Malay women’s challenges in balancing careers and households: A textual analysis study of selected short stories by Zurinah Hassan

Abstract

Malay women today have experienced major changes in their careers. However, unlike men, they are still bound by the responsibility of managing their households, even though they have careers. Balancing between their careers and households is difficult, and they face various challenges, which have been highlighted by Malay women authors, the most prominent one being Zurinah Hassan. However, Zurinah Hassan’s short stories that discuss these issues have been scarcely studied, leaving a large research gap. As such, this study discusses the challenges faced by Malay women when balancing between their careers and households, as in Zurinah Hassan’s selected short stories. Guided by the conceptual framework of work-life balance, a textual analysis of Zurinah Hassan’s selected short stories shows that Malay women find it difficult to balance between their careers and home making. This is mainly because of challenges such as responsibility pressure from families and careers, lack of efficient time management, lack of support from family, and gender equality issues in the employment sector. This study is important as it show the issues and challenges faced by Malay women in maintaining and balancing their careers and households, from the perspective of women and based on the literature.

Keywords:

• Malay women
• career
• household
• short story
• Zurinah Hassan

1. Introduction

In the past, Malay women were generally tied to traditional jobs. As such, they do not have as many career options as Malay men do and nearly all of them become housewives after marriage (Rahim, 2015). Therefore, they often perform tasks that are related to household management, such as taking care of children, cooking, cleaning the house, sewing, and serving their husbands. This is because society has long believed that girls should be moulded into good and capable housewives, and they should devote themselves entirely to carrying out home making responsibilities (Hussin, 2007). In fact, they also lack the right to speak about changing the situation, as well as other matters related to politics, society, and economy. As a result, Malay women are always “hidden” and “silenced”, with no external status. In other words, their potential is not developed fully; instead, to maintain higher status levels and earn the entire community’s respect, they were required to remain at home and observe the traditional customs for Malay women.

However, since the 1970s, Malay women’s career situation had already changed drastically. Because the poverty wall was demolished successfully, society began to gradually realise the importance of education, not only for men but also for women. When Malay women are given the same opportunities as men, they are no longer confined to simply being sisters, mothers, wives, or housewives. Malay women have pursued various career fields such as education, entrepreneurship, construction, and agriculture (Zakaria, 2020). Their involvement in the development of the country is considered important, especially in terms of the economy. This is also driven by an increase in the advancement of science and technology, which boosts the workforce sector regardless of status and gender (Zakaria, 2020). The data released by the Department of Statistic Malaysia (2019) show that the labour force participation rate among Malay women increased from 54.7% in 2018 to 55.2% in 2019. This situation indicates that, because of modernisation, urbanisation, technology, and education, Malay women are no longer as constrained as they were in the past. They shifted from being solely in the domestic task space to being in various career fields. In fact, their achievements in education also dominate those of men at all levels (Zakaria, 2020). Therefore, the ability of Malay women has indeed been proven, and their expertise is close to that of men.

“As great as women are, they end up in the kitchen too”, this expression or slander is often directed at highly educated and working Malay women. Although bitter, it holds some truth in reality. This is because, unlike their male counterparts, Malay women who are married and have careers remain tied to their traditional roles of managing their households. Their careers are not expected to reduce or change their roles and responsibilities in the domestic field. Malay women are bound or forced to combine their traditional roles as wives and mothers with their roles as workers (Noor Rahamah & Bakar, 2012). For example, every morning before going to work, married Malay women are usually expected to complete at least eight domestic tasks, such as cleaning the house, preparing breakfast, washing, and taking the children to school (Noor Rahamah & Bakar, 2012). As such, they are constantly doubly tired because they must work hard to manage the household in addition to pursuing a career. In other words, Malay women must balance both their careers and households; failure to do so puts them in a dilemma. Unfortunately, as they struggle and sacrifice, they are often labelled self-important if they prioritise their careers over their families or households.

In general, balancing between career and home life is not easy. Women, especially, must face various challenges and issues. In fact, they experience conflicting demands on their time, energy, and emotions from their families and employers (Alqahtani, 2020; Noor Rahamah & Bakar, 2012). Based on observations, many Malay female authors, such as Zurinah Hassan, Rohani Deraman, Amelia Hashim, and Mahizan Husain, mention all these challenges in their works according to their respective creativity. However, Zurinah Hassan is the only Malay female author who raised this issue consistently and distinctly through the short stories that she wrote, from the 1980s to the 2000s. Therefore, many local scholars describe Zurinah Hassan as a writer who was ahead of her time. Zurinah Hassan is the 13th Malaysia National Laureate. She was the first woman to win an award that was previously dominated by male authors. She managed to break all odds and became an idol for other female authors. Among most of Zurinah Hassan’s short stories, the distinctive feature is a theme or story material that consists of selected themes that are important, large, and interesting. Her short story questions life and family, progress and development, and the survival of women of her own race—the Malay race. Regarding life and family, Zurinah Hassan focused especially on the problem of wives and mothers’ responsibilities and also regarding the challenges faced by Malay women in balancing their careers and households.

