This qualitative study explored the experience of 32 traditional college freshmen women as they sought to choose a career with the idea of balancing career and family in the future. A traditional woman was defined as a woman whose central value system and cultural mores emphasize homemaking and childrearing as their primary role. Guided interviews were conducted to obtain in-depth descriptions of participants' experience. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted using a synthesis of qualitative methods based on Kvale's method. The six themes were as follows: 1. The concept of balancing careers and family life is not being discussed or addressed. 2. Participants saw their mothers' influence as the most significant in helping them come to their present decision about career and motherhood. 3. Education and a career are viewed as separate entities. 4. Participants reported experiencing both guilt and ambivalence over wanting both a career and a family. 5. Participants saw career and motherhood as mutually exclusive. 6. Participants thought of their ideas as being mainstream whether they wanted to work or stay at home while raising a family. The findings suggested that much more needs to be done in terms of encouraging discussion and providing forums for further exploration, to help resolve some of the ambivalence and confusion traditional women experience in trying to balance family and career.

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This study aims to define men’s perspective on women’s agency and entrepreneurship, and the gender changing roles within the household in Babati district, Tanzania. Women’s empowerment is a notion recently put into practice in several African states today. The notion has transpired from women’s collective ability to organize, act and demand in patriarchal societies in recent decades, resulting in their increased influential and politicized roles. This has further led to constitutional law amendments in Tanzania as well as the establishment of local microfinance institutions, promoting women’s social mobilization. The study is based on semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. The interviews include local men from Babati district, whose wives are active in organizations and/or own a business, as well as a Social Welfare Officer from Babati Development Town Council. The theoretical framework is mainly composed of literature focusing on African pre-colonial gender roles and stereotypical ideas of gender that have affected how gender roles are perceived today. The results emerged as generally positive attitudes towards women’s empowerment. Most men stated that women have ascertained a position of increased influence both within and outside the household in the past decade. However, the positive results have been interpreted through different aspects. Unemployment is discussed as a large societal issue in Babati district, and most men interviewed were unemployed, which could have affected the results and perceptions of women’s social roles. Additionally, this disempowers the traditional role of men as head of the household, also interpreted as a consequence due to women’s empowerment.