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Kim Woods

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Abstract

What About Me? A Study About Women Emergency Managers and

The

r Familial Challenges

Contents

Chapter 1:

Introduction

to the Study

3
Introduction 4

Background to the Problem

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of the Study

Research Questions

Conceptual Framework

Nature of the Study

Structured Interviewing

Social Role Theory

Conflict Theory

Attitude-Behavior Theory

Operational Definitions

Assumptions

Delimitations

Limitations

Significance of the Study

Summary

Chapter 2: Literature Review

25
Introduction 25

Literature Search Strategy

Organization of the Literature Review

Key Words and Terms Used in the Search

26
Conceptual Framework 27

Literature Review Related to Key Variables

The State of Women and Employment

Working Women and Family Responsibilities

Women Working in Emergency Response

Women as First Responders

Challenges for Women First Responders

Familial Challenges Facing Women First Responders

Women at the event of a pandemic

Effects of pandemics on Emergency management responders

Theoretical Framework

Social Roles Theory

Feminist Theory

47
Conflict Theory 48
Summary 49

The corona virus Pandemic

Effects of the pandemic to families

The schools closed for six weeks

Time to watch children and working at home

Employment and labor laws in use in an event of a pandemic

Chapter 3:

Methodology

67
Introduction 67

Research Design and Rationale

Role of the Researcher

73
Methodology 76

Participant Selection

Sampling

Data Collection

80
Board Approval 80

Research methods

In-depth Interviews

Focus Group

Confirmability

Data Analysis

Theme formation from collected data

Trustworthiness

Credibility

External Validity

Dependability

Ethical Procedures

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

Introduction

Women with careers in the growing field of emergency management, such as firefighters, police officers, and medical responders, face challenges in accurately and efficiently responding to disasters while simultaneously not worrying about their families when actively deployed. Women in these critical, life-saving careers are currently faced with the choice of responding to emergencies as required by their employers or to evacuate or shelter-in-place with their families. The option is a difficult one, but can be resolved if a solution is made available to answer the problem, such as having another member of the household available to tend to the family, if a safe location is offered by the employer, or the organization operates without them so the responder does not have to choose between work and family. Alternate solutions often result in the responding woman being able to focus on response and recovery and the task at hand (Nakhaei et al., 2015, p. 170).

The need to respond during disasters is often quick, unscheduled, and unplanned. The need to find care for family members at home is often difficult if the planned solution involves a female with career responsibilities having to deal with a disaster. The problem is particularly acute for responders who are female parents without family support but with career responsibilities. Usually, there is an organizational policy that determines who in a company is required to respond to an emergency. These policies will sometimes state that women cannot take a role in active positions because these demands are contradictory to home life needs. A further issue is the new challenges being brought in by industry changes and varying degrees of emergent situation requirements (Gaillard et al., 2017, p. 445).

Women in roles that require their presence during emergencies or disasters are finding their support needs are different from their male counterparts and they are having to battle the attitudes of those that are not understanding of their family dynamic. Agocs, Langan, and Sanders (2015) argue that police who are mothers, for example, navigate “challenges because of social expectations that inevitably come into place once their “mother” identify is known (p. 266). This stigmatism shows a general expectation for women to choose between work and family.

Background to the Problem

Emergency preparedness and response is a concept that has been around since 1803. It was not until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, however, that the public truly understood what emergency management was, and saw the magnitude of responsibility that was on the workers responding to these events (Hubbs, 2016, p. 1).

Family make-up and dynamics have changed significantly over the past two decades. Since this time, more women are serving as primary earners in households. Medved notes 40% of U.S women – a 30% increase from 1960 – are primary breadwinners in families with children (Medved, 2016, p. 254). Additionally, more women are serving in occupations previously dominated by men, such as Emergency Medical Services (EMS), firefighting, and the police. Defined as occupations with less than 25% women, male-dominated careers include Emergency Medical Services (EMS), firefighting, and the police force (Azmat & Rentschler, 2017, p. 325). While this shift brings particular challenges, such as discrimination and sexual harassment, the problems facing women are more pronounced when it comes to work-life conflict (Helfgott, Gunnison, Murtagh, & Navejar, 2018, p. 240). The population of women in the labor market in the USA has increased by 25% since 2008. It is recognized that women are serving multiple working roles in their family and careers (Stanczyk, Henly, & Lambert, 2017, p. 251). These women may also experience time-based strife, including excessive family responsibilities, inflexible work schedules, and extended working hours. Women can also experience strain-based strife, including the absence of a spouse or other family support, role ambiguity and behavior-based conflict, namely, exceptions for a human, emotional, and warm relationships.

Women are venturing into fields where working conditions have not been made favorable to them in attempts to be equally represented in the labor market (Knörr, 2011, p. 101). Existing work policies fall short in recognizing that women will experience challenges while employed as emergency response personnel, particularly if familial challenges exist as well. While emergency response roles come with challenges that affect both male and female employees, the weight of female problems outweigh those of men (Messing, Tissot, & Lefrançois, 2016. p. 12).

These differences and difficulties create a work environment that automatically decreases the quality of output of women employees. Women want to work in these roles responding to emergencies or disasters. But the uncertainty of work schedules or negative attitudes from employers or co-workers may deter them into different careers (Beaty & Davis, 2012, p. 624). Policymakers and administrators, in general, however, are not aware of the issue as they prefer to address the work-life balance of employees, as opposed to focusing on addressing the type and nature of an employee’s emergency responding needs.

Women have become significant players in the industry and they actively participate in mainstream employment opportunities to contribute to their family’s vital daily needs (Medved, 2016, p. 245). However, societal gender and family roles have not changed much and usually, the mother is still the one in charge of family needs and affairs. The mother ensures the family is socially knitted and bound tightly for the enriched environment of quality growth and affection.

Societal gender roles have forced many mothers, some acting as single parents and caretakers of elderly parents, to look for employment opportunities, sometimes in understaffed job areas like the military, the police force, firefighting, or hospitals (Hurley & Choudhary, 2016, p. 255). Mothers who seek solutions to achieve work and family conflict resolution have not yet got any lasting solution to the problems they face. These solutions are more pronounced for women who have reached the top of their career, such as organizational managers (Hurley & Choudhary, 2016, p. 259).

Research indicates that there are at least four in ten households where the mother is the sole breadwinner, and this trend is increasing (Medved, 2016, p. 249). This data is a significant worry for stakeholders who know that mothers, as critical players, have significant social and work ties. One of the critical challenges that women are realizing is they are becoming the primary breadwinners in their households. The familial dynamic is different from others in the same fields, especially for women serving in first responder roles. The challenges are due to people, and especially women, needing time to take care of their families. There is also the call to have them commit their time to carry out their duties at work (Gerson, 2016, p. 114). This conflict has prompted organizations to define times when people should be working and specifying times when employees report to and leave work. For vital roles that require continuous involvement, shift work has been developed to allow workers time to execute these roles.

However, there are still personal challenges with the needs of women executing a vital role that requires the use of emergency calls and reporting to work (Gerson, 2016, p. 117). Emergency response roles pose significant challenges for women in terms of the need for activation during disasters when they have to take care of families. This requirement may commit them beyond the time needed for work, especially where an emergency response is required. This research paper explores the position of women in the development of critical roles, leading to the need to realize the social role of family care in the execution of duties in the emergency services industry.

Statement of the Problem

The challenges that women face when needing to respond to emergency calls when they have family responsibilities is a significant factor that may impact their employment prospects. The critical challenge between the requirement to respond to emergencies and the family dynamic have prompted some employers to consider not employing women (Agocs et al., 2015, p. 274). This lack of understanding is, however, not only in particular industries like city management, but is more pronounced in areas that require a rapid response from employees, such as in disaster management departments, along with the medical profession, firefighters, military members or police officers. Gerson (2016, p. 118) gives various reasons why women choose not to work as city managers or other government officials and has compared the differences and similarities with male counterparts working in the same roles. Many women who have no one else to help them take care of their families may not respond to urgent calls to work. Mothers (single, or with other special family needs) who do double duty with roles in the police force usually find it very difficult to adequately address the needs of their family and their work requirements. The elements that drive this challenge include long working hours, constant schedule changes and little to no time off. Such mothers may have young children who cannot tend to themselves. When the mother leaves to respond to a disaster or emergency, the children are left alone or with a neighbor (Agocs et al., 2015, p. 269).

Also, when a policewoman’s motherhood status is revealed, they have a harder time with the job. Agocs et al. (2015, p. 270) acknowledged that research was also conducted on different types of work schedules that are special, but did not place police work in that category. Interviews with other policewomen occurred, and their experiences were offered in the article. Findings showed that police mothers may find it difficult to respond to emergencies when they have no one else to take care of the families they leave behind (Agocs et al., 2015, p. 272).

Sheikh et al. (2018) studied the incompatibility between the demands of a family of a working person and the needs of work creating life pressure. It is worth noting that women employees who had gained success in their careers had also managed to explore and achieve greater prosperity to the point where they had been considered for management roles. However, they were successful because their home life was not affected. The need to worry over family life was nonexistent and opened up their talent and drive for all types of roles. This was especially true for women in emergency management.

Almost every year, with the introduction of new policies regulating work and with changes in organizational work structures, there is always a reason for increased research. This knowledge can advise women employees with family considerations on the best direction to take to improve their job requirements (Al-Asfour et al., 2017, p. 195). These policies are the reason why a study like the current one is vital. It boosts the available information on how women employees can manage a career in emergency management and maintain their households.

The problem becomes critical in an event of a pandemic like the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) which created a lot of panic and unrest among nations with schools lock down and parents being asked to shelter-in self-quarantine. Mothers and women in general are affected by the pandemic greatly because responsibilities double when taking care of the children. Children care is of great need because no one can just play the nanny part as the infections are contagious and people need to take caution. The challenge is critical when boomers fear for their lives as they are more vulnerable to infections. Single parents how can they balance between job, child care and finances for upkeep in the time of crisis. Employment facilities do not offer opportunities to go with children at work. Emergency management responders at the same time need to balance between family and job with the services they offer being of great need and availability of essential supplies in shortage. How can parents especially women cope with the situation?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of the familial challenges facing women employed as emergency response personnel. In career fields that require rapid response, women are not well represented. Women in these roles face more problems than their male counterparts. This is because most males that have families also have someone else available to tend to their families if they have to respond to a disaster.

There is always a reason for increased research and knowledge. It can advise women employees with family considerations about the best direction to take to help them improve their job response times. These considerations are part of why a study like this one is vital. It helps to boost the available knowledge regarding how women can manage to make quick and equitable responses to their call of duty. After which, they can ensure that their families are safe while they are gone.

Several works of literature have investigated the challenges of work-life balance amongst female employees in different employment sectors. As a result, very few have addressed the role of women that respond to emergencies and their challenges. Over the years, some of these challenges have seen the output of female employees in emergency response roles deteriorate. As many women shy from these professions, with some termed as incompetent or unreliable (Stanczyk et al., 2017, p. 257), the need to address the problems facing women in emergency response roles is necessary to see more women embrace these careers. When the platform is made equitable for both genders, Sheikh et al. (2018, p. 13) argue, the competition ground of fair and quality output will be maintained across genders. The authors’ study shows that support from employers could benefit from a little more compassion for existing family dynamics.

Research Questions

1. What are the perceived underlying causes of work-life conflict for women serving in emergency response roles?

2. How can these perceived underlying causes of work-life conflict for women serving in emergency response roles be eliminated or minimized?

3. What are the challenges that women first responders experience in needing to respond to urgent work calls when they have no one else to look after their families?

Conceptual Framework

The most logical trajectory for this study would be a phenomenological approach. Derived from the works of Edmund Husserl, the phenomenological approach describes how human beings experience a given phenomenon (Giorgi, 2012, p. 6). This approach achieves an understanding of the experiences of people by putting aside the biases and preconceived assumptions about human feelings, experiences, and responses to certain situations. This approach allows the researcher to make an in-depth study of the perspectives, understanding, perceptions, and feelings of the people who have lived the phenomenon or situation (Smith, 2015, p. 15).