Even so, Zurinah Hassan’s short stories that raise the issue of women’s challenges in balancing careers and households have not been studied extensively. So far, only one study has been conducted by Man (2011) entitled, “Reviewing the Short Story Anthologies of Zurinah Hassan: Convention Versus Innovation”. This study uses textual analysis methods to discuss conventions and innovations in Zurinah Hassan’s authorship methods in her two short-story collections. Women’s issues were also addressed in the study; however, it did not focus on the challenges faced in balancing careers and households. Therefore, a large gap exists in the study of Zurinah Hassan’s short stories, which should be filled by conducting a thorough study. As such, this study examines selected short stories by Zurinah Hassan contained in the collection of short stories Meneruskan Perjalanan [The Continuation of the Journey] (1987), Menjelang Pemilihan [As the Selection Dawns] (2004), and Murka Lautan [Ocean of Anger] (2016), with discussions focusing on the challenges faced by Malay women in balancing their careers and households. This study used a textual analysis method based on a conceptual framework related to career and life balance. It is important as it shows the importance of literary works in highlighting the issues faced by Malay women every day from the perspective of the women themselves.

2. Method & conceptual framework

As mentioned above, this study used textual analysis methods, which are generally used in academic studies to understand text (Creswell & Clarks, 2018; Veeramuthu, 2020). Textual analysis methods help researchers to understand and have detailed ideas concerning human methods to convey ideology, thinking, and experience through text (Creswell & Clarks, 2018). Textual analysis is the most important method used in literary studies. Almost all the work conducted in this area, entails a thorough analysis of texts, which typically comprise plays, novels, poems, or short stories (Hamid et al., 2023; Izharuddin, 2018). This kind of textual analysis, which focuses on literary writing, highlights the components that were purposefully chosen for a text, such as the narrative perspective in novels or short stories. The purpose of this research is to clarify how these components add to the meaning of the text (Kroll & Harper, 2013). Furthermore, the textual analysis in this study primarily employs the work-life balance conceptual framework proposed by Rincy and Panchanatham (2017). According to their framework, which addresses work-life balance, four key challenges form the basis for the textual analysis conducted in this study: duty demands, time management, social support, and gender equality. These significant challenges are analyzed to better understand the issues of balancing career and household responsibilities experienced by Malay women.

2.1. Work-life balance conceptual framework

Today, much focus has been directed towards the importance of achieving a balance between career and life or work-life balance. It is a popular issue, as with time, how a community handles challenging life and work has changed greatly.

Today, work-life balance has various definitions. In general, it refers to the concept in which an individual balances the priority between career and life (Carrol, 2015). In addition, this balance is closely related to the level of individual satisfaction in their role in life, as described by Konard and Mnagel (2000, p. 1225), “an equally satisfied level of involvement or ‘fit’ among the multiple roles in a person’s life”. Greenhaus (2006) has a similar perspective by considering a balance between careers and life as a condition whereby individuals balance between their roles and responsibilities at their work and their lives and are satisfied. If an individual gives their best at work or at home but does not enjoy it, they would not be satisfied (Chauhan, 2010). In a simpler sense, Kamau (2013, p. 13) defines work-life balance as “… is all about people having control over the work, when, where, and how they do.” Therefore, the balance between career and life can be concluded as a process in which the role is divided between the two to reach the desired satisfaction level. The achievements and pleasures of satisfaction achieved daily are key to finding the point of balance (Bird, 2020).

In addition, everyone has different needs, and an individual should place priorities in life so that a balance between career and life can be achieved. In fact, the balance always changes according to the individual’s needs (Firdaus Abdul Gani, 2019). For example, at a young age and at the beginning of a career, a person will prioritise work to build a strong base for daily expenses. In the middle age, the priority shifts to family and recreation because the career is already firmly established. Then, in old age, the priority shifts to spiritual matters to get closer to God. Therefore, optimal balance changes over time and differs between individuals. There is no one-size-fits-all template for achieving a career-life balance.

According to Gentry (2019), no one can achieve a perfect balance between career and life. However, an individual can do their best in every situation, whether at work or at home. Individuals face issues in spending time as desired; however, realising that they gave their best in every situation brings them a feeling of harmony (Gentry, 2019). This is important to prevent guilt at the end, which would trigger psychological conflict. Based on the book Work-Life Balance by Rincy and Panchanatham (2017), married women find it difficult to achieve a high level of satisfaction in career and life balance compared with married men. This is because women, even those with careers, are often pressured by society to carry out domestic duties, that is, managing the household. In other words, this obligation cannot be abandoned. This situation is different from that of men, who, even though they are married, can still focus more on their careers, and know very little about household management (Rincy & Panchanatham, 2017). As such, women face various challenges in ensuring a balance between their careers and personal lives. According to Rincy and Panchanatham (2017), the challenges include the following:

1. The pressure between the demands of family responsibilities and career duties

2. Lack of effective time management

3. No support form husband and children

4. Gender equality in the employment sector

Owing to these challenges, women must experience various emotions and pressures, both positive and negative. Failure to overcome these emotions influences their careers by causing loss of focus; hence, productivity at work declines, and they tend to neglect responsibilities towards the family. These things received Zurinah Hassan’s attention, which she conveyed in the short stories she produced with a good mix of facts and fiction. Therefore, this conceptual framework is used coincidentally in textual analyses.

