Married women face several difficulties carrying out dual roles of managing their homes and careers, which affects their productivity, well-being, and family relationships across the world. Yet, not much scholarly attention is given to this issue. This paper explored home management activities and coping strategies among married female workers in Makurdi, Benue State. Specifically, the paper examined the effect of combining work with home management activities, and examined strategies married female workers adopted to cope with work and home management.

The paper hypothesized that combining work and home management activities do not have significant effect on married female workers. Role Strain Theory was adopted to explain the relationship between variables. Cross-sectional design was used and data was collected from 910 and 11 persons using questionnaires and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) guides respectively. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation with a critical mean value of 2.0 adopted. Pearson Correlation was used to test hypotheses.

Findings showed that the effects of combining work and home management included not having time for rest and sleep, exhaustion, anxiety, difficulty meeting up with sexual needs, depressive mood, and no time for career development, among others. Strategies employed to cope included depending on extended family network, proper planning and time management, praying to God for help, and taking up less demanding jobs/fewer working hours.

The study concludes that managing the home and performing official duties at work is challenging for most married women with significant consequences which requires extensive coping mechanisms. The study recommended that the Government at all levels should introduce shift work for married females in all organizations and also reduce working hours for married females working in both the public and private sectors.