“GEOGRAPHICAL DISTANCES HAMPERING WOMEN CAREER
- A CORPORATE AND ‘THE WOMAN’ PERSPECTIVE”

SHEETAL DAMEY
PRIYANKA KHOSE
TRUPTI MALGAONKAR
H & GH MANSUKHANI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
9922577556,9664867202, 9960745741
Sheetal0265@gmail.com, truptimalgaonkar@gmail.com priyankakhose@yahoo.co.in Abstract
"Women account for one-half of the potential talent base throughout the world and therefore, over time, a nation's competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its female talent," said Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of WEF. India has the lowest percentage of women employees (23%), followed by Japan (24%), Turkey (26%) and Austria (29%), according to the Corporate Gender Gap report brought out by the World Economic Forum on March 08, 2010.
Work-life balance among women is now-a-days a crucial issue that many organizations are taking into consideration. When employees go back to their homes, they should not carry any organizational stress with them. A woman has two roles to play- personal and professional; each role having different set of demands. Such role demands are overlapping due to geographical issues.
Women travelling 2-3 hours to reach workplace are having considerably high stress. This impact on performance pressure and losses for all concerned: the individual, the family and the organization. This leads to family–work conflict (FWC) and work–family conflict (WFC). FWC and WFC are more likely to exert negative influences in the family domain, resulting in lower life satisfaction and greater internal conflict within the family.
This research intends to reveal significant results with respect to the facilities provided by the employers for the work-life balance of women and the conditions that hamper them to work due to geographical distances.

A sentence that brings the idea of work life balance to the point is: “Work to live. Don’t live to work.”
Women now make up almost half of American workers (49.9% in October). They run some of the world's best companies, such as pepsico, Archer Daniels Midland and W.L. Gore. They earn almost 60% of university degrees in America and Europe.
Progress has not been uniform, of course. In Italy and Japan employment rates for men are more than 20 percentage points higher than those for women. Although Italy's female employment rate has risen markedly in the past decade, it is still below 50%, and more than 20 percentage points below those of Denmark and Sweden. Women earn substantially less than men on average and are severely under-represented at the top of organizations by Economist.com.
The biggest reason why women remain frustrated is more profound: many women are forced to choose between motherhood and careers. Childless women in corporate America earn almost as much as men. Mothers with partners earn less and single mothers much less. The cost of motherhood is particularly steep for fast-track women.
Work-life balance, though common to all, irrespective of gender, is very important for women all over the world. Women are making a valiant attempt to balance work and life, which is tougher proposition than for men. 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.
Women will also be the beneficiaries of the growing “war for talent”. The combination of an ageing workforce and a more skill-dependent economy means that countries will have to make better use of their female populations. Goldman Sachs calculates that, leaving all other things equal, increasing women's participation in the labour market to male levels will boost GDP by 21% in Italy, 19% in Spain, 16% in Japan, 9% in America, France and Germany, and 8% in Britain.

The corporate world is doing ever more to address the loss of female talent and the difficulty of combining work with child care. Many elite companies are rethinking their promotion practices. Addleshaw Goddard, a law firm, has created the role of legal director as an alternative to partnerships for women who want to combine work and motherhood.
Few years back in India 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 during the past decade, women power has been proved and they succeeded in overcoming those barriers and made major contribution towards organizational excellence .There have emerged a number of corporate women who have been recognized for their contributions to organizational excellence and leadership despite the environmental fluctuations.
The Economic Times, in partnership with IMRB International conducted a survey which has endeavored to identify the business leaders who are well-recognised by people for their efforts in shaping Corporate India. We have many top leaders who are women.
Kiran M Shaw CEO – Biocon
Shobhana Bhartia CEO - HT Media
Shikha Sharma CEO - Axis Bank
Naina Lal Kidwai CEO - HSBC India
Kalpana Morparia CEO - JP Morgan India
Neelam Dhawan CEO - Hewlett-Packard India
Vinita Singhania MD - JK Lakshmi Cement
Vinita Bali MD - Britannia Industries
Chanda Kochhar MD and CEO - ICICI Bank
Rupa Gurunath whole time director - India Cements.
This fact states that many top level working professionals are women who are very well able to manage work life balance because of various facilities and amenities provided by organizations.
But this is not the same for many middle level working women. India has the lowest percentage of women employees (23%), followed by Japan (24%), Turkey (26%) and Austria (29%), according to the Corporate Gender Gap report brought out by the World Economic Forum on March 08, 2010.

