Resumo

The COVID-19 pandemic caused broad impacts around the world that affected not only the closing of business and educational institution due to the lockdowns and quarantines, to the job loss in several segments. In Brazil, the pandemic crisis started in mid-March 2020 and the government decreed quarantine and lockdowns to contain the virus from spreading. Such scenario was now posed as children at home, performing educational activities remotely while their family members were also home, teleworking, possibly causing conflicts denominated by the literature as the work-family conflict.

Based on the literature concept of work-family conflict, the intensification of telework during the pandemic, lockdown, household chores, and childcare, it intends to understand how Brazilian women assess their new situation and whether there are benefits or it effectively increases the work-family conflict. It aims to comprehend Brazilian women’s point of view on their experience in teleworking during the pandemic and how it affects their family dynamic by assessing if teleworking in the pandemic establishes or reinforces the work-family conflict.

The work-family conflict defends the roles of work and family domains and pressures are not compatible, what would result in difficulties when performing work activities in virtue of familiar (working) roles (Kahn, 1964). Such conflicts might intensify once families were under lockdowns and telework. Teleworking poses pros and cons, in which people divide themselves between being able to save time on commuting and spending more time home and the challenge of work and home responsibilities overlapping and causing lack of time, higher stress levels and intensification of the work-family conflict

A qualitative and quantitative approach was employed by applying a survey (online questionnaire) in June 2021, in which 108 women responded. The survey was structured with demographic questions to profile the respondents, followed by questions related to work-family conflict, workload, and the company’s reaction support to the telework. These questions have objective answers that allow us to perform a quantitative analysis by measuring the respondents by category, including a t-test to assess whether the work-family conflict difference is relevant to interviewees with/without children.

It is possible to acknowledge females who were capable of enjoying their time by spending more quality time with their family, what could have been provided due to less time commuting to work and can also be corroborated by previous studies on the matter. Results also identified lack of contractual updates and financial support provided to the interviewees. Additionally, women with children and without children differ on their perceptions of work-family conflict, due to different experiences in workloads both home and work, besides experimenting higher levels of stress and working hours.

It is possible to point females who were capable of enjoying their time by spending more quality time with their family, what can originate from less time commuting to work. Additionally, lack of support (either financially or equipment) was identified, we identified a majority absence of contractual update but, still, an increase of workload and activities outside working hours, which exercises pressure on women due to lack of time to perform tasks of home and childcare.

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