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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 172
A Study on Work Life Balance in Working Women
Ms.Priyanka Soni
Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce G.M.N. (PG) College Ambala Cantt
Sonipriyanka4998@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
In India, entrepreneurship has
traditionally been considered a male
prerogative. However, in tandem with a
changing socio-cultural environment and
an increase in educational opportunities,
women have started recognizing their
inherent talents and business skills. With
the help of various governmental and non- governmental agencies, growing numbers
of women are joining the ranks of
entrepreneurs. However, in the existing
familial and societal setup,
entrepreneurial women are overburdened
and find it increasingly difficult to balance
their work and life roles. Therefore, the
major objective of the present study was to
develop and validate an appropriate tool
to illustrate the work-life balance (WLB)
issues faced by women entrepreneurs. We
also sought to understand the important
factors influencing the WLB of these
women entrepreneurs. This study revealed
that role overload, dependent care issues,
quality of health, problems in time
management and lack of proper social
support are the major factors influencing
the WLB of women entrepreneurs in India.
Furthermore, even though the vast
majority of the entrepreneurs examined in
this study suffer from WLB issues, there
are significant differences in the level of
WLB issues faced by the various
categories of women entrepreneurs. The
present study provides recommendations
for human resource professionals,
management consultants, academicians
and women entrepreneurs themselves to
deal with the major WLB issues faced by
Indian women entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Women entrepreneurs, Work- life balance, Role overload, Dependent
care, Social support network, WLB.
INTRODUCTION:
Traditionally the role of women used to be
of cooking, cleaning, raising children etc.
They were looked upon as caregiver or as
home keeper and were denied access
outside home. Today’s women have made
their mark in every field. Be it literature,
arts, politics, sports, Corporate or any
other sphere women are ready to take up
challenges. Time are changing from
Page 2 of 8
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 173
traditional where the husband earned, and
the wife stayed at home to the modern
when the husband earns and the wife earns
too. But the wife still cooks, washes and
runs the house. Although, women have
started spreading her wings in all spheres
of life but the traditional concept of the
women as the homemaker has not gone
away from people’s mind. So, today’s
women are striving continuously for
“Work Life Balance”
The role of working women has changed
throughout the world due to economic
conditions and social demands. This has
resulted in a scenario in which working
women have tremendous pressure to
develop a career as robust as their male
counterparts while sustaining active
engagement in personal life. The
increasing responsibilities on the personal
front with the technological blessings like
advanced mobile phones, notepads, etc.
that keeps work life integrated with
personal life also creates stress on personal
and professional fronts. This affects the
person’s physical, emotional and social
well-being.
Work Life balance is a phenomenon that
occurs to those who are gainfully
employed and have to manage their
personal life. Work life balance is the daily
Achievement and Enjoyment in all spheres
of life namely work, family, friends, health
and spirit. We are all engaged in a number
of roles every day and we hold a number
of roles throughout our life. Life conflict
occurs when we are unable to give our
“many roles” required time and energy as
a result of which participation in one role
is made increasingly difficult by
participation in another. So, there is a need
of Work life balance.
Thus, achieving work life balance is a
necessity for working women to have a
good quality of life. This paper is an
attempt to explore the tough challenges
faced by working women in maintaining a
balance between their personal and
professional life.
Work life balance Concept:
Work–life balance is defined as an
employee’s perception that multiple phases
of personal time, family care, and work are
maintained and integrated with a minimum
of role conflict. Work-life balance is a key
issue in all types of employment as dual- career families have become common and
high work demands with long working
hours have become the norm. The
importance of helping employees achieve
a balance between the demands of their
work and their home lives has been
emphasized. Demographic changes as seen
in the increasing number of women in the
Page 3 of 8
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 174
workplace and dual career families have
generated an increasingly diverse
workforce and a greater need of employees
to balance their work and non-work lives.
Striking a perfect balance between
personal life and professional life is
becoming near to impossible. There is real
balance only when the individual feels that
she has done justice to all her roles and is
satisfied about it. Work-life balance
problems can be really serious and needs
to be addressed in due time.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
The gift of this knowledge era for women
is occupational opportunity and mobility.
But this gift has become a great challenge
for the working women of today as they
are not only exposed to the same working
environment as men but in turn are also
exposed to the pressures created by the
multiple role demands and conflicting
expectations.
Friedman and Greenhaus (2000), in his
book ‘work and family: Allies or
Enemies’ argue that conflict between
work and family has real consequences. It
significantly affects the quality of family
life and career attainment of both men and
women. The consequences for women may
include serious constraints on career
choices, limited opportunity for career
advancement and success in their work- role, and the need to choose between two
apparent opposites—an active and
satisfying career, or marriage, children,
and a happy family life.
Jeffrey H. Greenhaus, Karen M. Collins
& Jason D. Shaw (2003) suggested that
an equally high investment of time and
involvement in work and family would
reduce work–family conflict and stress
thereby enhancing an individual’s quality
of life. And so it goes without saying that
married working women of this era can
have a healthy quality of life only when
work-life balance is maintained making
the topic of work life balance for working.
The limited studies available from India
on women entrepreneurship (Khanka,
2010; Mann &Phukan, 2010;
Anitha&Lakxmisha, 1999) either
concentrate on the reasons for female
emancipation or highlight the
contributions of the few successful women
entrepreneurs.
Dileep Kumar (2006) has elaborated on
some of the issues faced by
entrepreneurial women, such as a shortage
of finances, male dominance, limited
mobility, a lack of education, required
motherly duties and a lack of achievement
motivation.