Accordingly, phenomenology is a direct investigation that describes a phenomenon through the conscious experience of people living the experience. Consequently, the phenomenological approach requires in-depth interviews with a small sample of participants. The typical sample size for a phenomenological approach is less than 10 participants (Vagle, 2018, p. 178). The approach allows the investigator to make valid generalizations on what it is like to experience a given phenomenon through the eyes and experiences of the people living it.

With no regard to traditions, preconceived ideas, cultural norms, and other factors, the phenomenological approach centers on the experiences of participants. Lived experience, including lived body, time, human relations, and space are the primary focus of phenomenology (Vagle, 2018, p. 174). The research uses open-ended questions to allow the researcher to understand the individual’s experience with qualitative data collected. Through identification of major common themes, generalizations are made on the data collected by the researcher. Only when generalizations are made can the results be useful indicators for further work (Vagle, 2018, p.176). The phenomenological approach allows for understanding the challenges women face while working in emergency roles. The lived experiences of women working in emergency management will form the themes about the challenge’s women face. These will be presented in a non-altered way without preconceived assumptions. They will help to understand the work-family conflicts of women emergency managers. As the information gathered evolves, the factors perceived will change, and the actual factors that are leading to work-life conflict will become apparent.

Through the phenomenological approach, the researcher can find the shared experiences of women working in emergency management. Because the responses to the interview questions are expected to be similar, their shared problems should also result in post-research expertise that can be shared with others. The shared experience, or essence of the shared experience, must exist in a phenomenological approach for it to be understood within the group (Patton, 2015, p. 116). If the experience is not similar, then how participants perceive the interview questions will differ as well.

Beaty and Davis have studied the reasons why women were venturing away from city manager positions (Stabile, Grant, & Salih, 2019, p. 207). One of the reasons was noted to be a lack of set scheduling and childcare. With the absence of overnight or odd hour childcare, needing to be on location for an emergency during off-hours was virtually impossible (Stabile, Grant, & Salih, 2019, p. 209). Whereas Gerson (2016, p., 112) has noted that more women are becoming the breadwinners of their families. They studied a growing trend that more women were becoming the leading or sole financial provider of their homes. The public is conflicted regarding the reception from managers and coworkers (Gerson, 2016, p. 118).

The general framework will identify the underlying causes of some challenge’s women face in the workplace, and their consequences. It is hoped the research contributes to eliminating the challenges of being a woman in emergency services management who are also heads of a household, when they are required to be on scene responding to emergencies and natural disasters (Gerson, 2016, p. 118). This will help in guiding the end goal of this research, which is increasing the quality of output for female employees (where it can be improved by changes to policy that recognize where inequitable family responsibilities are holding women back), as well as their morale.

As an additional benefit, the findings of the study hope to improve the situation for the population of women in this profession as the working environment will be brought to the attention of workers and their future employers. The research framework will focus on the causes of work-life conflict, the challenges for women serving in emergency response roles, their effects and measures. It will focus on policies to put in place that will motivate women to join these professions and increase the quality of their work.

Nature of the Study

This research uses a qualitative approach, focusing on in-depth interviews with female emergency responders. In-depth interviews aim to better understand the familial challenges for women serving in the emergency service roles they face. The qualitative approach seeks to tell a story of the experiences of a given group of people. With a focus on narrative rather than numbers, the qualitative research approach starts with an open mind. The qualitative approach mainly applies the inductive procedure where a researcher collects data then attempts to derive explanation from the available data. The approach is unlike the traditional deductive quantitative approach where a researcher starts with a specific hypothesis, then collects data to test it empirically. Accordingly, the qualitative approach is exploratory, with the aim of providing insights into how subjects of the study perceive a given situation.

In this study, the qualitative approach will be used to gain insights into the challenge’s women in emergency management face due to work-family conflict related to the nature of their work. The study will explore the nature of work in emergency management and how it affects women’s ability to perform familial chores and responsibilities. The expectations from data collected through this study are minimal but will act as a guide to further specific study. Hopefully, the study will be used to make informed recommendations showing women in emergency response professions that a balance between family and work life is possible.

Structured Interviewing

The appropriate methodology for this study is the use of structured but relaxed interviews. Structured interviewing involves conducting an interview in a standardized manner. All participants are asked the same questions in the same order (Gubrium et al., 2012, p. 197). This standardization ensures there is a possibility of aggregating the answers and identifying common themes in the data collected. Structured interviews require an interviewer to administer the question rather than depending on the respondents to self-administer. Through structured interviews, the researcher ensures questions are answered within the same context. Accordingly, structured interviewing helps minimize context effects (Gubrium et al., 2012, p.199).

In the study, there will be questions to guide the researcher during in-depth interviews with respondents. Through structured interviews, the researcher can ensure minimization of the extreme effects of context from the data collected for the study. The rationale for discussions is to draw in-depth analysis and information on the opinions, feelings, and perceptions of women responders with regards to challenges in the work environment and their family balance. While structured interviewing provides an opportunity for controlling the interview, it may result in a narrow exposure to the topic by the researcher (Gubrium et al., 2012, p. 199). Consequently, relaxed interviews are necessary to increase the scope of information collected by the researcher. Through relaxed interviews, the investigator allows respondents to freely explore the subject and give as much information as possible through the interview. Therefore, time is required for the interview to take place using this method of data collection.

In a previous study investigating the willingness of first responders to work during disasters, focus groups and interviews were used (Smith, 2015, p.3). The reason given for the use of this methodology was to promote relaxation and build a relationship. In this study, the information gathered will be collected from a group of women who share the same challenges as the researcher. The focus will be on how the experience is described and detailed and the tone of the responses. The tone and articulation of the responses will act as indicators of emotions, hardships, and the importance that respondents place on experiences. The challenge will be to eliminate personal involvement. The need to remove self-prejudice and viewpoint is crucial for an objective study. The study will rely on tested theories that support the findings of the primary data of women responders.

Social Role Theory

Social role theory is one of the most utilized concepts that explain gender differences and stereotypes leading to the division of labor in society. The origin of social roles given to men and women lies primarily in the evolution of physical sex differences, mainly men’s physical power and women’s reproductive and gestational role (Stinchcombe, 2017, p, 12). These sexual differences and their interaction in society, where certain activities are more efficiently performed by men, while others are effectively carried out by women, cause further gender stereotypes. Through socialization, these sex-typical role performances are facilitated, enabling men to develop appropriate personality traits according to their sex (Stinchcombe, 2017, p. 27). Accordingly, the interweaving of biology and psychology facilitate role performance. Social role theory responds to the psychological vantage point that highlights social roles and interweaves processes related to the role. However, other perspectives show a strong analysis of sex differences and parallels.

Social role theory applies to interactions in all contexts addressing assertive power-related and social-emotional behavior. According to the theory, in similar contexts, women often act more communally and less instrumentally than men. Further, the theory posits that while in highly salient situations, the differences are great, they tend to be absent in informal institutions (Turner, 2016, p. 15). In this study, the theory will be used to predict expected behavior by women in emergency management. Since emergency situations happen in unexpected and unforeseen circumstances, these situations can be seen as highly salient and informal (Stinchcombe, 2017, p. 31). Consequently, women are expected to behave less instrumentally in an emergency situation. This means that the performance and productivity of women will be lower in an emergency situation than under normal circumstances, or than how they would behave in other situations.

Conflict Theory

Coined by Karl Marx, conflict theory suggests that society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for resources which are limited by nature. According to the theory, social order is maintained by the domination of power, rather than conformity and consensus (O’Neil et al., 2017, p. 32). With people who own resources trying to hold on to them by all means possible, the poor and powerless are suppressed. The theory aims to explain the existing social arrangement, hence explaining why different institutions exist in society today. It mainly focuses on power and control of different resources in society. Conflict theory holds that among other things, an individual’s social status and the role they can take in society is determined by gender.

Conflict theory suggests that members of society are in conflict due to differences between groups and classes. The superior group aims to suppress the inferior one to keep power (O’Neil et al., 2017, p. 36). Due to their relatively low capacity to respond to an emergency, women in emergency management are the inferior group, while men are in power. Consequently, this theory suggests that men participate in making it hard for women to work in emergency management effectively. The study will seek to understand the mechanism that men, as the class in power, suppress the ability of women to work in emergency management.

Attitude-Behavior Theory

Attitude-behavior theory seeks to establish consistency between an individual’s attitude and behavior towards a given situation or phenomenon. To a certain degree, people’s attitudes and opinions about a given phenomenon affect their actions and behavior towards it (Siegel et al., 2019, p. 211). An attitude is a set of emotions and beliefs that one has towards an event, object, person or thing resulting from experience and upbringing. Attitudes have a strong ability to influence behavior. Attitudes determine people’s evaluation of others, objects, and issues around them which may be negative or positive. While attitude is learned, it can change to match the behavior and adapt according to individual circumstances (Siegel et al., 2019, p. 218). However, how attitude affects behavior is most important as it determines how people experience a certain phenomenon in society.

According to attitude-behavior theory, an individual’s attitude can be used to predict their behavior towards certain phenomena. This theory will be used to predict the behavior of women working in emergency management (Siegel et al., 2019, p. 217). Accordingly, women’s attitude towards careers in emergency management is expected to affect their behavior and, hence, effectiveness in emergency response. Women with a negative attitude towards careers in emergency management are, therefore, expected to exhibit poor performance and not be effective and productive in their workplaces. Therefore, both behavior and intentionality to perform tasks will be measured by the investigator.

Operational Definitions

The following are definitions of commonly used terms used throughout this study:

Evacuate: To withdraw from a place in an organized way, especially for protection from an emergency or disaster.

First Responder: Individuals who, in the early stages of an incident, are responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence and the environment, including emergency response providers.

International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM): Bring together emergency managers and disaster response professionals from all levels of government, as well as the military, the private sector, and volunteer organizations around the world.

Shelter-in-place: When conditions require that one seeks immediate protection in their home, place of employment, school, or other location when disaster strikes.

Team Rubicon: Team Rubicon is a veteran-led disaster response organization. It utilizes the skills and experiences of military veterans, with first responders, to rapidly deploy emergency response teams, at no cost to affected communities.

Assumptions

The main concern for the interviewer is obtaining the desired saturation of data. Interviews will be used to collect primary data, which will be first-hand data from women serving as emergency response personnel. A criterion for participation in the study is that a subject must have familial challenges. Pools of participants will come from the International Association of Emergency Managers and Team Rubicon, both from Region X. Region X consists of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. A challenge may present in not having enough women respond with familial constraints. Assumptions also include participant responses being honest and forthcoming. It is up to the interviewer to establish trust and rapport with each interviewee. A final assumption is that the data received will not be used or shared with employers and family members. It will be up to the interviewer to ensure that the interviewee understands that all information will be confidential and coded to ensure anonymity.

Delimitations

The study aims to address that under normal working conditions there is limited time allocated for the family of women first responders and this can be interrupted by work and vice versa. Needing to respond to work during a disaster can be interrupted by the need to tend to the emergency responder’s family. Attempts made by women to excel, both in their families and at their places of employment, have met significant resistance. Based on logistical requirements, especially if there are no other people to help women take care of their families. This study will explore the different approaches that have worked for some women, and the ones that have been attempted and failed.

Limitations

The number of cases analyzed will be limited to a reasonable number of participants without missing the purpose of analyzing the data. A manageable size for a phenomenological study is five to ten women responders (Eddles-Hirsch, 2015, p. 8). The research may be limited due to the time available. The study, because it will touch on personal issues, may have data sensitivity issues that may also limit the level of success in data availability and analysis. However, with proper planning, it is always possible to provide the best possible solutions to data collection problems.

Significance of the Study

In an attempt to be equally represented in the labor market as the counterparts of men, women today are venturing into fields that have still not been made favorable for them to work in (Knörr, H., 2011, p. 101). Existing work policies fall short in recognizing that women will experience challenges while employed as emergency response personnel if familial concerns exist. Emergency response roles come with challenges that affect both male and female employees. Unfortunately, the weight of female problems outweighs those of men (Messing, Tissot & Lefrançois, 2016. p. 6).

