business, self-employment and policy, while connected by a strong bond to the normatively feminine nursing profession. Considering these views using a gendered lens and the participants’ position as outsiders to both business and nursing proved a powerful way to interpret the data. The research was conducted using focused ethnography, enabling interviews and observation of the 13 participants’ home-based workspaces. Data chapters incorporate the phases of liminality, separation, transition and re-aggregation, all of which provided a strong foundation underpinning the participant journey. The participant group of mid- to late-career registered nurses had high levels of education, practice experience and skillsets, which could be used across nursing and the whole of health, yet due to their liminal and individualistic positioning the nurses remained invisible, both physically and professionally. Outcomes included insight into why the participants chose self-employment, the gendered assumptions they faced, the difficulties of learning new skills when separated from familiar resources and support systems and the tensions of working from home. The participants, while each at different stages, followed the phases of liminality in acculturating to self-employment, but remained in a permanent limonoid state for other aspects of their work life. My findings indicate that, anchored by historical discourses, nursing remains a devalued feminised occupation. Captured in gendered subjective positioning, the participants navigate complex and competing discourses in relation to work, home, profession and belonging.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Elder care, self-employed women and work-family balance: an exploration using work-family border theory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Human Resource Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Bourke, Josephine Emily
    Despite work-life balance being an area of interest to many researchers, there is little reference to any effects related specifically to elder care. Current demographics indicate that the proportion of elderly in the community is increasing, and with greater workforce participation (particularly among women workers) the availability of family caregivers is less guaranteed. Women are more likely to be responsible for elder care, and as they seek to manage their work and life, are also more likely to seek workplace flexibility, sometimes through self-employment. The effect that elder care may be having on the work-life balance of self-employed women is the focus of this research project. Using work-family border theory as a lens, this research documented the effect that elder care had on the lives of a group of self-employed women who also had elder care responsibilities. Eight women from the Wellington region participated in this research, which was carried out from a broadly phenomenological perspective. Each participant shared information, using a case study approach, about their business and elder care responsibilities. The results of this research indicate the profound effect of emotions in the elder care situation, and also the effect of expectations from others whose influences affected the ability of the participants to achieve work-life balance.