Work Life Balance Empowering The Women Employees Of Today

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Abstract

Women have a number of roles that they play throughout life. Work-life conflict occurs when time and energy demands imposed by the diverse roles cannot be efficiently met, as participation in one role is made increasingly difficult by participation in another. During the past decade, in India the environment for multinational corporations has been quite volatile, with numerous challenges for the firms operating in this arena. However, throughout this period there have emerged a number of corporate women who have been recognized for their contributions to organizational excellence and leadership despite the environmental fluctuations. But invariably even few years back women power were not so welcome to hold and glorify the top positions of different corporate houses. Due to the Indian social structure, prejudices and myths women employees used to face barriers while climbing up the corporate ladder. But time and again women power has been proved and they succeeded in overcoming those barriers and made major contribution towards organizational excellence. paper is aimed to study various factors which could lead to Work Family Conflict and Fa. Present mily Work Conflict among married women employees. In today’s fast-paced business world, where employers expect more from their staff, it’s almost impossible for women to achieve work-life balance.Because of such pressure imposed on female employees many women have to choose between the two most important components of their life: family or career. . paper is aimed to study various factors which could lead to Work Family Conflict and primarilyWork Conflict among married women employees.

Introduction

Work/Life Balance: Why Women Really Leave

Today, women constitute nearly half of the workforce. There have never been so many women in leadership positions around the world. And there has never been so much talk about being a woman in business. In fact, there has never been a better time in history to be a woman.

Yet, many working women must still think about their other reality — managing their family’s life at home, And whether we like it or not, most women still manage the bulk of the work associated with raising kids and managing a home. So whether they’re working, caring for aging or sick loved ones, or furthering their education while they work, establishing the appropriate work/life balance has become a significant challenge and a reality for most women across the country and around the globe. An increasing number of articles have promoted the importance of work–life balance. This highlights the current concern within society and organizations about the impact of multiple roles on the health and well-being of professional women and its implications regarding work and family performance, and women’s role in society. The following variables influencing the experience of work–life balance were identified while reviewing the international literature.

a. The multiple roles performed by women
b. Role strain experienced because of multiple roles, i.e., role conflict and role overload
c. Organization culture and work dynamics: Organizational values supporting work–life balance have positive work and personal well-being consequences
d. Personal resources and social support: Several studies confirmed the positive relationship between personalities, emotional support and well-being
e. Career orientation and career stage in which women careers need to be viewed in the context of their life course and time lines
f. Coping and coping strategies: Women use both emotional and problem-focused coping strategies to deal with role conflict.

Promoting women to C-Suite positions and nominating them to sit on boards are goals that are still, for the most part, a long way from being realized. The advancement of women has been a focus of corporations for over 25 years, yet the ratio of women in top jobs has remained virtually unchanged in the past 10 years. In fact, in some major organizations, early progress has given way to a stall or decline. This persistent absence of gender balance and other manifestations of diversity at senior levels in Canadian corporations is not a “women’s issue.” Rather, it is a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, it is one that should be of concern to all Canadians, whether they are aware of this imbalance or not.

If high-potential women are leaving their careers to care for their families, they’re not doing it on purpose. That’s the conclusion Hunter College professor Pamela Stone drew from a study of 54 female high achievers, recruited mostly from alumnae of four selective colleges and universities. The women pursued their careers an average of 11 years; 60% worked well past the birth of their second child. None was pushed out. Fully 90% left not to care for their families but because of workplace problems, chiefly frustration and long hours. Two-thirds of those who left tried part-time work but found it problematic; since they’d been putting in long weeks, part-time tended to mean 40 hours of work for 20 hours’ worth of pay. Factoring even more into decisions to opt out entirely, though, was the inability to work part-time without being marginalized. The great strides made by women in Latin America and around the world are undeniable but there is still much to be done. Given the progress today, it’s exciting to think about the potential advancements and successes of women, and the resulting impact on economic growth.

Women influence more than 65 percent of global spending 2012 World Bank Report
Women have played a critical role in achieving the poverty declines of the last decade, with their labor market participation rates growing 15 percent from 2000 to 2010. • Growth in female income accounted for 30 percent of extreme poverty reduction

Methodology

For studying the Work life balance among women employees, an attempt is made to obtain the primary data from 50 female employees at all levels belonging to different corporate houses ranging from small sized to MNCs .Secondary data was collected from various web sites, existing research on the related topic, books and journals. Secondary data has been the base to obtain the primary contents in the form of views of working women.

Research Findings

Men are nearly five times more likely than women to reach a senior executive position in the MNCs research has shown.

A survey of more than 500 men and women in 13 blue-chip companies showed that male executives were more likely to be seen as decisive and rational, while women were rated as well-organised and ethical – to the detriment of their promotion chances.

‘Women are seen as being very values-led … and very good about being able to direct people to ‘do the right thing’,’ said Rachel Short, director of YSC business psychologists. ‘Men were seen as being very good at rational and analytical decision making.’

The research is published by the 30% Club, a group of companies including Diageo, RBS and John Lewis, which has pledged to get more talented women into their boardrooms. A separate strand of the research found that men were four and half times more likely to progress to the executive suite.

Although the researchers found no difference in how male and female bosses were rated, the disparity in how their strengths were perceived was in line with the classic ‘think manager, think male’

According to the Pew Research Center, 20% of mothers with children in 2007 said their ideal life situation involved full-time work; but by 2012, that figure was 32%, likely the result of the economic recession. Some academic research continues to focus on structural barriers, while other scholarship has shifted to examining possible solutions. One possible way to address the pay gap is empowering more women to bargain for higher salaries. It’s an issue that has received substantial attention in the academic world, but the empirical findings suggest that gender itself is not always a consistent predictor of negotiating behavior. As Harvard Kennedy School scholars Hannah Riley Bowles and Iris Bohnet write in a special issue of Negotiation Journal, “what recent research has shown is that gender effects on negotiation are contingent on situational factors that make gender more or less relevant, salient, and influential.”