These differences and difficulties create a work environment that automatically decreases the quality of output of women employees. Women want to work in these roles responding to emergencies or disasters, but the uncertainty of work schedules or the negative attitude from employers may deter them into a different career (Stabile, Grant, & Salih, 2019, p. 220). However, it seems policymakers and administrators are not aware of this issue. So, they prefer to address the work-life balance of employees in general, as opposed to focusing on policies that address the work of a female emergency responder.

This study will support professional practice, contributing to a field of research where little is known, and focusing on the familial challenges of women in emergency response jobs. The aim is to address challenges unique to the profession that, over the years, has seen female employees leave career fields they want and have chosen, but have found unsupportive in real terms. The findings of this study will highlight areas administrators and policymakers should focus on in addressing the attrition and performance of the female employees in the profession. The goal of the study is to show where further contributions can be made for change, and to see women employed in emergency response roles not having to choose between their duties to the public and their families.

Summary

The sampling model used should give the best and most unbiased recommendations based on the study outcome. Data gathered from employers that have supported their women employees when they experience familial challenges will be useful in future policy planning. If employers understand the reasoning behind, and the steps taken in, supporting a female employee with family responsibilities to get to emergencies, then these employers will be less likely to have absences when they are most needed. Women may also look to those employers that have been successful in creating work-life balance and encourage others to work for the same organizations.

The findings of this study will be invaluable for policy development and administrative protocol requiring emergency services planning. It would be useful to analyze different options that women, with the sole role of taking care of their families, take when the need to respond to emergencies arise. The goal of this research is to encourage women to continue to seek employment in first responder roles. The industry and research are lagging on solutions for these critically needed women to both continue employment in their desired careers and maintain confidence in their home life during unscheduled disasters.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction

This study attempts to understand the familial challenges affecting women working in emergency response. Due to the fact that women are generally homemakers responsible for most chores within households, they often face more challenges than men in emergency careers. With familial responsibilities holding them back, women may not be able to effectively and rapidly respond to emergency situations. Therefore, the study seeks to understand exactly how women are affected by familial roles in their response to emergencies and how they respond to these challenges.

This chapter explores the existing literature to explain how mothers can be impacted and challenged by the development of emergency work requirements. Through this literature review section, qualitative studies in the area will be reviewed to identify gaps in research on the subject.

The chapter begins with a literature review that attempts to look at what people have done in the industry concerning the plight of mothers with “special cases” and the job requirements they endure. The chapter then progresses to look into the theoretical framework underpinning this research. Key theories that will help in understanding the development of the organizational and social value of women are addressed. The chapter also explains other theoretical developments explaining women’s home economic duties – which they carry despite their challenging social and work roles. Moreover, the chapter presents the conceptual framework for the study, as well as the literature gaps that exist and that need to be addressed.

The literature review also covers trending aspects globally with the spread of influenza pandemics. The literature review takes in reference other health pandemics that have similarity to the virus in analysis of how the effects are felt by parents. The great concern is on single parents who are the breadwinner and sole proprietors when children are at home after the lock down of schools and facilities.

Literature Search Strategy

Organization of the Literature Review

Literature used in this research was identified through a thoroughly prepared search strategy. The resources that were used in the study were identified from several databases, including PsycInfo, Google Scholar, ProQuest and Academia Search Complete. Articles were included if they were peer reviewed and published within the past five years. Also, the articles included were required to be complete, with proper research conducted and details of data collection provided within the papers.

Key Words and Terms Used in the Search

The literature search strategy used several key words and terms to identify the most suitable articles for use in this research. These terms included: emergency response, women in emergency careers, emergency management, first responders, emergency managers, challenges, familial challenges, work-life balance, barriers to women in the workplace.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework shows the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The independent variable includes the need to determine the challenges that special case women employees have realized in the need to make urgent appearances to urgent job calls when they have families with no one else to help them take care of family members. On the other hand, the independent variables also include the need to analyze the approaches that women use to address the challenges they have in allocating quality time between their family needs and job needs.

Women with “special” families, like single mothers or those who take care of siblings or elderly, sick parents equally need to seek employment, and sometimes the only opportunities available involve work that requires them to accept emergency assignments. They may need to work in a role that may require them to leave their families on urgent notice and then stay away from such families for many weeks, months or even years. The kind of arrangements that such mothers would need are special in nature.

Literature Review Related to Key Variables

The State of Women and Employment

The place of women in American society has been changing since the end of the civil war. This change can be seen in the increase in participation of women in socioeconomic activities, including employment, education, leadership and roles in family. For example, while in the 19th century women did not often go to school, today there are more males than females in our education system. Notably, more women than men earned bachelor’s (57.3%), masters (59.4%) and doctoral (53.3%) degrees in the United States (Snyder, 2018, p. 41).

The increase in the number of women earning more college degrees is also reflected in the changing workforce, where more women are getting involved in income-generating activities than in the past. The participation of women in the labor force peaked from 1999 where it was at 60% (Byars-Winston, Fouad, & Wen, 2015, p. 59). Women workers remain vital to the success of the nation as they have a strong ability to push for change. The need to increase the role of women in the workforce has also seen them take several steps towards equality. Women have continued to take on leadership positions and make changes in organizations they lead. According to Snyder (2018, p. 36), in 2018, women held at least 51.5% of management positions. However, while there are efforts to increase the role of women in the workplace, there are systematic hindrances to these efforts.

While more women than men have been achieving higher levels of education, the proportion of women workers to men remains low in key areas. According to Harnois and Bastos (2018, p. 286), most senior positions in public and private organizations are still occupied by men. US boards of governance are male dominated (Byars-Winston, Fouad, & Wen, 2015, p. 62). Harnois and Bastos (2018, p. 298) also note a disproportionate share of women acting as CEOs of their organizations. This denotes that women have not yet taken full status when it comes to employment. Several studies have concluded that women are scarce in the highest paying jobs. However, even among moderate to low paying jobs, there are notable differences in the amount women are paid.

Apart from differences in the amount of money men and women are paid, there is a notable difference in the number of women versus men in some fields. Such areas as security, emergency management, technical jobs and technology remain mainly male dominated. For example, in 2016, only 36% of women worked in the Department of Homeland Security (Byars-Winston et al., 2015, p. 67). Such differences are attributed to the fact that tasking roles in emergency management, security and technology often require constant and unprecedented responses that may not be possible for women.

Working Women and Family Responsibilities

The participation of women in employment is a significant trend in society. Women’s involvement in mainstream roles and employment opportunities has been hailed as an effective measure of improvement of family finances (Sheikh et al., 2018). Over the years, it has been a useful element to note that women involved in the family income stream have been a beneficial support to their husbands and improves the chances of family success. However, the more women get involved in economic generating activities, the higher the complexities that arise in their quest to make urgent job calls despite their family needs and economic or work-related needs.

Women play vital roles in the family, especially in doing house chores (Medvedev, 2016). The kinds of activities that require their attention in homes are demanding. Added to their ultimate role of nursing both unborn and older children, the position of women in society faces a great challenge based on their attempt to make quick job appearances, despite their family needs when they have no one else to help them look after families.

At the place of work, women have been daring and taking on the roles that they have not been doing before. The boldness of women has resulted from self-belief and determination that arises from school where they learn the very courses that people had initially reserved for men (Agocs, Langan, & Sanders, 2015). Even on taking what was initially referred to as technical courses, they have performed well in examinations and evaluation processes. Given a chance, women have also performed well in job markets, sometimes even outshining men who have been working gender bias in industry. Therefore, there should not be discrimination at the place of work based on the abilities of the different genders, and, at the same time, orchestrated from the elements of gender bias.

Women Working in Emergency Response

Careers requiring responses to emergencies are some of the most pressure-filled jobs in the world. First responders work in areas that help to ensure the protection, safety and health of people and communities. The daily operations of a first responder involve the management of crisis situations and working is situations that are often dangerous and unstable (Verniers & Vala, 2018, p. 1). Such jobs include those in firefighting, police departments, healthcare, and other roles where responders can be called in at any one moment. Careers in emergency response require a worker to be ready at all times, day and night, to be called to work on prevailing challenges (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1932). Therefore, certain characteristics are vital for people working in such areas that require a fast response.

Today, a majority of people working as first responders are males aged between 24 and 50 years. According to Verniers and Vala (2018, p. 1), three out of four paramedics in EMTs are men; seven out of eight police officers are men; and nineteen out of twenty firefighters are men. With first responders working in dangerous situations that can cause individual harm, safety of self is a necessary consideration. First responders have more work-related injuries due to transportation accidents, physical exertion and violence than other workers (Verniers & Vala, 2018, p. 2). With the dangers related to careers in first response, serious considerations are often made by individuals who intend to join this area of employment.

People in emergency response roles need to possess a strong ability to easily adapt to emerging situations and other factors in their environment. Adaptability and flexibility are the most important traits of people involved in emergency response (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1931). Being able to re-prioritize and change one’s mind-set allows them to effectively channel resources to emerging issues in the environment (Sinha, Bhatia, & Bhatnagar, 2018, p. 154). This trait requires that one should be able to let go of personal and family issues when a disaster strike. Also, an effective emergency responder should be cool-headed, with the ability to remain calm under stress and chaos. Being able to remain calm is an effective method of subduing panic and allowing people to follow your lead, to avoid the aggravation of an emergency situation (Verniers & Vala, 2018, p. 1). An emergency responder should be ready for anything in order to respond without delay. This means that an emergency responder must also be ready to respond through any means possible.

Open-mindedness is also a vital trait for an emergency responder. Open-mindedness and the ability to look at a situation through multiple perspectives helps in identifying a solution and a specific plan to contain an emergency (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1933). Other important traits that are necessary for an emergency responder include strong communication skills, good listening capacity, being responsible and good at the prioritization of ideas (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1932). These traits ensure effectiveness in responding to disaster situations. According to Mercado et al. (2017, p. 1933), while some of these traits can be instilled in people, most of them are acquired through upbringing and social constructs. Among them, being male or female is a key factor in determining whether one possesses the key characteristics of an emergency responder.

Women as First Responders

Researchers agree that women are first responders and vital resources in cases of emergency. In countries frequently affected by disasters such as war, famine and natural calamities, women have a lower life expectancy than men (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1932). According to Sinha et al. (2018, p. 156), women are fourteen times more likely to lose their lives during a disaster than men. This not only denotes the vulnerability of women in disasters, but also the necessity of equipping them with response strategies to use when disaster strikes. As people responsible for taking care of their homes, women often make significant decisions in preparation and response to disasters (Mercado et al., 2017, p. 1931). In disaster prone areas, women provide high quality leadership in emergencies. The efforts of women in emergencies can be seen in the evacuation of the elderly and the injured and preparing for safe places where they can rest (Veenema, Losinski, & Hilmi, 2016, p. 51). Women often respond to health, financial and other emergencies at home on behalf of their families. Accordingly, building capacity in women to effectively respond to disaster situations is vital in the management of emergencies.

Several studies indicate that women are better than men in the management of disasters. While studying the effectiveness of disaster response after major disasters, Mercado et al. (2017, p. 1931) noted that women adopted a different approach to men in preparing and responding to emergencies. The most notable difference was the way men and women interacted with disaster-prone individuals. Not wanting to scare people away, women first responders visited them and calmly informed them of the coming disaster and the need to get to safety (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 162). Women were often effective in dealing with disaster victims and providing them with safe haven to ensure rest during a disaster. In responding to disaster, women not only built buildings, but also resilience for themselves and those under their care, hence enabling the effective recovery of a community from stresses and shocks and future disaster preparation (Veenema et al., 2016, p. 52). Therefore, there is a need to recognize the unique abilities women possess and use them in disaster response to improve the quality of emergency management.

While it is easier and effective for women to respond to emergencies in their homes, working as forefront responders in emergency response is, in most cases, challenging. Challenges for female first responders start at recruitment where some women fail to meet requirements (Veenema et al., 2016, p. 53). In such cases, women are barred from making entry to careers as first responders. In studying the barriers faced by American women in joining the fire department, Hollerbach et al. (2017, p. 3) noted that women often struggle to pass the physical test required by public and private employers in the area. While men find it simple to carry out physical examinations due to their strong upper body, women struggle to make the minimum threshold physical fitness test (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 158). Similar barriers are also seen in other departments that require an emergency response, including the police and forest service.