REVIEW TO LITERATURE * Work–Life Balance among Married Women Employees
Family–work conflict (FWC) and work–family conflict (WFC) are more likely to exert negative influences in the family domain, resulting in lower life satisfaction and greater internal conflict within the family. Studies have identified several variables that influence the level of WFC and FWC. Variables such as the size of family, the age of children, the work hours and the level of social support impact the experience of WFC and FWC. However, these variables have been conceptualized as antecedents of WFC and FWC; it is also important to consider the consequences these variables have on psychological distress and wellbeing of the working women. * Work-Life Balance: The key driver of employee engagement
A changing economy and an aging workforce can join together to create an employment environment where competent employees who are unhappy in their current situations are motivated to find a new place to "hang their hats." A highly engaged workforce is 50% more productive than an unengaged workforce. The majority of HR professionals (78%) feel employee engagement is important or extremely important to business success. Employee engagement has emerged as a critical driver of business success in today's competitive marketplace. Employee engagement is increasingly viewed as a “win-win” strategy for companies, employees, and their communities alike. In addition, work/life balance is increasingly important for engagement and affects retention. This paper will examine some of the literature on Employee engagement, explore work-place culture & work-life balance policies & practices followed in industries in order to promote employee engagement in their organizations to increase their employees productivity and retain them. Work-life balance is key driver of employees satisfaction.

* In Pursuit of Sustainable Leadership :How Female Academic Department Chairs With Children Negotiate Personal and Professional Roles
The Problem:
The purpose of this study is to explore how tenured female faculty members with young children negotiate personal and professional roles as department chairs. In addition, this study explores how, if at all, these women’s family and childcare responsibilities have influenced their career aspirations within the academy.
The Solution:
Findings reveal that role management, mentorship from deans, and sustainability of a lifestyle conducive to work–life balance are critical for female department chairs with children to thrive in their roles. Family-friendly policies in organizations must be combined with mentorship and genuine efforts to holistically support women and their multiple roles, both at home and at work.
The Stakeholders:
The results of this study provide important perspectives for women who aspire to move up to the administrative ranks while raising a family and for senior academic leaders and others (e.g., human resource development [HRD] practitioners) who can serve as mentors to working mothers. * Work and Family in the 21st Century: Four Research Domains
During the last half of the 20th century, married women with children moved into the labor force in large numbers. This change, which occurred throughout the industrialized world, dramatically altered work, family, and gender roles. Working parents today juggle demanding jobs and busy family lives and find it increasingly difficult to balance these activities. Work-family conflict has become a pressing social issue. This article examines four areas of social science research on work and family, including: work-family conflict, spillover, and multiple roles; work-family policies in organizations; effects of work on family life; and cross–national research on work and family. Although much is known about all of these topics, more research is needed to address the work-family challenges of the 21st century. * Work–family balance of Indian women software professionals: A qualitative study
One of the significant changes witnessed in the labour markets in India has been the entry of women IT professionals in the rapidly growing software services sector. As the women take on the role of working professional in addition to their traditional role of the homemaker, they are under great pressure to balance their work and personal lives. This study attempts to understand how work and family related factors influence the work–family balance of Indian women IT professionals. The study is based on an exploratory qualitative study of 13 women IT professionals in the software sector in Bangalore, India. The narratives reveal six major themes: familial influences on life choices; multi-role responsibilities and attempts to negotiate them; self and professional identity; work–life challenges and coping strategies; organizational policies and practices; and social support. * Working part-time: achieving a successful ‘work-life’ balance?
The role of part-time employment in the balancing of women's employment and family lives has generated an immense literature. Using data on women working part-time and full-time in different level occupations in the British Household Panel Survey, this paper argues that it is now vital to move these balancing debates on from their location within work–family rhetoric and to re-position the study of women's working time in broader work-life discussions. Work–family debates tend to neglect a number of key domains that women balance in their lives, in addition to family and employment, including their financial security and their leisure. The paper shows that examining the financial situations and the leisure lives of female part-timers in lower level jobs reveals a less positive picture of their ‘life balancing’ than is portrayed in much work–family literature. Instead, they emerged as the least financially secure employees and, linked to this, less satisfied with their social lives too. It is concluded that since the work-life system is multi- and not just two-dimensional, it is important to examine how all life domains interrelate with each other. In this way, we would be in a better position to begin to assess all the benefits and disadvantages associated with working part-time and with other work-life balancing strategies.

