Women at Work with the Help of Family: Leveraging Family Resources to Tackle Work‐Family Conflict

ABSTRACT Despite significant advancements in women's professional pursuits, work–family conflict (WFC) remains a persistent challenge that affects their careers. As such, this qualitative study delves into the lived experiences of 17 working women, across diverse sectors in South Africa, to understand how they handle WFC. The study focuses on their adept use of family resources to strategically control the depletion of resources and alleviate WFC. The identified resources span over social (family and spousal support), financial (paid labour and services and smart home appliances), religious (religiosity, prayer and congregational support) and educational/knowledge (advice and mentorship) domains. These resources are harnessed to address parental and household responsibilities, psychosocial needs and work‐related tasks. The findings provide implications for workplace support and promote the development of family friendly policies.