3. Results and discussion

Based on the method and conceptual framework, the discussion of selected short stories by Zurinah Hassan, focusing on the challenges faced by Malay women in ensuring a balance between career and household, is as follows:

3.1. Pressure of family and career responsibilities

As stated above, married Malay women often face a conflict of balance between their careers and households. This is because they struggle with tight daily routines. They must get up as early as possible to take care of their children and families, go out to work for an average of eight to ten hours a day, return home late in the evening or early at night, and continue their duties as wives and mothers (Zakaria, 2020). This situation causes them to become overly tired and emotionally agitated. In other words, women face high physical and mental pressure because they have to divide responsibilities between family and career (Rincy & Panchanatham, 2017). This pressure increases for women who are fully responsible for caring for their children.

In fact, if the routine continues or is non-stop, the pressure faced will cause depression (Rincy & Panchanatham, 2017). This is highlighted by Zurinah Hassan through the character of Hamimah in the short story, “Catatan di Meja Makan”/“Notes at the Dining Table”. The depression experienced by Hamimah is not described literally or clearly but through Hamimah’s, often dreamy, state reminiscent of her single days, that is, before she got married and had children, as shown through the excerpt below:

I remember when I was still working for the magazine Pembaharuan/Reforms. Whenever an office job was entrusted to me, I would complete it as soon as possible.

Then, I used the remaining time that I had to write short stories. At dinner, I would eat as fast as possible and continue to write. In this manner, I maintained my position as a productive female writer.

My world revolved around writing and office work. Other matters were secondary to me. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, pp. 2–3)

If read in passing, the excerpt above appears simply as a flashback to the jobs that Hamimah once held. However, this is not the case; the author implicitly describes the state of Hamimah, who is suffering from depression. Depression is a category of psychiatric or mental disorders that involves individual emotional disorders (Ismail et al., 2019). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2017), in terms of gender, women recorded the highest rate of depression (5.1 %) compared to 3.6% men. In Malaysia, depression is one of the most frequently reported mental disorders (Firdaus & Oei, 2011). One of the main symptoms of depression is that individuals often feel sad and reflect on memories (Firdaus & Oei, 2011). These symptoms occur because individuals with depression often feel that the past is better than their current conditions (Hamid & Yaapar, 2018; Saedah, 2011). This describes what Hamimah experienced, as in the excerpt above. Hamimah often reflects on the past and feels that her singlehood was much better than her marriage, which caused her to often ponder and become sad. When she was single, she had time to do what she liked—writing short stories—even when working at a publishing company. Unfortunately, this stopped when she got married and had two children. Hamimah, who quit her job and chose to be a housewife and full-time writer, lacks time to compose any short stories. Her time is spent managing household matters. It is evident that Hamimah was under pressure in her life, which led to depression, as she failed to fulfil her responsibilities in the career aspect. Indirectly, it is challenging to achieve a balance between career and household.

Furthermore, for Hamimah, the stress of conducting her career responsibilities continues to grasp her soul when she sees the success achieved by male authors. Hamimah is jealous of the advantages of male authors, who can continue to produce various works without having to think about managing households and families. Cynically, Zurinah Hassan (1987, pp. 12–13) depicted the matter as follows:

Today, I had the opportunity to read the Sastera magazine, which presented an interview with a novelist, Amran Hadi. He talked about the process of creating his novels. When writing a novel, his mind would be focused on the novel, regardless of whether it was day or night.

He rarely mentioned his children and wife. He said that he gets angry fast when his thinking is disturbed. He is fortunate because his wife fully understands his needs and condition.

Yes, he is indeed lucky. He is among the successful novelists … Other well-known authors are also men.

Before marriage, Hamimah also had the same creative process. She also isolated herself so that her friends did not bother her, and they always supported and understood the situation. However, after establishing a household, Hamimah can no longer practise this creative process. Based on the phrase “Yes, he is indeed lucky”, Zurinah Hassan implies that female authors do not have the kind of luck that a male authors do. This is because, if Hamimah continues to engage in creative processes like Amran Hadi, who would care for her children who often cry for milk? Who would cook and clean the house? Would her husband understand and allow her to “disappear” while writing? These issues make women feel overwhelming pressure when they want to fulfil their career responsibilities. In the context of short stories, Hamimah is aware that, owing to this hindrance, female writers are rarely recognised as great figures in the literary arena. At the end of the short story, Zurinah Hassan (1987, pp. 13–14) shows that Hamimah is eager to highlight the challenges that female authors must face through short stories to be written, and various notes have been completed on the dining table. However, Hamimah’s wish was left hanging when the short story “Catatan di Meja Makan”/Notes at the Dining Table’ was finished with the following two verses: “Her small child woke up and called her name, and Hamimah immediately ran to the cradle, leaving the notes on the dining table” (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, pg.14). The readers are given the opportunity to think of Hamimah’s ambition to become a great writer, but she always faces the challenge of dividing her responsibilities between her career and household. Unlike men, women do not have the opportunity to leave their family responsibilities for a moment; therefore, that focus can be given to career matters, as Amran Hadi did in the above excerpt.