Research methodology:
An empirical study was done through a questionnaire, personal and telephonic interviews. It was designed keeping in view the objective and was distributed randomly among working women within geographical area of Dombivali and Karjat. The sample size was 100 and the age group was between 25-55 years. Personal and telephonic interviews were taken of HR persons from the industry majorly from Mumbai.
Problem:
Geographical distances hampering women career- a corporate and the woman perspective in the geographical area of Dombivali to Karjat of age group 25-55.
Objective:
* To find out the problems faced by women due to prolonged travelling to workplace and its effect on company and women career along with their personal lives. * To suggest remedial actions to overcome the problem.
Hypothesis:
Prolonged travelling to workplace impacts adversely on both; women career along with her personal lives and the company.
Type of Research:
Exploratory Research
Where Conducted:
Mumbai
Sampling techniques:
Area cluster quota sampling * Area with similar socio-economic characteristics. * Area with middle class households. * Area with HR profession. * Areas will be picked up in random.
Sample breakup: * Working women * HR professionals(Males and Females)
Sample size: * Sample size is 100. * 10 HR professionals.
Type of interview: * Personal interview * Telephonic interview * Questionnaire

ANALYSIS:

They continue to take primary responsibility for managing the family. Work–life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) on the one hand and “life” (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.
Today’s women are continuously challenged by the demands of full-time work and when the day is done at the office, they carry more of the responsibilities and commitments to home. The majority of women are working 40-45 hours per week and many of them are struggling to achieve work/life balance. Women have multiple responsibilities which includes at work, heavy meeting schedules, business trips, on top of managing the daily routine responsibilities of life and home.
The working ladies not only take care of the responsibilities in their office but also control their house. Throughout the day she remains busy working, taking care of her kids, cooking, cleaning and in other activities. Managing all these things along with proper time managements is quite strenuous and leaves her with no time to spend for her. Thus side effects of, balancing both home and work responsibilities, are women tending to neglect her health.
Now a day’s health issues like weight gaining, high blood pressure are very common. Due to irregular timings of meals and no exercise, women are facing problem of weight gaining a lot. As we all know obesity can lead to different diseases. Thus proper health care is essential for all of us, especially for the women. It is the responsibility of every woman to devote sometime for herself each day. It is also important for them to make a conscious attempt to retain a healthy body and mind. This will help them to stay fit longer and improve their resistance power.
Findings:
* Majority of working women are unmarried. * Spouses of 90% working women are employed. * Three-fourth of the working women have nuclear families and on an average 4-6 members. * 72% of women have single child and majorly above 6 years. * 14% women have disability in their children. * 95% women have elders at home out of which 65% have caretakers. * Majorly spent Rs.400-1500 on homemaids. * 58% women are considered to be professional at par but there are 23% who are perceived as always giving reasons. * Majority of them have co-operative boss. * Only 19% are facilitated with work life balance programmes. * 57% don’t get enough sleep, time for exercise and healthy food. * Majority spend more time on travelling to workplace. * Majorly family has the first preference to working women still she is not able to devote sufficient time. * Most of the women get support of their spouse in household work. * Flexible timing and time off are more suitable. * Work from home is mostly not available to all. * Unhelpful attitude of superiors hinder more than that of colleagues and family. * 45% of the women spend 61-80% of their time at workplace and considerably get less time for hobbies, household and self-care.

SUGGESTIONS
Employers can facilitate Work Life Balance with many schemes that can attract women employees and satisfy their needs. Such as Facilities for child care, Financial planning services for employees who need them, Flexi-timings , Work sharing , Part time employment, Leave plans – both paid and unpaid – to suit employee’s needs, Subsidized food plans, Insurance plans, Counseling services for problems like managing work and the home, Rest rooms, food preparation services, Jobs with autonomy and flexibility Realistic workloads. “Successfully achieving work/life balance will ultimately create a more satisfied workforce that contributes to productivity and success in the workplace as well as at home.”