Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Tony Gaskew

Abstract

Women employed as emergency response personnel have faced familial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goals of this research were to identify the perceived underlying causes of work-life conflict for women serving in emergency response roles and how such work-life conflict can be addressed. In-depth interviews were used to collect data in this qualitative research study. The snowball method was used to recruit the nine study participants; inclusion criteria focused on a distinct group of emergency response professionals. Transcription analysis was applied to the data collected from the interviews. Thematic analysis uncovered five themes from the data: (a) more women are serving in the emergency response field; (b) women face discrimination; (c) women face familial challenges because of their duties in the workplace; (d) women responders are heads of household or primary breadwinners, and (e) women with unique family makeups should be considered when developing response plans. The results indicate that women working in emergency response need social support and resources to overcome the increasing work pressures and familial challenges. Implications for positive social change that could result from this research include the potential to help women care for their families in emergencies through employers acknowledging the familial challenges this population faces and providing services to support them.

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