Apart from Hamimah’s story, the reality is that until now or maybe even any time in society, no indicator can measure the level of perfection in carrying out responsibilities as a parent. This situation worsens because the surrounding community often judges each other about who is a good parent. According to Glaser (2021), women feel more pressure related to this because they are punished more often and faster than men are, leading to the use of the terms “good mom” and “bad mom”. In fact, the people who often punish these women are the people who are closest to or have a family relationship with them (Glaser, 2021). In the short story “Perjalanan Sendiri”/Own Travels’, Zurinah Hassan (1987, p. 79) expresses this through the expression of Hani’s character in the last paragraph, as follows:

Not long after that, my mother-in-law returned to the village, bringing all kinds of wrong perceptions about me. I cried. My husband coaxed me and asked me to exercise patience. He said that in life, we cannot rely on other people to solve our problems. I am left alone in the midst of my family. I am left alone during my problems to continue my own journey.

Based on the excerpt above, Hani is a victim of “judgement” from her own mother-in-law. Hani, who has a career, is seen by her mother-in-law as failing to fulfil her responsibilities as a mother well. Even though her husband never complains and always understands Hani’s situation of having to balance between being a mother and an employee, her mother-in-law still cannot accept it. According to her, Hani is not a good mother because she cares more about her career than about her own children. As she is still tied to traditional values, she feels that Hani needs to quit work and focus fully on the family, even though life in the city requires both husbands and wives to work to support the cost of daily life, which is higher than that in the rural village. Hani, who initially invited her mother-in-law to live with her as a support system in managing the household, eventually became a victim of false stories by her own mother-in-law, which spread throughout the village. Glaser (2021) asserts that this situation causes women to live under pressure and feel that they are not good enough to be mothers to their own children. People around them who do not understand and constantly judge them must meet career and household responsibilities alone, mixed with feelings that are constantly divided and restless (Rahim, 2015). This situation worsens when the person judging is a woman and a mother (Glaser, 2021). Therefore, it is not surprising that Hani is described by the author as feeling very sad about her mother-in-law’s actions towards her. Based on the sentence “I am left alone with my problems to continue with my own journey”, the author gives the impression that women are indeed forced to face these problems alone without proper support.

The discussions above indicate that, related to the pressure of responsibility between family and career, Malay women are caught in two painful situations. First, if they over prioritise the family, their careers will not improve, as experienced by Hamimah in the short story “Catatan di Meja Makan”/“Notes at the Dining Table”. Second, if they focus a little more on their career, they are said to be neglecting their families and being bad mothers. Hani in the short story “Perjalanan Sendiri”/“Own Travels’, is described as struggling with this situation. Malay women are described by the author as facing strong pressure from their responsibilities towards their families and towards their careers. This becomes a challenge for them when balancing their careers and households.

3.2. Lack of effective time management

Every human being is given 24 h, which humans generally use during the day to perform various activities and rest at night. However, these 24 hours are insufficient for a working woman, especially a married one (Rincy & Panchanatham, 2017). This is because 24 h a day is a relatively short time when compared to all the daily routines that need to be carried out. The duties of wives and mothers, as well as their work responsibilities are continuous, from morning to night. Based on the short story “Catatan di Meja Makan”/“Notes on the Dining Table”,’ Zurinah Hassan (1987, p. 4) describes Hamimah’s anxiety about this issue, as in the excerpt below:

A short story writer as lazy as this, what would happen if you got married; if you have children, they will die from starvation.

Their words did scare me a bit, because I am not ready to get married, as I am afraid that it would affect my activities in writing later. Did they not say that a woman writer would not be active once they were married? “We are ladies, Mimah” Said mother to me. However, this is different for men. If you were a man, then you could think of writing only …

Being aware of the situation, Hamimah was determined to have effective time management at the beginning of her marriage. She does not want to be like other female authors who stop writing after they get married. She was determined to prove to the literary community and her mother that she could still actively write despite being married. In this dramatic way, she divides her time as follows:

I arrange my schedule meticulously. I divide my time in a week for all kinds of chores that need to be done, that is, how many hundred minutes are for cooking, cleaning the house, ironing clothes, washing dishes and so on. Among the remaining time, a few hundred minutes are for me to write my short story.

I must be careful because many women writers are no longer active; in fact, quite a few have disappeared completely after becoming housewives. Many gave excuses that they no longer had time to write. However, I feel that if I am good at arranging my time, I could write. As the saying goes, “If you want something, you will find ways to do it, but if you do not want it, then you will come up with a lot of excuse”. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 5)

Even so, Hamimah realizes that the reality is not as expected. She is also lost in dividing her time between her career as a writer and managing the household as depicted by Zurinah Hassan (1987, p. 6), as in the following quote:

I was hounded by feelings of emptiness and unhappiness after a year, when I could not write. When I had one child, I could still write. However, after Huda was born, there were no opportunities. Taking care of Huda was more challenging than taking care of Hafiz because she was always crying, especially when she was not feeling well. Huda was frequently unwell.

