A STUDY ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE AMONG WOMEN SCHOOL

TEACHERS IN ERNAKULAM REGION

CLIFFIN MARIA, DIVYA NAIR
B.Com Finance and IT, VI Semester
Department of Commerce and Management
Amrita School of Arts and Sciences
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Kochi Campus, India

K.G. RAJANI
Assistant Professor
Department of Commerce and Management
Amrita School of Arts and Sciences
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Kochi Campus, India

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 1. ABSTRACT
This paper traces the balance of work and personal lives amongst female teachers of the
Ernakulam region in Kerala, India. The changes in the role of breadwinners within the family
has provided women with the opportunities to work outside their homes and venture their own
careers. However, there is an immense pressure on them to fulfil both roles of a career-woman
as well as familial. The paper, thus, highlights the difficulties and reasons behind the obstacles
faced when balancing women’s personal lives along with their career through the means of a
questionnaire. By assessing this data, the experiences of the women have been brought to light
along with the findings of this research.

KEYWORDS: Women, teachers, work-life balance, schools.

2. INTRODUCTION
The act of integrating the personal and professional life is referred as work-life balance. Due
to the increased demands at the workplace, there has been a strain upon the women to maintain
this balance in their lives as they focus most of their attention in their jobs due to its daunting
and demanding nature. Consequently, they are being forced to prioritise one over the other
which causes them to neglect their familial lives. The risk of losing their positions and even
the job entirely due to lack of effort or attention is also higher because of their personal
responsibilities, resulting in more competition at the workplace.
Earlier times witnessed women as typically confined to the walls of their homes without
venturing a career for themselves or sharing the same work environments as men. However,
with the tides of time that brought forth a more equal space for venturing jobs, women were
able to pursue careers and earn livelihoods in an independent manner. There was a demand for
professionals with higher education which, thus, allowed women to also apply for these same
posts that were previously only offered to males. Moreover, with the higher standards of living
and families becoming more nuclear, there was a need for more inflow of income to maintain
these demanding costs of living.
In such a competitive atmosphere, the aspirations of workers would obviously rocket upwards
with the need to satisfy the demands of their authorities to ensure job security. This leads
women to provide utmost effort and attention solely to their profession which thus, leads to a
severe imbalance in their lives. Such an imbalance would then result in job inefficiency, lack
of concentration and such when only considering the organisational aspects of their work-lives.
When observing familial aspects, it definitely causes a strain as can be seen through the increase
in the number of divorces, suicide rates and the lack of attention to children which affects their
growth and well-being.
Thus, even though women are provided more opportunities in terms of career, it cannot be
ignored that they carry a significant baggage of obstacles with it, especially in the societal
contexts of India where there is immense pressure upon women’s shoulders in terms of family
demands, home management, child care and parent care. There are more obstacles to be faced
by them when attempting to strike this much-needed balance between their professional and
personal work lives which is why they are the primary focus of this study, in order to depict

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the pressing need for employers to draw up strategies and help women employees lead balanced
work-lives that do not frequently clash with their personal lives.

3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Due to globalisation, there has been drastic changes in the Indian scenario and a high degree
of competition existing in the work culture of organisations. Accordingly, they have to meet
the demands of their full-time work after which they are expected to bear the burden of more
responsibilities at their homes as well. There is an immense pressure upon them to juggle these
multiple duties which causes increases in anxiety and stress for the women. They are, thus, torn
between these seemingly incompatible commitments to work and family. Such circumstances
lead women to experience work-life imbalance which then results in distressing situations such
as increased stress levels, depression, higher family conflicts, etc., while organisations are
equally at disadvantage due to decreased job satisfaction, increased inefficiency, reduced
organisational commitment and reduced productivity. Therefore, this study focuses on female
teachers in the Ernakulam district and their capabilities of balancing their work-lives.

4. OBJECTIVES
1. To study the work-life balance of female teachers in private schools with special reference
to Ernakulam district.
2. To recommend strategies for working women to maintain Work-Life Balance.
3. To analyse the relationship and impact of work life balance on working female employees
personal life.
4. To analyse the relationship and impact of work life balance on working female employees’
professional life.

5. RESEARCH METHODOLGY
The research methodology includes overall design, data collection method and analysis
procedure. For this study both primary and secondary data are used. Primary data are collected
with the help of questionnaire which was made using Google forms and distributed as paper
based survey forms and online forms. The sample size is 54 which has been collected from
various female school teachers with special reference to Ernakulam region. Secondary data was
collected from journals, websites, articles, magazines and newspapers.
The responses are analysed using pie charts and bar graphs. The final interpretations of every
question in the questionnaire is written by converting the pie charts and bar graphs into a
descriptive form.