Generally, women are considered incompetent and incapable of having successful careers in most firefighting departments. Despite the fact that the firefighting field has become increasingly professional, most employers still depend on physical attributes in the recruitment of candidates. Hollerbach et al. (2017, p. 21). The results are seen in the small number of women in firefighting departments across the country. According to Hollerbach et al. (2017, p. 21), due to the discrimination of women in recruitment for firefighting jobs, women only hold 4% of all employment opportunities in the area.

According to a research by Hunziker (2019, p. 144), female medical students are slower than their male counterparts in responding to disaster. Despite several studies that show that women are better medical care givers than men, a study has shown a difference in ability to respond to medical emergencies. In the study carried out at the University Hospital of Basel, gender differences were noted in the ability to respond to emergencies requiring cardiorespiratory resuscitation (CPR). Generally, females showed fewer delays in starting CPR for patients with chest complications (Hunziker, 2019, p. 143). Also, women spent less time hands on the patient during the emergency. There were shortcomings in leadership behavior and the ability to effectively respond to medical emergencies among medical students (Hunziker, 2019, p. 146). The delay in providing emergency response has been attributed to analysis paralysis and slow rates of decision making among members of the female gender.

Challenges for Women First Responders

There are several studies that indicate the challenges women first responders face in carrying out their responsibilities. In trying to understand the reason for the low number of women among firefighting departments, Lewis-Schroeder et al. (2018, p. 217) noted that women firefighters are at a higher risk of poor physical and mental health than their male counterparts. Due to the relatively low number of women in firefighting, those working in this sector are at a higher risk of sexual harassment than those in other areas Lewis-Schroeder et al. (2018, p. 219). Also, Hollerbach et al. (2017, p. 5) noted that women first responders who are subjected to sexual abuse and discrimination risk getting mental health issues more than others. Women first responders suffer such mental health conditions as depression due to discrimination and lack of measures to support them.

In studying the impact of work-related stress on women fighters, Stanley, Hom, Spencer-Thomas and Joiner (2017, p. 97) found that female firefighters are at higher risk of indulging in smoking behavior than women in the military. Also, the use of tobacco was higher in female than male firefighters (Stanley et al., 2017, p. 99). The researcher noted that compared to the general population, women firefighters have high rates of alcohol consumption. In conclusion, the study held that women firefighters indulged in negative behavior that predisposed them to ill health. Apart from behavior-related health impacts on women firefighters, there are concerns about occupational exposure on female reproductive health. According to Hollerbach et al. (2017, p. 15), both male and female firefighters are exposed to conditions that are likely to cause birth defects. Also, cancer risk is higher among male and female firefighters than among any other member of the population.

Familial Challenges Facing Women First Responders

While other challenges play a crucial role in affecting the effectiveness of first responders, the most important one comes from the fact that women hold vital positions in their households. As homemakers and the ones responsible for taking care of children, women find it hard to make quick responses during emergencies (Lewis-Schroeder et al., 2018, p. 221). In the family unit, women may perform the role of wife, mother, teacher, health office, disciplinarian and other functions (Joannou, Besemann, & Kriellaars, 2017, p. 417). Due to these responsibilities, women are often required to stay at home or indulge in occupations that are not highly tasking. However, due to economic conditions and issues of gender equality, an increasing number of women are continuously getting involved in first responder roles. Balancing the familial responsibility and rapid response during emergencies is the most important challenge facing women in emergency management (Lewis-Schroeder et al., 2018, p. 227). Several researchers have evaluated this phenomenon to understand how it impacts women first responders.

In a research report by Adams and Stewart (2015), the researchers indicated that the New Orleans Police Department faced significant challenges in deploying women rescue teams who had several family ties and needed to nurse children. Notably, rapid response teams do work based on the needs that arise whenever a calamity strikes. In some cases, people need to be called upon to work even if they were not scheduled to work. This is a difficult case with women responders who may have strong family ties that may hinder their efficiency in handling the related emergency work requirements. Some kinds of challenges had already been identified in earlier disaster response requirements, like during Hurricane Katrina (Executive Office of the United States, 2006)

Though the women have, in some cases, experienced significant challenges in making rapid responses to work requirements, they have done fairly well in cases where emergency work is not a key attribute of work. For instance, women have also served as judges and magistrates with sterling performances. They have managed to increase the presence and the profile of women even in significant roles like litigation (Helfgott et al., 2018). This indicates that women are not really bad performers at work. Whenever they fail to perform according to expectations, it is always because there is something that holds them back. Family and social requirements that hold back women are vital in their career development. Notably, the career development path for women is much slower than that of men (Agocs, Langan, & Sanders, 2015). This is true because they have to spend more effort and energy on time managing their families alongside the need to have a focus on career development.

The fact that the study focuses upon the challenges that women face in their roles and ways to faster respond to urgent job calls when women also have family does not mean men have no such challenges. Like women, men also face the problem of needing to create quality time for family, as well as achieving work-related goals. However, (Dresden et al., 2018) within families, there are some gender roles that are given to women through nature that cannot change or be transferred. Elements like carrying an unborn child and taking significant time breastfeeding, as well as nursing, are core challenges that cannot be delegated. As responsible family members, women need to be mothers and take care of their families (Agocs, Langan, & Sanders, 2015). However, such decisions are significantly changing because women may not manage to find adequate time for their family ambitions when job requirements need consideration.

According to Dresden et al. (2018), women have also faced significant kinds of gender-based bias in male-dominated jobs and careers. Women are discriminated against and denied opportunities for further training and promotion at places of work. Further, some women are also discriminated against in terms of salary and remunerations where they are paid less compared to what male counterparts have been paid. The reasons for the development of the different types and cases of gender-based discrimination at the place of work are dynamic and varied. In some cases, critical training opportunities have not been given to women with the fear that sooner, they may want to take maternal leave, thus challenging the needs of the organization to sponsor an employee for vital training (Dresden et al., 2018). These unfortunate situations are true and further lead to challenges to women’s progress at the place of work. When men have been given the opportunity to attend to additional training needed and opportunities, they become better informed and ready to work than women. Therefore, they can easily get promoted and considered for key areas of growth.

The challenge of unpredictable schedules has also followed women in other industries as well as those that traditionally require rapid response. For instance, Henly and Lambert (2014) indicate that even in the retail sector, women employees are not able to respond to emergencies that may result from the nature of work. Unpredictable work timing has been noted as one of the biggest challenges that women have realized in the labor market for women (Kellmereit, 2015).

Women in emergency management find it especially difficult to respond to work in these careers after having children. In a study by Joannou, Besemann and Kriellaars, (2017, p. 418) the challenges of police mothers were looked into. The researchers found out the police mother’s challenges began the moment they announced their pregnancies. Canadian police department deem mothers unsuitable to work in the field (Joannou, Besemann & Kriellaars, 2017, p. 418). Most police women feel that becoming pregnant causes them to lose professional gains they had attained before the pregnancy (Ladge & Greenberg, 2015, p. 979). It is hard to gain the lost ground that police mothers lose during pregnancy and after childcare leave. To get back to the position held before pregnancy, women have to prove themselves all over again and sustain a strong position. After coming back to work, there is a general perception that women are less dedicated to their careers than before they had to look after children (Joannou et al., 2017, p. 421). Such issues discourage women and reduce the chances of succeeding in careers.

While some police departments provide non-tasking work to women with children, most do not consider the roles of these responders at home when assigning tasks. Some police departments do not consider the role of the mother in giving tasks. According to a study on mothers, combining motherhood and work is always tasking. The top challenges that “mother” first responders face include time management and balancing work and family (Peterson et al., 2018, p. 12). Mothers who work for long hours or have children with health or developmental challenges are more likely to experience challenges with work-life balance (Peterson et al., 2018, p. 19). Seeing that emergency managers tend to work long hours; they are likely to have problems at work and balancing their careers with family life.

The inability to manage work and family responsibilities is often followed by maternal anxiety and guilt among working mothers. With the concern about how mothers are going to spend time with their children, women often experience considerable amounts of guilt (Ladge & Greenberger, 2015, p. 981). The anxiety and guilt in mothers are especially high when they have to manage inadequate time and financial resources. Such anxiety can cause a decline in psychological wellbeing, reduced job satisfaction and lower commitment to carrying out job responsibilities (Ladge & Greenberger, 2015, p. 981). As first responders are often away from their children without due notice, they are most likely to suffer these consequences that include guilt and anxiety.

Women who are single mothers or those with special challenges, therefore, find it increasingly difficult to find sustainable ways to develop the right approach to urgent job response times balanced with family requirements when they have no one else to care for their children. Notably, the same fate affects those women who have to leave behind their families to take up emergency roles despite the increasing need to have them develop a sociable environment for their ailing parents, siblings or even children.

Women at the event of a pandemic

Events of a pandemic creates a lot of panic and distress among people as federal and state government place recommendations and policies to ensure that the people in the communities are safe and reduce the effects of contamination and infections. The measures taken include isolation of patients for treatment in a quarantine environment so as to control the contagious infection, self-voluntary quarantine is imposed to individual and people who care about the well-being of their neighbors. The government on other hand locks down boundaries so that no immigration from other countries to control the pandemic. Children are dismissed from schools, colleges and universities, childcare programs and all school-based activities to prevent social interaction among teenagers and community gatherings. Adult distancing is in place where crowded work places and community gatherings are cancelled so as to prevent the spread of the pandemic from affecting the communities (Harris et al, 2016, 2).

The greatest population of American people can be said to be working poor. People depend on low paying job and have little financial resources which can make them more susceptible to infections in times of economic crisis while the people are encouraged to stay indoors and avoid contact with people as much as possible. The great population of people who do not do the white-collar jobs rely on an hourly-wage where absenteeism of work means inability to cater for basic need of the family. The other great majority of American population rely on retail jobs that require interaction with people so as to earn, pandemics cause them to avoid even regions where the work and that cause panic fear and economic instability (Harris et al, 2016, 3).

The challenge becomes big when the pandemic is contagious and the parents work in institutions such as hospitals that treat the victims of the infectious diseases, for instance COVID-19 pandemic. The people are exposed to adverse situations hence there is need to keep high caution standards to avoid transmitting infections to children and other members of the community which can bring about anxiety and stress. The school closing for parents causes great concern on parents who cannot afford for childcare facilities due to economic constrains to parents unless grand parents’ chip in and help in baby-sitting children and controlling how the pandemic is analyzed. The concern with such effects may include childcare facilities exposing the children to more dangers of infections because of asymptomatic carriers of infections hence it may be hard to detect the effects of one child contracting the infections. The grand parents may fear the fact that due to old age they may be more susceptible to infections hence posing risk to parents to take care of children who find time to take care of children and balancing between work and children and financial constrain and fear of getting contagious infections.

Children at home poses another risk apart from children food insecurity because many had been benefiting from free school lunch programs that allow children to feed from school. The additional need to supplement nutritional value on meals considering it was unplanned. The government plays an essential role in regulating how parents cope with uncertainties in an event of a pandemic by providing relief aid to the people and complementary benefit from organizations from which the people work in generating equitable living standards to manage critical situations in remote neighborhoods where even working remotely becomes critical due to in sufficient internet network (Harris et al, 2016, 4).

Effects of pandemics on Emergency management responders

Emergency management responders play a great role in an outbreak of a pandemic, with the need to respond to request from victims arise having to work for more hours than normal, maintaining safety first and balancing between family relation and work. COVID-19 pneumonic pandemic on the other hand creates a different kind of effects of emergency management responders with the need to develop more strategies to keep safe, limit interaction with families and anxiety from workloads.

Pandemics and disasters effects are mitigated by emergency responders who include fire fighters, ambulance services, medical expatriates and volunteers who help in controlling the situation and rescue the lives of individuals. The experience is normally different on responders when essential supplies run out like for instance the novel COVID-19 pneumonic pandemic posed a different need for essential supplies such as face masks and sanitizers with high demand on such products outshining manufacturing process (Stratton, 2020).

Family members of responders face a risk too because the infections being contagious, they are exposed to the effects of pandemics if extra precautions and management strategies are not implemented to safeguard the pandemic. Ambulance drivers for instance may not see the need to keep safety measures in case of a call from members of the public in need of emergency call, but during the infections like for COVID-19, such assumptions expose the driver to contractions and the entire people who interacts with them. It is hard for a first responder to stay at home in the time of pandemics in fear of contracting infections or maybe to keep company with children who are out of school after the lockdown because the primary duty bestowed to them is saving lives and helping the public keep up with effects of a pandemic (Stratton, 2020).

