Work-Family Conflict and Coping Strategies Among Women: Evidence from Commercial Banks in Nigeria

Work-family conflict has been an issue of concern to both employees and employers of labour, and occupies top priority in government and organisation agenda.  Balancing family and work roles place serious demands on working women most especially in African traditional setting where women are by design home keepers. Work-family conflict remains a challenge for women employed in the Nigerian labour force especially the banking sector because of the time related stress arising from demands of both work and family roles. The paper investigates predictors of work-family conflict and paid special attention to the copping strategies adopted by women especially in time demanding banking sector. The study adopted quantitative research method and structured face-to-face interview among female workers of randomly selected commercial banks within urban states in Nigeria. Data were analysed using univariate and multivariate regression analysis. The findings show that age of the respondents, children ever born (parity), marital status, staff category and religion are significant determinants of work-conflict.  The study also revealed that although organizations have introduced a number of work-life balance policies, these policies have not cushioned the work-family conflict experience for working women making women to engage a range of individual coping strategies. The study recommends a purposeful and effective policy intervention from organisation and effective family support from the family base to reduce the complexities of balancing work-family roles.