Hamimah’s fate is not as altered as that of other Malay female writers, even though she has tried hard to prevent the situation from happening to her. After her second baby, she did not write for a year. As a result, Hamimah feels empty and disappointed, which are among the symptoms of depression (Ismail et al., 2019). This also shows that managing a household is not a well-planned and designated job, like office work. Managing households involves unpredictable tasks (Noor Rahamah & Bakar, 2012). Therefore, it is not surprising that, at the beginning of the short story, Zurinah Hassan described that Hamimah dramatically organized her time but eventually failed to follow through.

This scenario, which shows the challenges that women face in balancing their careers and households, differs from that of men. It is difficult for women to complete office work at home. Usually, when office work is not completed and a deadline is approaching, an individual will take the task to be completed home. However, for married women, the possibility that the task remains incomplete is high, despite taking it home (Noor Rahamah & Bakar, 2012). Based on the short story “Perjalanan Sendiri”/Own Travels’ by Zurinah Hassan (1987, pp. 76–77), this situation is depicted as follows:

As soon as I sat at the table to open the file, suddenly I heard a car coming into the compound of the house.

“Hani, are you asleep already?”

I recognised the voice: The voice of my sibling-in-law and her children.

I left the table to serve my guests in the most appropriate manner. It is not my people’s custom to say to the guest, “Sorry, I have a lot of work to do”. It is not the custom of my people for women not to provide drinks for guests. It is not the custom for the younger sister-in-law not to invite guests to stay for dinner. It is not the custom for a wife to disrespect her mother-in-law and the husband’s elder relatives.

Based on the above excerpt, it is evident that Malay women find it difficult to complete home office work because they are strongly tied to their traditional roles. In addition, in the context of the above passage, the author shows how Malay women are always bound by Malay customs that cannot be abandoned, such as treating guests well despite being busy with other work. It would be rude if Hani did not welcome the guests and asked them to leave because she was busy completing her office work. The Malay custom prohibits her from being rude to guests, and guests should be treated as best as possible. This makes it difficult for married Malay women to have effective time management, and thus, balancing their careers and households becomes challenging.

Generally, owing to poor time management, married Malay women also have no time for themselves. According to a study conducted by Sanders (2021), a wife’s alone time, or “me time”, is important and should be taken seriously by the husband. This is important in ensuring that the wife is always enthusiastic about managing the household with her husband and career. Psychological studies have proven that “me time” leads to healthy women’s mental conditions and energized bodies (Sanders, 2021). The short story “Tibanya Musim Gugur/When Fall Season Comes” illustrates how “me time” provides women with a little breathing room for relief:

Salmi goes out with her officemates or isolates herself near the window to breathe in the air and to enjoy the panoramic view of the hilly landscape around her. A chance to breathe in the peacefulness of her surroundings is a rare occasion ever since her life was occupied with work at the office and the busy activities of taking care of her children, who are still small and naughty. (Zurinah Hassan, 2004, pp. 109–110)

Based on the above excerpt, Salmi enjoys her “me time”, and she is at ease when she is far from the busyness of work and managing her children. However, if the passage is examined in more depth, the free time was not directly from Salmi’s husband. She was only able to enjoy all of that because she attended a course run by her company in a resort area. Sanders (2021) stated that most wives in Asia find it difficult to find time for themselves or “me time” because they have been trained from the beginning not to only think of themselves, and after establishing a household, they should focus fully on the family. This matter is depicted cynically by Zurinah Hassan (1987, p. 17) in the short story “Siti Hawa dan Pengembara yang Singgah”/“Siti Hawa and the drop-in Traveller”, in which the character of Hawa, a highly educated woman, is not separated from this axiom, as shown in the following excerpt:

I believe in your opinion. I also said that I would not marry early, because a woman who marries early devotes her whole being to her marriage. The woman is tasked with protecting the harmony of the marriage, while the man, if he wants to, can still travel the world, even though he is married.

Because women’s situations differ from those of men after marriage, Hawa decided not to marry young people because it would prevent her from pursuing her ambition to travel around the world and produce great poems. She realised that marriage could not give her the freedom to manage her time so that she could continue writing. Much time will be spent on families and managing households. However, the end of this short story bitterly ends Hawa’s story, as other women must follow the rules that have been determined on women. “But what to do, I am a woman who has been curtailed by the nature of being a woman. I cannot say that I want to go away now … ” (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, pp. 20–21). In addition, in the short story “Anita”, the author shows that the time women have is limited to two main things only. This matter is conveyed through Halim’s wish for the character “I” as follows:

Halim encouraged me to become a teacher. He said that it was good for women to become teachers and work half day only. In the afternoon, they could spend time with their children. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 59)

Halim’s wish seems simple, but it has an implicit meaning. Halim asked the character “I” to work as a teacher because it could give him an advantage. Halim’s desire is not because he feels “I” really deserve to be a teacher or because that is the ambition of “I”. A career as a teacher is seen as appropriate because it has an advantage in terms of time that allows his wife to return home to take care of the children, and he no longer has to think about it. In other words, even if the character “I” is allowed to work, she must choose a job that gives her time to manage the household. According to Rahim (2015), this situation often makes women apply for jobs below their academic qualifications. For example, despite having a university degree, they only apply for positions as clerks instead of officers, because they do not want to be burdened with many tasks that will prevent them from managing the household well.