Responders at the time of pandemics are normally under-staffed and the need to call for extra support from volunteers who may be retirees or people with experience or even first learners are needed. The fate lies between the spouses are bestowed with full responsibility to take care of children and control the operations of the household when the other member works for long hours due to the need in the situation. The effect causes anxiety to family members in trying to adapt to changes of how schedules and needs are addressed. The situation gets critical when exposed to infections, and the family needs to make prior decisions on how to handle the situation without spreading the infections. How the family member will be isolated from the rest of the family, how to explain to children why it cannot be possible to hug their beloved father or mother, having to talk over glass fence and not having family dinner together. In case of serious infections, the family many need to make prior arrangements who can take care of the infected responder and ow about the rest of the family members (Stratton, 2020).

The case of SARS and Ebola outbreak caused a great risk to responders as much information is normally not known in the early stages of the disaster striking which calls for proper implementation of safety standards to mitigate the effects of infections on responders that create panic and fear among all people who depend on them and relate with them on how to deal with the situation. Balance need to be in place between keeping controlling anxiety and maximizing output and spending time with family and friends. The traumatic events that responders are exposed to cause depression and great anxiety in life and may cause alterations in the daily routine of the family and how one perceives life (Gullion, 2014).

The roles and responsibilities bestowed on first responders in critical and great need to provide services normally double in an event of a crisis. However, responders have anxieties and family needs like spending time with children, panic when critical information is not available about the nature of the pandemic and myths that arise with spread of infections. The government and other organizations arrange on how to help responder safe in times of pandemics through preparations and the family members can always be flexible to accommodate change in routine programs (Gullion, 2014).

Theoretical Framework

There are different kinds of theories that can be useful in providing quality explanations and explorations into the kind of work that affects women with special challenges. Theoretical models are useful in defining the key requirements of the general factors that inform the kind of roles assigned to any given gender in society. Women who have social duties and requirements, like those who take care of their siblings, parents, and children, have magnified challenges and problems that need to be fully analyzed and discussed. Some key theories that can be used to explain the position of women towards the development of the right models and structures include social roles theory, feminist theory, and conflict theory. Each of these theories is useful in explaining a key given element that will be useful in addressing women’s need in society. Each of the theories has a profound impact in society, thus can be used to improve the quality of experiences that women have in the market and in society.

Social Roles Theory

Social roles theory attempts to understand the difference between men and women and what this difference means to each gender (Young, 2017). Social roles theory posits that the main difference between men and women is basically the kind of behavior that everyone chooses based on what society puts upon a gender. Social role theory, therefore, believes that being a man or a woman is based on the social approvals within the community. The approvals, however, are based on one behaving is a certain way that the community expects in line with the sex the personal finds themselves at birth.

According to the theory, therefore, there are some kinds of behavior that are reserved for men and other kinds of behaviors that are reserved for women. Anyone who moves across and identifies with a behavior that is not specific to their gender is considered a person who has done what is not necessary (Young, 2017). In the case of women with a need to take care of children, siblings and older parents, social role theory notes that it is ok that they undergo such roles. However, when there is a need to look for money for the family, particularly doing so through roles that are “emergency” in nature, the theory of the social role notes that such persons become “special case” individuals in society. There should, therefore, be ways set up that can help reduce the adverse effects of the conditions such women undergo to take care of such persons to allow them to achieve their work requirement goals through taking emergency work roles.

Feminist Theory

According to feminist theory, there is a need for society to examine itself through reflecting on the roles and responsibilities that have been placed upon every gender and, thus, identify inequalities in role assignment (Price & Shildrick, 2017). Feminist theory, therefore, focuses on the examination of society based on the roles it has placed on women, despite the glaring bias contained in such roles. The theory further explains that women have been assigned roles that are far more than those that men undertake. Apart from taking care of families, women are also expected to help in the search for basic needs for the family. Such unfairness only leads to complexities in the roles assigned to women when the situations cannot lead to efficiencies in executing these roles.

Feminist theory, therefore, advocates for the attempted development of equality between genders. This equality is particularly important in the case of gender roles assignment and values (Price & Shildrick, 2017). It is also important, therefore, to note that the best approach that can be taken is to ensure there is quality in the development of role assignment. People who have the socially assigned roles of taking care of the special group’s interests in society, like the women taking care of their families, and yet, who are still expected to undertake emergency response roles should be given deeper consideration and possible help (Price & Shildrick, 2017). This means that the roles they have been assigned are diverse, and it is not possible to undertake them at an individual level.

Conflict Theory

According to Karl Marx who developed the theory, society is in a state of continuous conflict between individuals and groups who are interested in owning the resources that are in limited supply (Goldman, Cooper, & Kugler, 2017). The challenges that people experience, therefore, are varied and may at times lead to situations where there is misunderstanding based on who should be in charge of any given resource at any given time. Therefore, according to social conflict theory, it is useful to understand that even the people in charge of conflict need to be in a position to understand the values of the theory because special women have families to take care of, alongside their emergency assignments. There are women with special case families, like siblings, children and old parents who also need their full attention and those in charge must, therefore, find solutions that would be ideal for the development of accurate scope and structures (Goldman, Cooper, & Kugler, 2017). The theory can also be used to explain and address the needs of society based on the core requirements in the areas of resources availability and usage.

The use of these theories is therefore important in explaining the roles, the execution and the position of special women in society. Special women are those charged with the responsibility of taking care of their family members who are not in a position to take care of themselves and, at the same time, seek to secure basic needs through the undertaking of special roles in society (Goldman, Cooper, & Kugler, 2017). The women, therefore, may have younger children of their own, or possibly siblings or they might have old and ailing parents who need a lot of attention, but again the jobs they do may also require urgent attention. Therefore, they run into situations that require their attention from both ends. They may want to remain home and provide nursing care to family members, but the deployment they also get takes them away from families in emergency role assignment cases. Such commissions may lead to conflicts.

Summary

The literature review reveals that there have been many research projects that have been developed to help in evening the role of women in society. A number of studies, including Joannou et al. (2017, p. 422), have shown the challenges women undergo, such as discrimination, being left out from major events and sexual harassment due to being in emergency management careers. The studies have, therefore, focused upon the gender roles assigned to women in the society based on the roles assigned to men.

In addition, there have been a lot of studies that have been undertaken based on gender inequalities. Joannou et al. (2017, p. 422) and Hunziker (2019, p. 144) show that being a woman is a possible cause for an individual to be left out during a recruitment exercise. The economic role that women have undertaken in society has also been given a lot of attention and has focused on the published research. Women workers not only offer supplementary sources of income for families, but also sole sources of livelihood for a number of woman-headed households (Verniers & Vala, 2018, p. 2). A few studies have identified familial roles as a key impediment to the ability of women to effectively carry out their roles as first responders. Notably, Verniers and Vala (2018, p. 1) have shown that family responsibilities cause women to delay in their ability to respond to emergencies.

However, there is one area that the studies have not addressed – the case of women from special families with a need to take care of their children, old and sickly parents or siblings that need daily attention and the possibility of having assigned roles that are of an emergency nature. While existing studies look at women in emergencies in general and identify some of the challenges they often face as mothers and wives, none looks at women with special types of families, such as those from woman-headed families, having sick or elderly persons to take care of and other types of special needs which may adversely affect their role as first responders.

The current studies use quantitative methods to identify some of the challenges that women in emergency management careers face that would limit their ability to effectively perform their duties. There is a lack of qualitative evidence to help understand the challenges that women face as first responders with familial responsibilities. While quantitative evidence suggests the presence of familial challenges that impede women from working effectively as emergency responders, it does not provide a clear understanding of how these challenges affect them at the point of emergency response (Harnois & Bastos, 2018, p. 289). The current study, therefore, will be important in ensuring there is a closer understanding of the work and family challenges through the development of the right study approach.

Also, while there is plenty of research on the challenges facing women in first responder roles, no study gives details of how women cope with problems. Some studies, including Ladge and Greenberg (2015, p. 988), suggest some methods that could be used to solve the familial challenges that face women due to their involvement in first responder roles. However, these are mere suggestions and are not based on empirical evidence. Adopting a qualitative approach will also help identify some of the strategies used by women in emergency roles to overcome the challenges they face in their careers. Through the application of a qualitative research approach, the research will delve into some of the ways that women in first responder careers deal with the challenges they face while trying to balance their work and family lives.

The corona virus Pandemic

The corona virus (COVID-19) is a critical global pandemic that has caused a great influence and effects among people with so much information unknown about the pandemic and the effects still evolving around the people creating panic and unrest among communities. The pandemic has led to World Health Organization declaring a health emergency and the Federal government declaring a State of Emergency. The pandemic has also caused people to work remotely and in some areas lock down is paramount in borders and cancellation of social gathering and schools lock down and work environment are changed to avoid contact at all cost to minimize the spread of the pandemic (Layne et al, 2020).

Corona has created a lot of unrest among members of the community due to the fact that no medication and vaccination is available for the virus. People face it rough when the issue is under research and its effects are spreading like wild fire among communities with larger number of people dying from the infections and stigmatization of the effects of the virus pandemic. In severe cases people are unwilling to go out for shopping or interact with neighbors as every social contact is highly disregarded due to the spread of the pandemic (Khan et al, 2020).

The virus started from a community in China where sources indicate it being of animal origin such as bat or camels but it’s still uncertain to prove the theories about the sources of the pandemic. In many nations the virus was transmitted to people through visitors coming from areas that have been infected and due to the first rate of transmission creating a great risk to the people thy come int contact with (Layne et al, 2020).

The facts about the pandemic is that it can be transmitted through contact or surfaces that have been contacted by people who have been infected. The virus creating similar effects as the flu creates a danger of being transmitted through liquid particles when a person sneezes or coughs the virus can remain in the air for hours before varnishing. The surfaces from which infected people come int contact with can remain infected for a period of 24 hours or more. The surfaces include door locks, table surfaces, seat handles, computer keyboards and all other places where people come into contact. The people suffer greatly due to panic than the real consequences of the infections (Layne et al, 2020).

The people infected on the other hand suffer stigmatization due to fear of people wanting to interact with them in fear of infections. The need for quarantine of patients and self-quarantine of people suspecting of illnesses can contribute to well-being of the community. A good example can be illustrated from the Chinese citizens who operate in other countries, stigmatization can affect people both physically and emotionally into being unable to interact with people due to the fear of being able to contract them infections (Cohen & Kupferschmidt, 2020).

Nations and states are taking into consideration the effects of coronavirus by implementing policies control movement and social interaction among people. The social interactions limitations include lockdown of boundaries and cancellation of public gatherings such as religious meetings and any other form of social gathering, schools have been closed for about six weeks to regulate how children interact with each other in aid of creating better environments. Work organizations have developed strategies to cover the effects of the pandemic such as employees working remotely, avoiding contact completely along work environments and sanitization procedures before and after entering an organization premise, wearing clinical masks or dust masks to prevent inhalation of infected viruses changeable after every four hours (Cohen & Kupferschmidt, 2020).

The situation is different for people work from different retail economic statuses who cannot afford to work from home like the grocers and other retail centers which require great interaction with majority of people to earn income. In such situation, people normally depend on a daily income and lock down of retail stores and open-air market can lead to adverse situation in people who rely on the income and those whose goods are perishable hence it’s a total nightmare to economic stability of the citizens (Fang & Luo, 2020).

The consideration of the effects of corona virus can be seen by people who stay in remote parts of the states which have low income and economic instability, internet and computers to work remotely even when granted the chance is a challenge when all members of the family may want to use the phone or computer to work, do assignments, research and be updated on the upcoming events of effects of corona virus. The challenge from such remote areas force people to without any other options have to work physically to provide for families and take the risk of working in congested environments in order to provide for the families (Khan et al, 2020).

