What has a teacher’s marital status got to do with performance?

An advert carried by The Standard (March 28, 2017) by Moi University looking for teaching staff asked applicants to give among other details, those of their age, marital status, qualifications, and experience but left out gender and ethnicity caught my attention.

First, I interpreted it (I hope wrongly) to mean that marital status is a factor in productivity of a teacher. Two – I thought it means that some applicants will be discriminated against on the basis of marital status.

Three – I thought it meant that gender is not an issue yet our Constitution has requirements about the same in matters employment. Finally, given the recent hue and cry about ethnic imbalance in universities, I thought an inclusion of ethnicity would help balance out that aspect right at the shortlisting stage.

This issue of marital status came up when Patrick Ngugi Njoroge was being interviewed for the position of Governor of Central Bank of Kenya. The National Assembly's Finance, Trade and Planning Committee asked the then 54-year-old why he has never married saying it is a sign that he fears taking risks. His now infamous answer was "I am single by choice and I am comfortable that way."

An interesting question to ask the Moi University management would be... do they think that marital status has a bearing on performance of lecturers at university?

In my curiosity to find possible answers, I came across a number of research findings. A 2006 South African Journal of Industrial Psychology carried an article on the relationship between family-work conflict, job performance and selected work and family characteristics. The conclusion was that married women reported significantly higher family-work conflict than unmarried women.

A 2012 article by Jordan, Alexander H. &. Zitek, Emily M. in the Basic and Applied Social Psychology indicates that women who held both work and family roles reported better physical and mental health and consequently better job performance than was reported by women who stayed at home or single. However other researchers opine that traditional conceptions of marriage as entailing greater social responsibilities outside the workplace for women may promote perceptions of married women as less suitable for employment.

The Asian Journal of Education Research in one of its 2015 volumes carried an article on the influence of teachers' age, marital status and gender on students' academic achievement. In this article it is reported that students' academic achievement is significantly influenced by teachers' age and marital status. It is further reported that unmarried and married teachers had higher scores than those separated and divorced in the dimensions of job engagement. It is argued that separation and divorce affect teachers' dedication to duty.

The Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in its 2016 volume looked at the difference between Employees Marital Status and Performance Level in IT Industry and concluded that unmarried employees can perform better than married employees since their commitment towards their family and other circumstances are considerably less.
There are also arguments that due to the assumption that women are less likely to be relied upon as the primary breadwinner for a married couple, people might expect married female employees to be less dedicated to their jobs compared to their single counterparts and that male employees are more motivated in their jobs if married.

An interesting finding on age is that as teachers age, they become cynical and develop a psychological condition of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency. This can however, be reversed if the remuneration of teachers, particularly those that have spent long years in service is enhanced.

In my opinion, there seem to be no universally accepted clear-cut argument on marital status. I am sure Moi University will use the marital status element in their shortlisting and eventual hiring without being seen to be discriminatory. And since gender was not listed would it mean that the constitutional gender rule for employment does not matter?

Prof Bwisa teaches entrepreneurship at JKUAT. [email protected]