Work-Life Balance Of Working Women: An Overview

Abstract

Work- Life balance refers to the competency and successful management of multiple roles both at work and family and also refers to employees balance and contently fulfilled their formal task and accomplished household task to prove their efficiency at both ends. It is a state of well defined well being. Women getting into job after marriage have been increasing substantially in recent decades. This added a married woman responsibility executing multiple tasks at a time apart from parenting and household choirs. The literature reviews explored the general underlying factors responsible for imbalance of work and family of a working mother and the available support system that are enhancing balance of work and family of the working women.

Introduction

Women were confined to be a housewife and were expected to perform and fulfilled family responsibilities like looking after children and household choir but it is not conceivable in today’s world. The participation of women in income generation lends to satisfy their home needs to great extends. For better home environment and well being women are found at work.

It is well considered that women contributions are high in economic development and they are committed and sincere towards work which leads to their imbalance of work life and family life. Work-life balance of working women has become an important concern and subject since women equally shared earning responsibility for the betterment of the family living standard. Work-family balance has been conceptualised as an individual’s orientation across life roles, an inter- role phenomenon, satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict (Campbell- Clark, 2000).

Work-life balance is an imminent issue due to the recent massive incorporation of women into the labour force, the ageing of societies, the intensification of work and the problems in balancing family life and work life underpin the present trend.Significant progress has been made by women. Since changes in social, economic, and political have introduce new social structure, which opposed women to move out in the limelight of public arena from the confinement of their homes.

Women contribution is divided into paid job and unpaid job. Paid job can be defined as a job that someone does to earn money. The unpaid work activities such as household work and care- giving for the elderly or for children are embraced by women. Women enter into paid workforce due to financial need, social attitude and increasing educational level. Managing work and family together at a time is challenging to women especially for working mother, which become complex because of increasing number of nuclear family. Thus it the root of work-life imbalance and their quality of life is greatly hampered by work-life and work-family conflicts. Working mother striving for financial independence also has the role of caring growing child to accomplish motherhood. These times demanding responsibilities make a stress among working mother and balancing the two poles become a formidable task. The imbalance between the two domains often meets with guilt from husband, family and relatives of the working mother’s.

Review of literature

Shakil, (2011) study on working women work-life conflict among banking sector in Pakistan found that there is a strong correlation between workplace environment and household responsibilities to women work-life conflict while women working potential and workplace environment are negatively related whereas there was a significant relationship on household responsibilities and workplace environment to women work-life conflict.

Rajesh, K. & Nishant, D. (2014) conducted a study on work-life balance and job satisfaction among 150 working women of the banking and educational sector in Bhopal, India. It highlights the working space and women's perception of work-life balance and job satisfaction. The study examined the impact of work-life balance on the job satisfaction and the institutional help provided by the organizations. The result shows that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and institutional help provided to the employee and the result also shows that employee-oriented policies and social support are the main factors to achieve the work-life balance.

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Viveka. G (2015) study among 105 female nurses in a different department on work-life balance and analyzed the type of work-related stress experienced and the major influencing factor of stress experienced. The study also examined the influencing factor of the work-life balance. The result shows that the majority have difficulty in striking balance between work and family. The result also reveals among the stressors the respondents experienced health-related issues due to working for long hours and work overload. The result reveals the need for implementation of family-friendly policies to strike a balance between work and family.

Sundaresan S. (2015) conducted a study on Work-life balance – implications for working women among 125 working women in Bangalore, India. The study revealed that burden of excessive work, the need to fulfil others’ expectations and not having time for they are the prime factors affecting work life balance of working women. As a consequence women suffer from job burn-out, experience high levels of stress and anxiety, are unable to realize their full potential and also do not enjoy harmonious family life.

Khan, A. (2018) conducted a study on quality of life (QoL) among 80 married working women and housewives between the ages of 25 – 40 years at Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study shows that there were psychological, environment and social differences in both the group whereas there was no difference found on the physical health of both married working mothers and housewives.

According to the article of Chandel, P & Shekhawat, J. (2019) on Body Image, Mental Health and Quality of Life of Married Working Women in India revealed the major sources of mental stress in working women are long hours of working, lack of family and friends support including heavy workload. The article states the factor that can increase the quality of life of a married working women is the trust and backing from her family, friends, and society

Discussions of literature review

Review of copious literatures reveals that research studies on Work-life balance of working women on various issues and different variables including the psychological factors, work family balance, quality of life and the relationships between work family balance and quality of life of working women etc. The review of literatures at the international level shows that there is a conflict between work family balance and quality of life of working women mainly emphasizing on working time, sparing some time out from day to day activities for interests and relaxation routines, prioritization of responsibilities and attainment of work life balance, contribution of husband and family towards work life balance, having a good friend but no time to spend with them, self-related issues, delaying pregnancy for work related commitments, insufficient quality time to spend with their children and parents and also the unavailability of self-care time.

In order for a woman to gain highest level of quality of life is only by maintaining a substantial amount of balance between work and life, emotional and social support from spouse and colleagues are extremely important factor for a working mother to have a better quality of life. Failing to receive such support increases their stress level and leads to several psychological problems which gradually affect their mental status. Therefore, imbalance in the work and family of a working women can greatly affect the quality of life by resulting in high level of stress, mental illness and further reduce their efficiency at work and at home.

Conclusion

To conclude, working women has the pressure in work life and there is a big challenge to balance both profession life and family life. Universally, work family balance is a contemporary issue of working mothers so as to have an appropriate balance life of both work and family focusing on up-gradation of quality of life. Women are playing a vital role in their life to manage their dual responsibility. Between this dual life style the women suffer with a lot of mental and physical health problems. The analyses of this article attempted to understand factors affecting work life balance of working women and consequences of poor work life balance. In the Indian context, women remain primarily responsible for their family and career is hardly given top priority. Work life balance of working women is affected due to burden of extreme work, the need to fulfil others’ expectations and not having time for themselves, children and family. Due to this, women suffer from job burn-out, experience high levels of stress and anxiety, are unable to realize their full potential and also do not enjoy harmonious family life. In fact, the demand for women employees is increasing day by day and their contribution to nation’s growth and economic progress is significant. Therefore, it is the joint responsibilities of both organizations and the working women's family to concern the wellbeing of the working women which in turn will pave a way for a modern society. Hence, achievement and enjoyment in all spheres will lead to work life balance.

References

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