OCCUPATIONAL STATUS LEAKAGE AND MARITAL INSTABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM MARRIED FEMALE BANKERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigates the inadvertent costs of attaining elevated occupational status levels and the possible costs to marriages that can emanate from women occupying high occupational status positions. It proposes that women who demonstrate occupational status leakages boast superior propensities for marital instability. Women encountering occupational status leakage are more likely to be unhappy with their relationships, and thus experience marital insecurity. However, the extent to which occupation status leakage forecasts marital fulfilment can be abated by spousal support. The study of 189 Female married bankers who were in managerial cadres in the Lagos metropolis tested six hypotheses and found that a negative correlation between occupational status leakage and marital fulfilment. The existence of children mediates the correlation between fulfilment and marital insecurity. Culture persists in shaming men who slow down for their spouse’s careers but the value of males as helpful husbands of their wives are underscored in this study. Significant work is obligatory to decrease the societal shame. The significance of one’s family alternatives must be underlined early on in women’s ascension to the peak. In training opportunities for women in aimed at women development in the workplace, there should be chances to inform and delineate the potential costs to one’s private life of attaining high status.

Keywords

• occupational status
• leakage
• marital instability
• evidence female bankers