Effects of the pandemic to families

The corona virus pandemic has created lots of issues in family relation and how parents are affected by the policies and regulations set by the government to control the pandemic such as quarantine and working remotely in that they can have secure environments away from congestation and chances of infection. The effects pose a great weight to parents, especially mothers whose responsibilities double in caring for the families. The parents have a great deal in taking care of children are at home due to school close down. The childcare services may be a risk of exposing the child to more dangers of being asymptomatic carriers which in turn affect the entire family. Parents decide to homeschool children through online study platforms to keep theme engaged and maintain a robust schedule of balance between jobs and children (Alsubaie et al, 2019, 920-926).

The government announcing a state of emergency indicates that situation get out of hand and immediate action need be taken to avoid deaths caused by the pandemic. The infections are serious and the need for measure to be at hand needs be implemented. The measures included by government policies regards even the use of hard money such as coins and notes which is a number one area of contact as in a day a note can be transmitted along many people hence increasing the transmission rate of infections.

The measures put in place require the use of money transfer such as credit cards and bank cards to transact businesses and pay for goods than paying with cash. Mobile money transfer is another alternative that is used as a preventive measure in development of healthy neighborhoods. In spite of using cards to pay for bills the regulation to stock food in plural so as to stay indoors is a requirement to avoid being exposed to risk of contracting contagious infections. The elderly for instance due to being vulnerable to exposure of corona virus than the young in relation to immunity levels face a great challenge in doing shopping and getting basic needs from stores and markets. The people taking care of elderly parents and at the same time attending to the needs of their own family require strategy to prevent stress and anxiety levels due to fear and panic of losing or infecting the parents with the infections. (Alsubaie et al, 2019, 920-926).

The schools closed for six weeks

Parents sent children to school and enjoy freedom of handling other responsibilities to sustain the family. Children at school enjoy a free lunch program that enable them to reduce the economic need for parents with small income worrying about lunch for their children. The parents operate on a budgetary program that are predetermined by the income the parents make. A change in the program alters all the other monetary plans of the entire month due to income rates. The schools were closed in an abrupt and unplanned manner in which parents need to adapt and provide food for the children staying at home for a period of six months (Cohen & Kupferschmidt, 2020).

Food issues aside, parents need provide education facilities for children which may require online studies to keep engaged and work avoid idling and hanging on the streets now that they are free and the needs to move to places may come their way hence parental care and guidance is needed to contain the children at home. Parents may not have been used to the situation when it comes in an emergency than expected. Schools close on a specific duration maybe during summer and plans are normally set long before on how the time may be spend. Pandemics rearrange all the plans and children are forced to look for ways to handle the children (Cohen & Kupferschmidt, 2020).

Families are not the same and a great number of American citizens are comprised of single parents and a great number comprise of women who work hard to provide the needs of their families. The single parents are the breadwinners, the teachers, the advisors, the care givers and disciplinaries to the children who have been sent home after schools close. The challenge is balancing between doing jobs and taking care of the children at home. In some cases, the children may be grown in their teenage years reducing the need for taking the young siblings to care givers or finding a nanny to care for the children. The case may not be the same when parents have all small children and have to balance between job and child care.

Childcare is paramount in parents who are both working or are emergency responders as the effects of contracting infections can be high when the childcare and support facilities do not take caution measures in restraining and testing if the care givers have Corona infections or the children who are part of the child care facilities are infected with contagious corona virus. The issue with children due to high developing immunity system may contract the infections but act as a carrier in transmitting the infections to other children or even the members of the families from which they originate. (Cohen & Kupferschmidt, 2020).

Taking care of children at home for occupational parents and first responders can be very trick when employers still require parents to attend to work hence parenthood requirement may involve communicating with grandparents to come from the remote regions or else for children to go and spend time until the duration of the pandemic is over. The grandparents on the other hand that would mean altering their schedules to accommodate the children and on most cases when the children are coming from already infested towns, it would mean a cation as the children may be asymptomatic carriers hence can say no to the offer of helping out the grandchildren at an expense of health issues. However, people are uncertain about the duration of the school closing period as the pandemic seems take much longer to be controlled and its spreading over larger margins consuming the lives of many people thus creating much panic and danger among many individuals mostly parents (Alsubaie et al, 2019, 920-926).

The issue concerned with women at the time when schools are closed for six weeks is the duties that arise from motherly chores that increase in the times of pandemic, children spend much time with mothers when at home than they do with fathers. The mothers are required to keep the children safe both emotionally and physically by teaching them on facts related to corona infections and routine practices that need be implemented in the families as part of change and relation to the adaptive measures required by the government to keep safe. The children need to understand handling surfaces is prohibited over the period when corona virus infections are on and the need to wash hands with soap over for at least twenty seconds and cleansing hands with sanitizers and avoiding placing hands around the face when they are not cleaned. It is true that in some families the situation is normally the same every moment before entering the house one has to wash hands, however, in the critical situation like outbreak of corona virus the need to take more caution is bigger than the normal procedures of keeping clean environments (Stein, 2020).

The situation when schools are closed is different in low class neighborhoods which are not as sanitized as for their counterparts who are in well-paying jobs and have a mortgage which have self-contained living standards. A majority of the population in America come from neighborhoods with a shared washroom, shared water point and apartments which host many families and can be said to be crowded. As much as an individual may wish to keep everything intact in such an environment the general expectation is that majority of the people work on an hourly wage and earn a living to sustain only a day’s needs. The pandemic created an added anxiety on parents on how to keep then engaged and indoors for all day while other parents may allow their children to get out and play over in the fields without much concern (Wilder-Smith & Freedman, 2020)

The effects of the corona virus create a big financial constrain to many families as many business operations which require interaction within people are under lock down or the parents are encouraged to work from home or wear masks when doing business transactions over the period of time. The need to keep a balance between having control over children to keep safe from infections, controlling the financial constrains in the period children are at home and developing a robust analysis of keeping track of current development stories of corona infections, educating children and maintaining balance among social interaction out of the normal procedures require energy and dedication of parents to control the situation (Alsubaie et al, 2019, 920-926).

Time to watch children and working at home

The time to watch children is under critical pressure when workers are encouraged to work from home. It’s an element of great nightmare for parents to balance between working at home and creating time to attend for children who are happy that parents are at home and they can spend time and interact through playing and concerns even about the upcoming corona headlines over the television. The big weight is invested over the mothers who have to take care of children because of fear of taking them to childcare support due to the government policy to regulate interaction with other people (Koonin, 2020).

The challenge becomes more critical when one parents is working over remotely in the house while the other parent is an emergency responder and has to go out for work over long hours. The parent working from home has to manages between reading over the mails and attending to video conferencing meetings with the employer and other staff and maintaining a look over to the children to know what they are doing. The issue becomes critical when the child is small and required breastfeeding with no childcare support to attend on the children when the parents are busy dealing with job related issues. It creates anxiety, stress and panic among parents and in return poor work outputs due to the situations (Kickbusch & Leung, 2020).

The situation is different for emergency responders whose occupations cannot work remotely and require total dedication in periods of crisis such as corona pandemic such as in the military and in the hospitals, which require the attention of all staff members due to high number of people making inquiries about the pandemic and making testing to ensure safety of the people to interact with in the duration of the pandemic. The staff still need to spend time with the children that are already at home due to the school closing policy and manage with the work that cannot be done remotely. The concern is great in balancing between time for children at home and work. The parents in such occupation are forced to rely on parents that are in other flexible occupations who can spend time with the children.

The risk predisposed by parents working from such inevitable professions is that majority of the people who are infected with the respiratory virus are medical practitioners who work to help infected persons recover but in return end up infected. In many states among the people who are infected other come for care centers with other losing their lives. The police administrations deal with people hence it is hard to control how people relate to the infection of the respiratory infections of Coronavirus along the field of expertise. The tension created is transmitted to other people who interact with people from such professions and in such cases, stigmatization can be a result which can be more devastating than even contracting the infections which the body immune system can fight and help recover for those with strong immune system.

The relative of people who have been infected or are in life care support live in great fear of their loved ones contracting the more infections in the facility that it could be when operating from home. The effect can be felt when the relatives cannot be allowed to interact with the patients and have to communicate through window panels so as to understand how the situation in the life care facilities need by analyzed. In some places the patients can be in place where the window panel is in a direction different from the areas where one cannot see or even talk to them unless over the phone calls. The situations add more anxiety when the breadwinner is the one infected and has to stay quarantined for the period until they get better (Kickbusch & Leung, 2020).

The situation on the other hand can gets really dangerous when a member of the family gets ill and the situation has to be different because spending time with children becomes really different and difficult at that time. The anxiety of finding the right person to take care of children at that critical period who will take the risk to handle the children who might be asymptomatic carriers poses a great challenge. The anxiety to handle the situation is normally great than the effects of the situation forcing parents from such profession to take absolute effort in handling the effects of the Corona pandemic that is causing distress among people in different occupations such as medical care police administrations and work that require shifts and interaction with people (Kickbusch & Leung, 2020).

Spending time with children at the event of pandemic is of great importance in developing skills and competencies of handling situations in event of infections and helping children understand the importance of adhering to policies set in place by administrations in order to curb with the pandemics. The effects of spending time with children can be seen from a point where people earn from service industry such as beauty salons and barbershops, hawking and massage parlors may be affected greatly economically and socially because great preventive measures need be implanted before offering any service to the consumers to prevent transmitting the respiratory infections to customers or getting the infections from consumers (Ren et al, 2020).

A good example to explain the situation is in massage parlor where people have to sleep on cushioned tables with a surface where the neck can fit comfortably, in such situations although the surfaces are disinfected properly with sanitizers and other cleaning agents a person may not feel comfortable taking the risk of massage hence the effect is lack of jobs to the people who work as massage therapists lack jobs. On the other hand, massaging a body of an infected person even when surgical gloves are used due to friction and other factors in rubbing the body may develop into contact or tear the gloves and lead to body contact that is highly disregarded (Kickbusch & Leung, 2020).

The economic effect of the pandemic creates more harm than the real effects of respiratory infections of the Coronavirus because many people will lose jobs and the effects of the pandemic affect critically women who play a big part in relating how familial relation and interaction with other employees and people in the field of occupation. The policies set by the governments indicate that it’s good to stock up food for more than two week, the budgetary constraints are critical in such that it may mean draining all savings on food and purchase of products such as sanitizers which are of great demands and people are congested in supermarkets buying them and in stores (Kickbusch & Leung, 2020).

Employment and labor laws in use in an event of a pandemic

The pandemic creates a serious issue to parents because instead of going to work with children patents are being asked to work from home. It is critical that there is no point of bringing children to workplace even when working remotely because it can be a source of distraction for parents not to deliver effectively on the job output. In the event of outbreak of Coronavirus infections many parents can feel happy to evade the monotony of office and its associated stress while other workers may term that as a nightmare having to work amid of children who may pose a great distraction in the process of work (Kuhar et al, 2019).

The labor law provides a clear understanding of possibility of taking leave to care for sick patients a family member or individually which can be paid or unpaid. Paid leave only applies to workers who have sick parent of family member infected with contagious infection such as flu or corona virus. On the other hand, the law does not provide any regulation indicating that workers can take leaves to compensate for spending time with children who have been dismissed from school like in the event of the corona pandemic (Baker et al, 2020).

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is responsible for people in department of labor to take into concern legal requirements of the law to be able to qualify for FMLA leave. The Act indicates that for a worker to qualify for a leave they need to have worked for at least 12 months at an average of 1250 hours for a period of one year. Employees are eligible for leave under circumstances such as sick or when caring for a family member who are sick. Sickness may include serious health condition such as a flu and are protected by the FMLA through the period of leave of up 12 weeks unpaid and a job protection of 12 months. The protection includes workers who take leave to help parents who are suffering from effects of Corona virus (Baker et al, 2020).

The FMLA does not cover workers who decide to take leave to avoid contracting infectious diseases such as corona infections hence such employees are not protected and can result to lose of jobs. However, employers can encourage workers when infected with the virus or exposed to a family member with infectious diseases to keep at home to show love for neighbors and colleagues at the place of work. The FMLA on the other hand does not take any consideration workers who go home to look out for healthy children. The situation may include parents who decide to take leave to attend to children who have been dismissed from school such as in the process when the president announce closing of all learning institutions. The employees on the other hand may consider adjusting the policies of the organization to cover the needs of majority of employees and families for which they work for (Kuhar et al, 2019).