Based on the discussion about ineffective time management in selected short stories, it is clear that Malay women face difficulties planning their time well. The 24 hours a day are more devoted to managing the household, which indirectly interferes with career productivity. This also results in a lack of time for themselves. Furthermore, even if they are allowed to have careers, the jobs must allow them enough time to perform domestic work at home. Therefore, it is challenging for Malay women to balance their careers and households.

3.3. No support from family

One of the main factors that drive a person to be successful involves strong support from family. For married women, this support must come from their husbands first, especially when it comes to managing the household (Rincy & Panchanatham, 2017). This is because, when a wife is tired after returning from work, the husband’s help, such as helping to take care of the children, cooking, and washing, will provide great relief to her heart (Hashim & Syed Mohamd, 2018). Even so, not all women are lucky enough to have husbands who want to help them with household chores. Usually, all the chores are left to wives because husbands feel that it is the wives’ real duty. In the short story “Catatan di Meja Makan”/Notes at the Dining Table’, the author addresses this at length using a very angry tone. First, the author describes the situation of Hamimah’s husband, who never understood the tasks that need to be done in managing the household, as follows:

I must be a very patient person on days when it rains sometimes and shines sometimes, as clothes that are hung outside need to be taken indoors. When the rain stops, the clothes need to be returned outside to dry and vice-versa. My husband seemed unaware of this routine when he got back from work and discovered that I could not prepare his favourite dish.

At times in the afternoon, when the sun is scorching hot so much that the crown of your head feels like it is going to melt, and the children asked for you bring them to the shop … If you do not buy what they want, they will cry howling, thrashing, and pulling at my hands and sarong which I had on. These are things that my husband does not know when he advised me to incur thrifty home expenditures. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 8)

In the quote above, Hamimah’s anger describes the anger felt by all wives who have husbands who do not understand the scope and challenges that need to be overcome in managing a household. The author does not want to show Hamimah as someone who likes to complain, but wants to show the true reality that wives must face in managing a household. Hamimah is further described as feeling pressured because her husband also never helped, and felt that Hamimah just sat home idly, as depicted in the quote below:

“What did you do all day at home, the chickens have pooped on the stairs, but you did not clean it up?” Oh Allah, which chicken is that … Why did my husband see only the chicken poop? Doesn’t he see the clean drains, the spick-and-span living room area, the cleaned kitchen, and clothes that have been folded. What, he thinks, all that happened on its own? How dare he asked, “What did you do?” (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, pp. 9–10)

Based on the above quote, the author shows the reality of the situation in which a husband does not appreciate the work that a wife does at home. An unintentional mistake blinded Hamimah’s husband to other good deeds done by Hamimah. The situation becomes more tragic when the author shows that Hamimah’s husband also looks down on housewives, as follows:

Mimah, think about this. You have just two children, and you are constantly complaining. Other people have five and six children, and they are fine. Think about it, in the old days, women were in a worse position. They had to carry water from a well, cut firewood, grind spices manually, crack coconuts, grate the coconut, and perform many more menial tasks. Currently, women have it easy. Coconuts are machine-grated, the spices and chillies are already blended, water supply is fetched from the kitchen tap, and rice is cooked on a cooker. Even after all these, you are not thankful? He always mentions, “Think about it, think about it. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, pp. 9–10)

The hurtful words thrown at Hamimah show that her husband looked down on the work done by housewives. For him, the task of managing a household involves only physical strength and does not require intellectual strength. Because of this, he repeatedly asked Hamimah to “Think about it, think about it” (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 10), because he felt that Hamimah never had to think when doing housework. Hamimah, who is highly educated, could not accept these insults. She always argued back; that is, she felt it was unfair for her situation to be compared to women in the past. In fact, no evidence shows that women in the past never complained about doing household chores. Do they really accept? However, this argument remained in Hamimah’s heart, and it was not uttered. Like women in the past, Hamimah was also “imprisoned” and this situation made her suffer from depression, as discussed earlier.

