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A WORK LIFE BALANCE OF FEMALE
EMPLOYEES: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Ms. Priyanka*
Research Scholar,
Alabbar School of Management, Raffles University, Neemrana, Alwar, Rajasthan
Dr. Khem Chand,
Associate Professor
Alabbar School of Management, Raffles University, Neemrana, Alwar, Rajasthan
Abstract
The participation of female employees is increasing in the industry. Advanced technology is
playing a dynamic role in the current industry. But female employees are facing difficulties in
the industry due to increasing work stress and change in technology. It is very difficult to
adjust to her in both her professional and personal life due to financial problems and the
progress of environmental conditions. In this review paper, the researcher will understand
different angles of the professional and professional life of female employees such as work
stress, work-family conflict and family work conflict, career growth, and child and family
care which affect the work performance of employees in the industry.
Keywords: Professional and personal life, work-life-balance, work stress, career growth,
conflict
*Corresponding Author
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Introduction
Female employees are being faced with the work-life balance problem in the current business
environment. In earlier times, females were not included in business life so they considered
themselves weak compared to male employees. Family members had decided on her role as a
housewife, cooking food, and doing laundry. Now that time has changed, females are
remarkably progressing in the field of business life and have made a worthy identity in their
field. Females are developing many business ideas in the current era. But there is no
significant change in the life of females; they are also performing dual jobs in households and
companies. Females have to take care of family members and manage their houses. She is
playing her role at both places as workplace and home place
The lack of cooperation between family members and coworkers is the main factor
contributing to the work-life imbalance. Females are encouraged by powerful corporations to
balance their professional and personal lives by solving organizational issues. According to
India skill the port 2022, 51% of females are more employable as compared to 46% men in
2022. Managing a demanding career with their life outside of work is a difficult undertaking
for working women. Families, careers, health, and society all need to be balanced in the lives
of working women. Maintaining a balance between job and family life is a particularly
challenging challenge for working women in India. All of the family's expectations,
especially the children's, are her responsibility. Women's professional aspirations are still
viewed as secondary in India.
Females think that in order to succeed like males, they must do better at work. Their manager
is more effective and has greater standards. Females are under a lot of stress in this
circumstance. Maternity leave is stressful for working Females since they must care for the
infant while simultaneously achieving their goals.
The lack of adequate maternity leave poses a serious challenge for working females. The
absence of adequate family assistance, the impact of late-night office work on females’ lives,
the significant issue of gender-based pay discrimination female and the high social
discrimination between men and females for the same week are some of the challenges faced
by industrious females.
Review of Literature
The review of the literature provides insight and understanding of the different variables
which are responsible for the problem. The present study describes the review of different
authors who have completed their studies related to the work-life balance of females in the
industry.
Work-life balance is an individual and organizational problem in the current era. Baral and
Bhargava (2010) and Rendon (2016) have described that workload is the most important
element which affects work-life balance. The workload is the cause of work-family conflict
for individuals. It is also detrimental to organizations employees experiencing work-family
conflict can have a variety of negative consequences for organizations in a variety of ways.
The work-life conflict has been linked to lower employee job satisfaction, higher staff
turnover and absenteeism, lower performance, higher job stress levels, and the intention to
leave the company.
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Hantrai and Walters (1990) has found the organization provides many working environments
for females such as medical facilities and childcare facilities. They found that the cost was a
lack of personal time and feelings of guilt if any spare time was not spent with their children.
Women had to sacrifice their own free time and reduce the amount of sleep they had so that
their children did not feel adverse about their mothers.
Konard and Mnagel (1990) found there is a significant relationship between workplace
conflict and female health. Furthermore, for female employees, work-family conflict
produces problems at home. These issues might cause the person to become more frustrated
and stressed, which can lead to a decline in life satisfaction. Similarly, when a worker's
problems follow him or her to work, the company suffers. They report higher levels of stress,
muscle tension, headaches, weight gain, and despair than their counterparts.
Roberts (2005) and Dreher (2003) explained that working females can benefit from wellness
and health programs that help them balance their personal and professional lives. These
benefits & health programs cannot be the sole solution to the imbalance of female issues and
problems. Many family-friendly businesses recognize the importance of work-life balance,
which includes employee recruitment and retention, reduced employee stress, job
satisfaction, reduced absenteeism, health benefits, and improved life balance by
implementing successful work-life balance treatments, such as flexible working hours, in the
domain of working hours.
Deivasigamani and Shankar (2015) have found that work-life balance significantly affects the
productivity of the employee. Companies can create a healthy workforce in the organization
after fulfilling the needs of the employees. There is a close relationship among the observed
variables such as integrity, work attitude, commitment, teamwork, and discipline. These
variables are the predictor of organization productivity (Schieman and Glavin, 2008; Kamau,
et al., 2013; Ojo et al., 2014; Oludayo, et al., 2015). There are direct and indirect effects of
professional life on the personal life balance. Many factors have been observed which affect
the personal life of the employees such as job satisfaction, role conflict, participation, stress,
commitment, workload, absenteeism, burnout, motivation, turnover, and intention to leave.
Role conflict and workload, according to Omar et al. (2015), are the most important elements
affecting work-life balance. They also discovered that both characteristics of role conflict and
workload were strongly linked to work-life balance in the form of negativism. It denotes a
higher level of role conflict and employees' work-life balance may suffer as a result of their
increased burden.
Greenhaus and Powell (2006), and Omar et al. (2015) have found that various norms and
responsibilities create conflict in the workplace. Ojo, et al. (2014) have described that stress
is one domain, like work, which may result in exhaustion, irritability, or obsession with those
problems, reducing one's ability to satisfy the needs of other domains of life, such as family,
and thus contributing to work-family conflict.
Omar et al. (2015) observed that females have to take on family responsibilities with the
workload of the organization. Females are still predominantly responsible for their children
and the elderly. The responsibilities of women are family and children, and elderly care
which affect the work-life balance. Schieman and Glavin (2008) found that various rules of
the organization affect the women’s life in maintaining work-life balance because they do the
majority of the work associated with household activities, aside from caring for elderly
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family members, children, and other dependents. A combination of family and career duties
can provide numerous sources of happiness for employed women but it has been observed
that it is frequently coupled with conflict and stress.
Rendon (2016) discussed that females often experience guilt over not spending enough time
with their children, and their families so she feels guilty when she is forced to quit. Female
employees bear a combined load of work and family, resulting in role conflict and stress.
Verma and Mulani (2018) described that Indian working females wish to achieve
independence and success in their life they must strike a balance between their families and
their careers. And work worries for your job and bothers to balance your family because they
have to live a comfortable life and are deprived of their sleep. They become more and more
frustrated with time. After some time, they have realized no one is around to assist and
support them; they feel powerless. They may feel lonely at times, and as a result, they may
become depressed. They have to deal with a variety of emotional and psychological
problems. Indian women usually suffer from mental problem
Women don't have any spare time so she is unable to express their feelings in front of others
and they feel scared to seek justice for themselves. They sometimes feel isolated and due to
this, they have to face many emotional and psychological problems.
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