The employer needs to be considerate as much as the business operates even in an event of a pandemic it should not expose the workers into a great risk of contracting the contagious respiratory coronavirus which is causing deaths among many people. The employers need also not to show discrimination against race or gender or sex of an individual in the process of qualification for paid leave and allowing parents to take care of children at home in the event of an outbreak of a pandemic (Baker et al, 2020).

The employer in an even of accepting the worker back to the organization who had been exposed to pandemic related illness can require getting doctor’s note to ensure the safety of other employees in the organization before starting to work again. The requirement is in agreement with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)which requires screening of patients to ensure they do not pose a direct link to the other employees who are workers of the same organization. The great point in the issuance of sick leaves and compensation of patients who are at leave is determinant by fairness without any discrimination against race sex or gender (Hick et al, 2020).

Organizations may require parent to go with children at work but do not substitute offices with day care facilities with children coming to office every single day when schools are closed as that would create distraction of workers not able to deliver right having to keep balance between time spent with kids and concentration in working environments. However, organizations may require parent to come with children at work place on special occasions but not regularly in a way to cause distractions in the working environments (Kuhar et al, 2019).

Chapter 3: Methodology

Introduction

In this study, the researcher’s purpose is to study the familial challenges that face women working in emergency management careers. Past research shows that due to their roles in the household as mothers and wives, women in first responder careers, such as firefighters, police and in healthcare, face more problems than their male counterparts. In this chapter, the researcher describes the research method and the techniques that will be used to conducting the study and answer the research questions. The chapter explains the design chosen by the researcher (phenomenological) and the rationale for choosing the given methodology.

Also discussed is the role that the researcher will take in the study, including their involvement in participant selection and how they are going to relate with study subjects. Methods for addressing researcher biases in participant selection and data collection are also discussed in deeper terms in the chapter. The methods for data collection and analysis are also a vital part of the chapter, with issues of external validity, dependability and confirmability being pertinent. Finally, there are ethical procedures that will allow for confidentiality to protect participants’ information.

Research methods or methodology is a description of the steps, strategies and procedures that a researcher uses for collection and analysis of data for the purpose of a study (Vagle, 2018, p. 132). It includes, in detail, a description of how a study went from beginning to end. Accordingly, the research methods section includes, but is not limited to the design, sample, setting, data collection, methodological limitations and techniques used in the analysis of data. The techniques that will be used in the research are described in this chapter.

Research Design and Rationale

This phenomenological study is designed to improve the current understanding of the familial challenges that women in emergency response careers face. With the aim of identifying the challenges as related to the specific conditions of individual women, the study will identify the factors that cause additional challenges in women that come as a result of having additional responsibilities at home. Therefore, a number of research questions will guide the researcher:

· What are the perceived underlying causes of work-life conflict for women serving in emergency response roles?

· What are the experienced challenges that women first responders have realized in needing to respond to urgent work calls when they have no one else to look after their families?

· How do the perceived causes of work-life conflict affect women serving in emergency response careers?

· How can these perceived causes of work-life conflict for women working in first responder roles be eliminated or minimized?

First responders include a range of careers including, but not limited to, those in healthcare, firefighting, police and emergency response, where employees are called upon to work without prior notice. Women working in these first responder careers often find it hard to balance work and family life due to role conflict (Lewis-Schroeder et al., 2018, p. 226). While there are a number of researchers who have looked at the challenges that cause this conflict (Vagle, 2018, p. 210), specific role challenges have not been attended to. With most studies employing quantitative research approaches to identify the challenges faced by women in their capacity as both first responders and critical parts of family life, not much information has been acquired from such. Therefore, this study will take a different approach to studying the situation in order to acquire additional insights about the problem.

In this study, I will utilize the phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of women first responders as they try to balance work and family life while working in first responder roles. The main aim is to increase knowledge on the subject and provide specific problems and the solutions utilized by the women in these roles. Women working in first responder roles including the police, firefighters and medical personnel, face a variety of challenges based on the job and the specific details of their lives. For example, Snyder (2018, p. 12) has noted that women single parents find it hard to leave their families during the night in case of an emergency. Also, the response mechanisms to the familial challenges causing life-work balance challenges vary. For women doctors who are married, the responsibility of caring for children during emergency may be left to the husband (Gerson, 2016, p. 117). On the other hand, Lewis-Schroeder et al. (2018, p. 217) note that non-married female healthcare workers often fail to respond to emergencies due to a lack of help with family responsibilities. The challenges are different for women in other first responder roles, such as emergency management in cases of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. Therefore, the phenomenological approach was chosen in order to increase the researcher’s ability to identify the specific familial challenges, career-specific situations and solutions provided by female participant first responders depending on their specific situations.

The qualitative study design is used by researchers for extensive and in-depth study of behavior, opinions, motivations and themes. Qualitative methods allow for in-depth understanding of a phenomenon in a way that cannot be achieved through quantitative methodologies (Vagle, 2018, p. 129). Consequently, while the data derived from quantitative methods relate to quantities, amounts and other measurements, the qualitative method provides characteristics, attributes and features of a given phenomenon which are evaluated and thematically evaluated.

Unlike a simplistic quantitative methodology where data is easy to collect, an understanding of the phenomena under study is required by a researcher as they use their own words to interact with participants and gather information (Vagle, 2018, p. 143). Therefore, the qualitative method allows the researcher to include the concerns of participants and increase knowledge on a particular subject in a way greater than could be achieved through a quantitative approach. Used in this research, the qualitative approach will allow the researcher to not only identify the familial challenges faced by women in first responder careers, but also create a deeper understanding of how these challenges are related to the different experiences of the victims of emergency situations.

The qualitative methodology will help create an understanding of the differences and similarities in the experiences of subjects and, hence, form a cause and effect relationship to guide efforts to eliminate them. The most common qualitative methodologies are: case study, ethnography, narrative theory, grounded theory and phenomenology (Vagle, 2018, p. 221). Each of these methods has characteristics that make them suitable for studying different phenomenon and requiring different activities by the researcher. In this study, the phenomenological approach will be used to study the subject.

The phenomenological approach looks at the experiences, events and occurrences with minimum regard to what is external. In a phenomenological study, what is directly felt or perceived is regarded as more reliable than the interpretation (Hurley & Choudhary, 2016, p. 259). Through induction and human interests, ideas are generated from rich amounts of data collected through an in-depth entry into the phenomenon, capturing it vividly. Through phenomenology, a researcher acquires a basic set of individual conditions and believes this guides the phenomena (Smith, 2015, p. 26). The approach deals with the worldviews of the researcher. The phenomenological approach is specifically important when research participants have experienced a common situation (Vagle, 2018, p. 201). However, Hurley and Choudhary (2016, p. 254) also recommend the method be used when participants experience a similar encounter. Therefore, it is a relevant approach in the case of our phenomena where women experience familial challenges while dealing with emergency response work.

Through phenomenology, the researcher will get a strong pattern of the thinking of the participants and the flow of their thoughts concerning the familial challenges they face due to their work as first responders in an emergency. The phenomenological approach is effective in forming people’s meaning and also helps to adjust issues and ideas as they emerge through the research process (Smith, 2015, p. 15). It is, hence, specifically useful in the study of topics and concepts that have not been studied before in a society as it increases the general knowledge of the situation. Data gathered through the phenomenological approach is natural rather than artificial which means that it is true and related to the phenomena under study in more ways than other methods (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 157). Using it in this study will provide a strong chance for the identification of ideas that may not have been discovered before.

Generally, the analysis of a phenomenological study involves the condensing, grouping and comparing of results to identify common features and differences of the participants. The researcher is expected to discuss the underlying factors and structures of the phenomena under study. Through the use of a phenomenological study, the researcher will be able to examine the issues related to the challenges of women. Therefore, data collected will be subjected to proper analysis to identify the issues and ideas underlying the condition of women in first responder careers.

There are different types of phenomenological studies that take a variety of methods with slight differences in the way research is conducted. Existential, hermeneutical, realistic and constitutive phenomenology are the common types of phenomenological approaches (Smith, 2015, p. 31). Realistic phenomenology holds the metaphysical realisms of the universe constant, hence suspends the beliefs and facts known to the researcher (Vagle, 2018, p.128). Consequently, the researcher starts from a point of no information or a blank paper for their study. Hermeneutic phenomenology is mainly interpretive rather than purely descriptive (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 155). Under this type, every form of awareness is taken to be already interpreted. However, for this study, the constitutive phenomenological approach will be taken to understand the subject.

Constitutive phenomenology is mainly transcendent, emphasizing process in the conscious life (Smith, 2015, p. 12). It is concerned with constitution of matter where it describes the synthesis of intention in the consciousness of a subject. Unlike in realistic phenomenology, there is a pre-predictive experience where the objects are willed, perceived and valued but not yet created into formed states. The constitutive approach is a broadened understanding of the natural world that includes culture and human understanding of a phenomenon (Lewis-Schroeder et al., 2018, p. 218). It, hence, seeks subjective ideas that have potential scientific outcomes. Therefore, for the research to be constitutive, it must delve into what the subjects – women working in first responder careers – make of the challenge of being mothers and wives and, at the same time, having impromptu calls to respond to emergencies. The phenomenological approach requires a thorough understanding of the subject under study in order for data collected and analyzed to be useful in making conclusions (Smith, 2015, p. 13). Therefore, for this research, the researcher involved only observes to avoid inconsistencies in collection and preparation of data.

Role of the Researcher

The primary researcher for this scholarship is expected to have a certain set of skills and characteristics that will allow them to make appropriate decisions during the study. According to Vagle (2018, p.198), a researcher must have certain attributes that not only allow him or her to effectively interact with respondents, but to also form the necessary mindset that will allow him to gather information without making undue conclusions. Accordingly, a researcher should examine their beliefs, biases, preconceived ideas and any other factors that may limit their ability to objectively study the phenomena in question.

One standard that is useful for researchers to follow in their study to eliminate bias and create a fresh mind on a subject is epoché. In phenomenological studies, epoché is the process in which bias and assumptions are blocked by a researcher in order for them to objectively explain a phenomenon with its inherent meaning system (Vagle, 2018, p. 192). It is suspension of judgment to allow one to refrain from making conclusions in a given scenario. In my research, I intend to use this technique to eliminate any prior assumptions or conclusions I have made in regard to the topic. However, I hold that I do not hold any assumption or biases in regard to the subject. Consequently, my personal views on challenges facing women working as first responders are bracketed to allow objective data to be collected and analyzed. Due to bracketing, the biases and personal feelings that could influence my interactions with respondents have been eliminated and will allow me to collect reliable data.

With this research being partially motivated by my interaction with women first responders, I recognize that my view of the subject might be affected by previous interactions. While these interactions might have both positive and negative influences on the way I handle the subject, they could also cause bias. Consequently, I will employ the bracketing technique to eliminate any pre-formed ideas on the idea. Bracketing is used by qualitative researchers to mitigate any potential negative effects of preconceived ideas that would affect the process of research (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 160). Bracketing is vital for anyone using the phenomenological research approach.

The researcher is an open-minded individual who allows for the prevalence of more than one opinion on matters. Open mindedness is another critical characteristic for a qualitative researcher (Smith, 2015, p. 38). This characteristic allows for many other attributes required for one to effectively conduct a survey, including listening. Through listening skills, one can increase understanding of the world around them and create a positive circle of friends. Active listening allows an individual to create an environment where people are attracted to this quality. The researcher has an effective circle of friends who have been attracted to him due to his ability to listen and offer solutions to life issues. Moreover, being an active listener has made the researcher respected in most circles, hence his role as the chairman in these units. In conducting the research, the researcher will utilize these listening skills to be able to create a positive relationship with participants.

Another vital skill that will be utilized by the researcher during the research and in interacting with participants are those of writing. The researcher has quality writing skills, such as writing short notes and keeping a diary. These skills are vital for proper record keeping during the entire period of the study to promote understanding of the topic by the researcher. With constant record keeping being needed throughout the study, the writing skills identified will be vital.