According to Phal (1984) and Pearson (2000), most men often act like Hamimah’s husband because the community already considers men’s work as more valuable than that of women. This understanding is because the society often considers women’s status as “inferior” (lower than that of men), and women’s main tasks are related to household affairs (Rahim, 2015). Therefore, the work done by women is perceived as secondary and subordinate to that done by men. Every woman’s work, especially related to managing a household, is only considered to help her husband, despite the fact that the use of the women’s workforce in any job is just as important and complementing each other (Rahim, 2015). Therefore, it is not surprising that Hamimah’s husband looks down upon her. According to him, he is “superior” compared to Hamimah. In addition, Pearson (2000) also states that, from the beginning, this belief has been shown in the community from childhood, starting in the family. Through the short stories of “Seperti Ibu”/“Like Mother”, Zurinah Hassan (1987, pp. 95–96) describes this based on the fate of the Tijah character as follows:

Sometimes, Tijah regretted why she was the eldest female in the house. How fortunate was Brother Ahmad … Brother Ahmad does not need to wash dished or carry the baby brother. Brother Ahmad can play as much as he likes, and he is free to go here and there. Brother Ahmad will not get scolded if the house is messy or if the baby falls. Conversely, Tijah always gets scolded. Tijah has always been nagged. Why does mother like to nag Tijah? It is for the benefit of Tijah, the mother explained. Tijah is a woman. Tijah will grow up and get married. TIjah is a future wife and mother, with her own household and children to manage.

Based on this passage, it is clear that in the Malay culture, the gender role between women and men is taught to children from an early age. Gender generally refers to a cultural concept used to distinguish between the roles, mentalities, behaviours, and even emotions of men and women in society (Hamid, 2018). Based on the above excerpts, women are considered as bound by all domestic duties and household management. In fact, women are only raised well if they are good at cooking, cleaning their homes, and caring for their children. Not all forms of intellect in women were observed. Zurinah Hassan is dissatisfied with this situation and shows her anger through the state of Tijah’s character, who regrets becoming the eldest daughter. However, this gender limit cannot be violated and in the short story, Tijah is eventually like her mother, —bound by the gender role that society has set for her.

Apart from husbands, children also play a role in helping women live their lives. They must know their rights and roles in the family (Shalaby, 2001). Children also need to learn to manage their own needs according to their age and abilities, as this can eliminate the burden of working married women (Hamzah et al., 2018). This is important because children can motivate and encourage their mothers and even their fathers in career and household management. However, not all children understand their roles in their parents’ success. This is described by Zurinah Hassan (2004, p. 89) in the “Tangisan Peragut”/“Cries of Snatchers” short story as follows:

After the isya or evening prayers, Rosnah went down to the kitchen. This was her routine every night. She and her children had their dinner before 7.00 pm. After isya prayers, she will be alone in the kitchen, washing dishes, wiping the dining table, arranging the plates and bowls, cleaning up and tidying up the kitchen. She cannot expect her eldest daughter, Nora, to help her, especially on a Saturday night as the concert Fantasy Arena is showing on the television.

Rosnah’s character in the above passage had to struggle alone in the kitchen, despite having her own child who could help her. Her daughter, Nora, did not care about her mother’s condition and continued watching the television. According to Shalaby (2001), children often act in this manner because they are influenced by the individualism culture. For them, the time is theirs completely, and they have the right to use it as desired. Parents do not own them, and they have the right to say no to some things that are not their favourites. In other words, they determine their roles in the household and family, regardless of the views of other family members.

Based on the discussion in this section, not all Malay women had family support in their careers and households. For husbands who are bound by the traditional role of gender, their wives have to take care of all household tasks, as shown in the “Catatan di Meja Makan”/“Notes at the Dining”. Moreover, children who do not assist, as in the short story “Tangisan Peragut”/’Cries of the Snatcher’, contributed to Malay women feeling doubly tired. All this is a challenge for Malay women to balance their careers and households well.

3.4. Gender equality in the employment sector

As mentioned, industrialisation and urbanisation have a significant impact on the role of Malay women in society. Owing to both processes, more women are involved in outdoor work. The increase in their active contributions and achievements in the work sector has drastically enhanced the country’s economic growth. Moreover, in Malaysia, there is a National Policy on Women that also protects women’s welfare and enhances their active participation in terms of employment in education, economics, social, and political sectors (Zakaria, 2020). However, Malay women still struggle with various discriminations in workspaces, which is a gender inequality issue. Zurinah Hassan’s short stories are highlight this issue. For example, in the short story “Kelahiran”/“The Birth” and “Perjalanan Sendiri”/’Own Travel’, which portrayed employers as unhappy with the biological nature of women to conceive babies. In the short story “Kelahiran”/’The Birth’, this condition is encountered by the character “I” while in a clinic:

My superior chided me for taking so many sick days. Hish … if, like this, I vow not to get pregnant again. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 21)

Meanwhile, in the “Perjalanan Sendiri”/Own Travels’ short story, Hani’s character learned about it through her friend, who was scolded by the employer as follows:

“I am not happy with the women officers. They are not always dependable. There is always a matter of the household intruding into the workplace. When they get maternity leave, much office work is neglected. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 7)

Both excerpts clearly show that employers think female workers are often incompetent because of their biological nature, which cannot be changed at all. According to Rahim (2015), this is related to employers’ ignorance of women’s reproductive roles. In essence, a reproductive role refers to the role of a mother, specifically in pregnancy and childbirth. This role has no financial value for a company. This is why the employer always underestimates the reproductive role, as is the case with the two female characters in the above excerpts.