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 6. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

S.No Statements Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never Total

1. Ability of 19 23 11 0 1 54
respondents
to balance
their work-
life.
2. Ability of 20 28 5 1 0 54
the
respondents
to get
enough time
with family
after
working
hours
3 Respondents 3 17 28 5 1 54
who think or
worry about
work when
not at work
4 Missing out 1 20 25 3 5 54
on quality
time with
family and
friends
because of
work
pressure
5 Feeling tired 0 14 24 11 5 54
or depressed
because of
work
6 Ability to 3 21 21 6 3 54
make time
for exercise
7 Ability to 15 21 14 4 0 54
balance
individual
interests
and/or
hobbies
with work-
life
8 Respondents 5 12 14 11 12 54
usually
working for

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 more than 6
days a week
9 Respondents 5 16 14 11 8 54
usually
working
more than 8
hours per
day
10 Respondents 7 9 21 10 7 54
facing
pressure
from higher
authorities
to complete
the work
within a
given time
period
11 Respondents 12 16 22 4 0 54
receiving
appreciation
for the work
that they do
12 Freedom at 17 19 15 1 2 54
school to
make
decisions
regarding
students as
their teacher

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 7. FINDINGS
 Majority of the respondents are married.
 In terms of educational status almost half the respondents are Post Graduates and others
include Under Graduates followed by MPhil holders and a few with other
qualifications.
 It was found that less than half the respondents feel that they are often able to balance
their work-life.
 It was found that half the respondents often get enough time for their family after
working hours.
 Half the respondents sometimes think or worry about work when they are not actually
at work or travelling to work.
 More than 3/4th of the respondents gets slightly stressed around finding a work-life
balance.
 Almost half the respondents sometimes miss out on any quality time with their family
or friends because of work pressure.
 Almost half the respondents sometimes feel tired or depressed because of work.
 Less than half the respondents often or sometimes are not able to get time for working
out.
 Less than half the respondents are able to balance their individual interests and/or
hobbies with their work-life.
 Most of the respondents are satisfied with the working hours of the school.
 Most of the respondents believe that their school takes initiatives to manage the work-
life of its employees.
 Almost half the respondent’s schools provide flexible work timings and provides leave
to manage work-life.
 Almost half the respondents believe that the work is evenly distributed.
 Most of the employees think that policy for work-life management helps to increase the
productivity of the school.
 More than half the respondents’ works in schools which provide crèche facility for the
staffs children.
 More than half the respondents get maternity leaves.
 Most of the respondents are satisfied with the leave policy of the school.
 3/4th of the respondents often, sometimes, rarely and never work for more than 6 days
a week.
 3/4th of the respondents often, sometimes, rarely and never work for more than 8 hours
a day.
 Less than half the respondents have pressure from higher authorities to complete the
work within a given time period.
 Half the respondents think that they sometimes or often get enough appreciation for the
work that they do.
 More than half the respondents think that they have enough freedom in their school to
make decisions regarding students as their teachers.

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 8. SUGGESTIONS
 Most of the respondents think or worry about work when they are actually not at work
or travelling to work. This is a sign of work stress which creates anxiety among
employees to finish overloaded works within the time period. The schools should make
sure that the employees get to work in a stress-free work zone by making sure that none
of the employees are over-worked which gradually leads to less efficient output.
 Even though some of the schools provide crèche facility, the concept of crèche has to
be increased and adopted into more of schools as most female teachers find a huge
difficulty in taking care of their infants and work.
 The schools can keep a suggestion box for the employees to know about the problems
and requirements of the employees.
 The employees having stress related health problems and depression can try getting
help for mental health and practice meditation and yoga. The schools can provide a
refreshment and resting area only for the employees.
 Understanding and support should be extended from both families and schools to enable
a women to fulfil their dual roles.
 Make sure that the employees enjoy their work. If employees can enjoy their work it
will have a ripple effect to the rest of their life. So the schools can take care to see that
a healthy and friendly work culture is developed.
 Employees should try and make time for their families also as they are equally
important.
 The employees should make sure that they find time for working out or doing their
hobbies apart from work because that creates a state of peace and happiness for mind
to make sure that the employees are fit physically and mentally.
 A variety of initiatives can be taken by the schools for managing work-life. More of
such initiatives should be put into action.
 The pressure of work is high among the employees. Therefore the schools should make
sure that the employees and not over loaded with work and that the work is evenly
divided among all the employees.
 Maternity leave has been made compulsory by the government. But some of the
respondents still say that they are not provided with maternity leave and they eventually
have to quit their jobs. This is a serious issue and the schools have to make sure that
they do provide maternity leaves for their employees in the absence of which they’ll
have to go through legal procedures.
 Some of the employees say that they work for more than 6 days a week or more than 8
hours a day. This should be avoided as the employees will get exhausted physically and
mentally which eventually decreases their efficiency.
 The employees face pressure from higher authorities to complete the work within a
given period of time. The schools should make sure that they provide work goals which
are attainable by employees as per their efficiency.
 The employees should be given enough appreciation for the work that they do so that
they will be motivated to work more efficiently.
 The teachers should be given enough freedom to take decisions regarding students as
their teachers.

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 9. CONCLUSION
The study attempts to understand the conditions of the female employees and the conflicts that
they experience while trying to manage their dual roles in their families and workplaces.
Refining the methodology used when researching work-family lives is necessary to attain in-
depth understanding of one’s work and family life that is inclusive of multiple perspectives
such as stress, mental health and work demands. The need for formulation of guidelines in
order to manage work-life of women is of extreme importance as it is only with their efficient
performance in work that the organisation can also mutually benefit by means of improved and
increased productivity.

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