Observation is also a key characteristic that the researcher has that will be vital in this study. As a person, I have quality observational skills that will enable me to effectively conduct the research into the subject. Ethics are also a vital requirement for research as they allow researchers to address the main ethical concerns, such as anonymity, informed consent and confidentiality. According to Smith (2015, p. 8), the nature of qualitative studies brings challenges as confidentiality and keeping information anonymous. Having extensively studied some of these key issues in research, I have acquired skills necessary to carry out research without negatively impacting the ethical considerations of the research.

The researcher is also skilled in qualitative research methods, including data collection, transcription and analysis. The researcher has taken part in a number of research projects as an assistant. Consequently, he is well-versed with data collection methods such as interviews, observation and case studies. The researcher is also versed with how to identify and introduce themselves to a potential participant for a study. He therefore is well equipped to take part. Through these qualities, the researcher can give assurance of conducting the research without causing any ethical risks.

Methodology

Participant Selection

The target participants for this study are women working in emergency response careers. Emergency responders work in such careers where they are called upon whenever there is a disaster. Such careers include public safety officers, emergency management planners, disaster response technicians, firefighters, emergency room physicians and emergency nurses. The jobs and responsibilities of these careers include working when invited and off-the office types of work (Smith, 2015, p. 18). The women targeted for the study are expected to be at least 21 years of age and above. The study also requires that women selected for participation have additional familial responsibilities coming from living with a dependent person. A dependent person is defined as an individual who directly depends on the support of the first responder at home. These people include children, elderly parents, disabled relatives, and other persons living with the first responder.

In selecting participants, the first step is the identification and accessing of people who are eligible for the research according to the set parameters. Sinha et al. (2018, p. 161) note that in qualitative research, the researcher must first make sure that they can access the people who experience the phenomenon being studied. With the methods used for data collection in qualitative research being often laborious, including in-depth interviews and observation, the researcher must also identify people who are willing to talk and be cooperative (Smith, 2015, p. 18). Vagle (2018, p. 186) suggests the use of established ties with the population to identify the participants used in qualitative research. Consequently, to identify the participants for my study, I will use my networks in society, such as associations, that will help me identify and recruit the candidates. I will identify friends, families and people who work in emergency response careers for this research. From such, I will use the snowball method for continuous identification and selection of participants. The snowball method of participant selection is used where participants are hard to find and involves participants helping with recruitment of other participants. Moreover, with the small sample size required for the research, the researcher does not have to worry too much about identification.

Sampling

According to Azmat and Rentschler (2017, p. 321), it is typical for qualitative studies to utilize a relatively small sample. Given the type of data collected from such studies, quantity might lead to extreme confusion and challenges with analysis and finding links. Smith (2015, p. 27) holds that a qualitative study should take a sample size of six to ten participants to be effective. However, other researchers require the use of other methods to determine the sample size for qualitative analysis. According to Vagle (2018, p.171), saturation, quality and the nature of a study should determine sample size. By saturation, the ease of finding participants is put into consideration. Seeing that the number of women who would meet the criteria for inclusion could be low in society, considering saturation, a small number of women would be considered. However, to maintain quality, a relatively large number of participants will be required. Consequently, for this study, a sample size of six to fifteen (6-15) participants will be used. The range takes care of both the relative difficulty in finding participants and the need to draw conclusions based on evidence rather than simple observer bias or assumptions.

Non-probability testing is the most effective sample acquisition procedure that will be used in this study for the selection of the sample. In non-probability sampling, the researcher is capable of adjusting the sample so as to fit their researcher question. Unlike random or probabilistic sampling techniques, non-probability methods do not infer from sample to population but seek to iterate until theoretical saturation is achieved (Vagle, 2018, p. 167). Consequently, nonprobability sampling techniques allow the researcher to effectively target the type of participants who would give usable results. Consequently, non-probability sampling techniques are effective in qualitative study methodologies. As noted above, the sampling procedure that will be used in this project is snowball sampling.

Snowball sampling is one of the techniques of non-probability sampling. Also known as referral or chain sampling, snowball sampling involves the researcher getting help from study subjects to get other participants (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 159). It assumes that people facing one phenomenon often know each other as the situation brings them together. The technique has been noted by several researchers as effective in identification of samples where it is hard. According to Smith (2015, p. 28), the use of the chain method of sampling is effective in looking for patterns within the data as respondents provide vital data in relation to the next subject.

In the study, women with familial responsibilities that affect their ability to perform their roles as first responders will be easy to identify, following the leads of others with the same challenges. As they work together, women will realize their common challenges and form some form of groups for social support to avoid the consequences of familial responsibilities at their work. Sinha et al. (2018, p. 153) noted that women tend to share both work and family-related issues at work with the hope of at least getting solutions. Moreover, it is common to share with someone who experiences similar circumstances (Sinha et al., 2018, p. 154). Consequently, if we identify the first participant, the identification of the rest may not be as challenging. It will therefore be the responsibility of the researcher to identify the first participant for the research. The use of social networks, therefore, is the most appropriate method of identifying targets for this study.

Data Collection

Board Approval

The first step in data collection is the acquisition of approval from authorized boards that oversee the research. Seeking ethical approval is required before a research involving human participants can begin, or where data on people is going to be collected (Smith, 2015, p. 31). At Walden University, ethical approval is required for researchers to ensure that research meets the ethical standards expected for both graduate and undergraduate students. The researcher will present the tools for conducting the research, including questions for in-depth interviews and focus groups to the University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Further information will be given on the procedures and the measures that the researcher will take during the research to ensure confidentiality and privacy of information acquired from the participants.

Data protection protocol is a vital determiner of the level of compliance with ethical requirements for qualitative research (Vagle, 2018, p.137). Therefore, the measures to ensure anonymity and confidentiality will be considered and given priority during the presentation to the board for approval. Also, a copy of informed consent will be provided to the IRB for review to ensure conformity with set standards of practice.

Apart from the University, approval from organizations where research will be conducted is also significant. For this research, organizations involved in emergency response will play a key role as they provide participants for research. Moreover, the researcher will carry out interviews and focus group discussions on the premises. Consequently, approval to conduct the research in these places will be sought from management. This process will involve an explanation of the research process, including the type of data that will be collected from the participants. Interviews and focus groups will, however, be conducted at the place of choice by the respondents.

Research methods

In this study, two methods are going to be used to collect data from the subjects. These include in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.

In-depth Interviews

The study seeks to have the researcher have one-on-one interaction with participants. According to Smith (2015, p. 38) one-on-one interviews require that a researcher meet in person with participants. The in-depth interview method allows the subjects to be spontaneous and free with the interviewee (Vagle, 2018, p. 231). Information from an in-depth interview is not influenced by psychological pressure, leader effect or copying behavior. With the flexible structure of in-depth interviews, personalized prompts that are useful in developing understanding of the individual can add to the data. Open-ended questions will be used. However, the level of freedom achieved by the participants is highly dependent on the amount of time the interviewer takes to create rapport with them and the assurance of the relevance of the research and the level of confidentiality assured. Consequently, proper introduction of the research and the ethical procedures need to be observed during in-depth interviews.

The research will be conducted by one-on-one meetings with participants. After successful identification of participants, a rapport will be created with them while explaining the research. The purpose of the research, research procedures and how the information collected will be used are among the information that will be provided to participants. Also, participants will be made known their rights, including informed consent and how to stop the interview at any point during the process. Questions from the respondents are also encouraged for clarity. At the end of the introduction, an informed consent form will be provided to the participants for signing. Two copies will be presented, with the participant keeping one while the researcher takes the other. From here, the researcher would go forth to present the questions to the participant.

Focus Group

This is the second method of data collection that will be used in this study. In a focus group, participants are brought together and the phenomenon under study discussed in an open forum. Through an open group discussion, participants are able to convey their opinions and thoughts on a subject. In the research, the participants will also be involved in a focus group discussion to brainstorm the challenges they undergo as women first responders (Smith, 2015, p. 38). Similar measures, as in interviews, will be used to ensure participants are aware of their rights and responsibilities before the start of the discussion. Through the focus group, the participants will be able to brainstorm some of the challenges they face and the way they respond to them.

Confirmability

The use of two methods of collecting data is a measure towards establishing confirmability. By confirmability, a researcher must show a degree of collaboration of results by others. One way of ensuring confirmability is by playing the devil’s advocate. A researcher actively looks for negative instances where data presents contradictions with previous observations (Vagle, 2018, p. 201). By using two methods of data collection, it will be easy to perform this task and confirm the authenticity of data collected. The study protocol will involve first conducting the interviews with individuals to get one-on-one experiences. Then the researcher will gather all the participants in one place and do a focus group discussion where the responses of participants will be compared against their previous statements. Also, objectivity on the part of the researcher to avoid bias is an effective measure of ensuring confirmability. Also, both written and audio records of the interview and focus group discussion will be created during data collection for the purpose of comparison for accuracy.

Data Analysis

The transcription process for the audio involves acquiring the services of a professional to transcribe data. At the end of the in-depth interviews, audio records will be given to a transcriptionist to analyze and transcribe. The audio records will not include the identity of the participants for the protection of their identity. Instead, numbers will be used to conceal information about the participants. After transcription, information will be compared with the short notes taken during the interview to identify any inconsistencies.

Theme formation from collected data

Through repeated analysis of the transcripts, the data collected from the interviews will be ordered into themes. The analysis of themes will involve: first, the identification of problems to determine what they face as first responders. The researcher will follow the recommendations of Vagle (2018, p. 199) to analyze the data from the transcribed documents.

The first step applied in this process is the reduction and elimination of data acquired from the respondent. The process of reduction and elimination involves first, determining if it is relevant to the conditions. Secondly, the researcher determines if it can be abstracted and used for the purposes of answering the research questions.

The second step used is the thematization and clustering for the core experiences of the participants. Finally, there is the identification of constituents and themes that concern the project. Checking for discrepancies in the data to avoid the consequences of bias and participant failure is also critical in the final stage of analysis of the data. Verification of accuracy is required for each and every part of the research for the purposes of congruence.

Trustworthiness

In qualitative studies, trustworthiness refers to validity and reliability. Triangulation is a common method used in research to ensure that results are credible and usable for the completion of the research. Being methodical and specific procedures help eliminate bias. The study will be based on strict evidence eliminating the need for alarm and other factors that may raise questions.

Credibility

Also, known as internal validity, credibility refers to measures to ensure consistency and showing the evidence of the study done (Vagle, 2018, p. 187). This involves taking field notes, regular entries, documentation and proper description of the phenomenon under study. Constant efforts will also be made to ensure that the researcher remains on course to answer the research questions.

External Validity

According to Vagle (2018, p. 192) external validity is the ability of research results to be generalized and transferred into the general population. Having the importance of the study in mind while doing the research is one way that the researcher will ensure quality of results and whether they can be transferred to the general population. The researcher will also consider the sample size and use standard procedures for sample size calculation.

Dependability

The stability of the research process includes proper planning and control of procedures which is vital to a research process. Vagle (2018, p. 182) defines dependability as the ability of result findings to reflect the lived experiences of participants. Complementation is the primary method that will be used to ensure the dependability of the research. Complementation involves using at least two sources of information to verify the data collected and ensure that it reflects the needs of the researcher rather than the beliefs and biases of some of them (Smith, 2015, p. 31). Consequently, triangulation ensures the accurate measure of the researcher on the subject.

Ethical Procedures

The ethical procedures that will be included in this research included approval from the Institution Research Board, informed consent, protection of privacy and maintenance of anonymity, and protection of research data. To ensure anonymity, participants will be assigned numbers and their names will not be used in any recorded data. The participants will be informed of their right to make decisions concerning the study, including leaving during the research process. By addressing the concerns of the participants on the fate of their information and private data, the researcher will be able to create an environment of trust and increase the potential of people becoming a part of the results. Data handling will also be controlled including transcription and analysis. Also, vulnerable participants will be protected from any consequences that may come due to their participation in the research.

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Quality response for both special case familes and emergency job roles

To determine the challenges that women employees have realized in the need to respond to urgent work calls when they have no one else to look after their families

To analyze the approaches that women use to address the challenge they realize in allocating time to respond to urgent job calls even if they have no one else to look after their families.

To explore ways that women can adopt to improve their respond levels to urgent work calls when they have no one else to look after their families behind their back

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