It was unclear whether real differences existed: ‘They may be contexability differences – women working in different roles, functional rather than commercial – [they may be] actual differences, stereotypes or a combination of the three.’

Speaking to the Guardian recently, Vicki Saward, strategic pursuit director at BAE Systems Detica, said she had encountered stereotypes about her maths abilities since her student days – although it had never held her back. ‘There is still a perception that because you are women you can’t do maths. Recently, somebody made a comment to me ‘oh you can’t do maths’ [and] my team cracked up’, says Saward, who holds a PhD in mathematics from Oxford University.’People assume that I must have a comms or HR background.’

Women were climbing up company ladders, but warned that too many were assimilating to ‘a system that rewards presenteeism and availability over time efficiency’. While this might boost the number of women executives in the short term, it could hamper progress in the long-run by preventing ‘a mass systemic overhaul’ of UK corporate life.

Survey in West showed that young women are expected to combine a career with motherhood. In Indian context, a lot of women, especially those from the lower middle class, are seeking the job market today because they have to augment the family income. They have to provide a better life for their families, pay their children’s tuition fees and plan a better future for them. In the present study, it is seen that the women working due to financial needs reported higher WFC when compared to those working for other reasons. It was found that the financial need is the chief reported reason for women taking up employment. It is argued that many women take up job on compulsion, but it is the career which is extremely gratifying. In the present study, it is noted that only a few women had taken up employment for career. It is reported that problems can arise if woman works for money. In that case, woman needs to be careful not to bring home her frustration and unhappiness, which can affect family relationships.

The current generation of mid-ranking women ‘are not militating, they are not agitating, they are really conforming to what they believe the routes of success is’ Short said. ‘They are over-assimilating to a culture that some men are now saying they don’t want.’

Helena Morrissey, the high-flying fund manager and founder of the 30% Club, said: ‘Men and women are different – equally intelligent but we behave differently and are motivated by different things. This new research gives more depth to the intuitive argument that balanced teams perform better, and gives companies specific actionable ideas to improve their management of all talent – regardless of gender’.

According to estimates from the World Bank, more than 70 million women have joined the workforce in Latin America over the past 20 years. They have played a critical role in achieving the poverty declines of the last decade. In fact, the same report notes the growth in women’s income in Latin America accounted for 30 percent of extreme poverty reduction in the region (2012 World Bank Report – The Effect of Women’s Economic Power in Latin America and the Caribbean). I have seen, first-hand, the economic power of women in action as a board member of The Committee of 200 .C200 is an organization comprised of the world’s most successful female entrepreneurs and corporate leaders, with the mission of empowering women to achieve success at the highest echelons of business.

In preparation for our 2013 C200 Annual Conference, I had a discussion with Ambassador Melanne Verveer (Former United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues). Although there is a large volume of research that shows women’s economic participation is a driver of growth, we have yet to tap the full potential of women in the formal workforce in Latin America or elsewhere in the world. Ambassador Verveer emphasized that governments and the private sector, through their policies and priorities, need to recognize that women’s economic participation translates into greater economic competitiveness and prosperity. And she’s right. For example, when Pfizer began operations in Colombia 60 years ago, 40 percent of the workforce were women. Today, on a workforce in Colombia that is 60 percent women, predominantly in executive and managerial positions, including the country’s general manager. The cultural legacy of business is, in part, one of male leadership. In another time, perhaps this made sense. At one time, raising children and running a house without electricity or plumbing was a daunting and time consuming task. Women just didn’t have time to be JP Morgan or Nelson Rockefeller. In those days, very few women were either educated or even in the work force. Today, where two-income families are often a necessity in order to meet daily needs, there are 7 million Canadian women and 72 million American women in their respective workforces. Yet a mere 735 women are Fortune 100 senior executives.

Conclusion

Women Employees needs to:

Establishing and maintaining internal congruence

Human frustrations and stress are the result of conflict between our emotions, expressions, and actions. So, realign what you say and do with what you feel. It may sound difficult at first, but you can begin at home and extend this to your social relationships and work. This doesn’t mean being confrontational or abrupt, it simply means recognising your ‘self’, individual needs and emotions and expressing them in a gentle non-offensive manner.

Working on goals and objectives

Aiming for the impossible is not an act of courage; it simply sets you up for failure and frustration. So re-examine your goals and restate them so they are compatible with your personality and individual needs and preferences as well as your circumstances and resources.

Inculcating positivity

Good and bad mood are contagious and self-reinforcing so you can influence your environment and your workgroup. Therefore, establish positive patterns of behaviour to generate positive emotions. You can easily develop many simple habits to surround yourself with positivity and to lighten up your day/mood. For instance, take 2 minutes a day to send an email to share a positive thought or to praise a colleague or someone in your team/organisation, and make it a habit to smile, it is contagious.

Practicing mindfulness and meditate

In the rush of everyday life, we often juggle multiple demands and have to adapt and multitask. However, research suggests that a multitasking brain has a harder time falling asleep, and has less energy, and experiences more stress. So take time to relax your mind as often as you can, by refocusing on a single thing. For instance, take 2 minutes to practice deep breathing and focus on your breathing as you inhale and exhale. This slows your heartbeat, relaxes your brain, and reduces anxiety.

Expanding social capital and healthy relationships

Social capital and healthy relationships are a source of happiness and longevity. Therefore, strengthen your social network and build positive relationships.

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