In addition to the inaccuracy of the reproductive role, women at work must also deal with discrimination regarding leadership levels. Generally, to this day, women are still considered incomparable to men. As a result, men hold higher positions in their jobs, regardless of the women’s education and work experience. In fact, this habit has also set the “rules” that women are not fit to be positioned as decision makers because of their so-called emotional nature compared to rational men (Buchanan et al., 2012). Zurinah Hassan describes this form of discrimination in the “Anita” short story as follows:

One day, teacher Bakar came into the teachers’ room in anger to convey the news. “You know, our Ms Anita, has negotiated with the headmaster to make the checks on us more stringent.” “Ah … she is really a big panderer, she wants to do everything!” A voice was heard interjecting.

Teacher Bakar vented his anger. “This is the consequence when women marry late”. She wants to disturb other people. She cannot bear to see other people happy. If a male is given to her, maybe she will be quiet.’ These words were met by shrieking and howling laughter. (Zurinah Hassan, 1987, p. 63)

Based on the above excerpt, Zurinah Hassan wants to describe Anita’s state of trying to overcome the role set against women as not favoured by male colleagues. Sadly, while her colleagues are highly educated and even educators, they remain narrow-minded. Anita, who was once active on campus, eventually lost because of gender discrimination in the work environment. If Anita were a man, she would not be verbally abused like that. She is said to have high leadership qualities and is firm in carrying out tasks and responsibilities. However, because she is a woman, they assumed that she was a panderer with an unpredictable, fierce predisposition. All of this is also related to the stereotype of “Horrible Female Boss” in society (Rahim, 2015). These stereotypical images often appear in films such as “Fargo” (1996), “Lady Boss” (2005) and “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006), which show that, when holding positions as leaders or bosses, women will act without sympathy values, burdening every employee. In this regard, Anita has also been hit by a stereotypical image, even though she has high leadership features, and has been trained since university.

In summary, tracing the discussion about gender equality in careers through these selected short stories, it was found that although Malay women always try hard and persevere to ensure a balance between career and household, they are still “forced” to fail because they are prevented by various forms of discrimination. This causes employers not to highlight their true potential. It is certainly a challenge for Malay women to make their careers and households successful.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the issue of Malay women has received the attention of Malay women authors, as echoed in their works. However, this study is based on the observations of Zurinah Hassan, the most prominent author who highlights Malay women’s issues in her work, especially in relation to the challenges of balancing careers and households. In addition, this study uses the textual analysis method to discuss the challenges faced by Malay women in their efforts to strike a balance between career and household, as highlighted in Zurinah Hassan’s selected short stories.

This study is limited to Zurinah Hassan’s selected short stories, which are titled “Catatan di Meja Makan”/Notes at the Dining Tables’, “Perjalanan Sendiri”/“Own Travels”, “Tibanya Musim Gugur”/“When Fall Season Comes”, Siti Hawa dan Pengembara yang Singgah’/Siti Hawa and the drop-in Traveller’, “Anita”, “Seperti Ibu”/“Like Mother”, “Tangisan Peragut”/“Cries of the Snatchers and ‘Kelahiran’/”The Birth’. These short stories were chosen for this study because they prominently highlight the challenges faced by Malay women in balancing their careers and households.

Based on the textual analysis done, Malay women find it difficult to balance between their careers and households, because they are constantly facing various challenges. The challenges highlighted by Zurinah Hassan are related to the pressure of responsibility between family and career, ineffective time management, lack of support from family, and issues of gender equality in the employment sector. Various stories from Malay women’s perspectives are presented by Zurinah Hassan, both implicitly and explicitly, to ensure that the audience understands each of these challenges well.

In addition, this study proves how important it is for more female authors to be born. This ensures that issues related to women are discussed through their own voices and points of view, and not those of others. Male authors have not highlighted issues about the challenges of managing a household, as highlighted by Zurinah Hassan, as they have not experienced them and thus deem them unimportant to highlight in their works. Therefore, it cannot be denied that only women can voice their problems well.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohamed Nazreen Shahul Hamid

Mohamed Nazreen Shahul Hamid is a senior lecturer at the School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy (SLCP), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). He is actively engaged in writing research articles focusing on literature, culture, and media. He has earned several awards for his contributions to literary criticism. Additionally, he imparts his knowledge by teaching courses within the undergraduate program offered by SLCP, specifically the Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Literature and Creative Industry Management.

Nadiatul Shakinah Abdul Rahman

Nadiatul Shakinah Abdul Rahman is a senior lecturer at School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Her field of expertise is Malay literature.

Rohaya Md. Ali

Rohaya Md. Ali is a senior lecturer at the School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy (SLCP), Universiti Utara Malaysia. Her research interest focuses on literature and media.

Jacquelina Karimon

Jacquelina Karimon is senior lecturer at the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Her field of expertise is Malay literature.