67% Women Struggle To Maintain Work-Life Balance, Report by IIM- Ahmedabad Reveals

New Delhi: ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Phao’ slogan surely helped increase literacy rates among girls, but educated ones who break glass ceiling and land a job struggle to maintain work-life balance. A recent report by Gender Centre at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedab (IIM-A) has revealed that 67.75% of women felt that y struggle to achieve work-life balance. y also highlighted ongoing challenges with unpaid domestic work. 

report, titled “Women’s Empowerment at Subnational Level: Towards Achieving Gender Equality (SDG 5)”, introduces Women Empowerment Index that provides a detailed, district-level analysis of women’s empowerment across India, offering new insights and data to help vance gender equality.

‘Men Haven’t Taken Equal Share of Household Responsibility'

Speaking during report launch, Professor Satish Deodhar, Dean (Faculty), IIMA, underscored need for men’s participation in sharing household responsibilities to achieve work-life balance for both genders. He said, “Of four parameters studied in report, work-life balance parameter shows least progress. Only about 32% of women reported that y could manage work-life balance. In my opinion, women’s workforce participation is intricately linked to responsible household work participation by men. As men have not taken ir equal share of household responsibilities proactively, it is ultimately hindering quality of labour-force participation of women. This report by Gender Centre at IIMA serves not only as a measure of progress but also as a romap for future interventions to enhance women’s empowerment and participation in workforce.”

study compared and analysed data for women aged between 15 to 49 from a total of 705 districts across country from National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) and NFHS-5.

705 districts were taken as samples for report. 67.5% of districts report women empowered in decision-making and mobility. Reports suggest that average number of women completing higher education increased from 11.43 per 100 women in NFHS 4 to 14.42 per 100 women in NFHS 5. However, primary and secondary education didn’t show very significant differences. 

Key findings from report are:

• Of sample of 705 districts, 67.5% of districts report women empowered in decision-making and mobility. re has been an increase in women's involvement in decision-making, particularly regarding ir healthcare, household purchases, and how to spend ir husband's income. percentage of women who make decisions, eir alone or jointly with ir partners, has grown.
• percentage of women who have ownership of ir assets (land or house) alone or jointly with ir partner has also increased from 29.09% in NFHS-4 to 35.00% in NFHS-5.
• Higher education: average number of women completing higher education increased from 11.43 per 100 women in NFHS 4 to 14.42 per 100 women in NFHS 5. But primary and secondary education didn’t show very significant differences.
• Furrmore, interest in mass media has also surged from 69.12% in NFHS-4 to 76.24% in NFHS-5, with more women engaging with various forms of media, indicating greater exposure to mass media (listening to rio, watching television, and reing newspapers).
• Although women’s literacy rates have increased, only 46.1% districts reported educational empowerment, and women respondent in just 32.25% of districts felt that y were able to achieve work-life balance, highlighting ongoing challenges with unpaid domestic work.

Professor Vidya Vemireddy, Chairperson Gender Centre and co-author of report, emphasised importance of this initiative and said, “Our initiative at Gender Centre at IIMA is to provide a replicable methodology which would help multiple stakeholders to generate localised district-level insights to identify and track progress and future areas of improvement in women’s empowerment and SDG 5 indicators. This effort is aimed to support existing policy and research ecosystem via ensuring a data-driven approach to monitor gender equality at local levels and towards achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality) goal.”

report launch was followed by a panel discussion on topic ‘Women’s Workforce Participation’. panellists included: Meha Patel, Vice Chairperson, Zydus Foundation; Dr. Ranjitha Puskur, Principal Scientist, Gender & Livelihoods, International Rice Research Institute; Amrita Kumar, Director, Dayal Group; and Rumjhum Chatterjee, Chairperson, CII Centre for Women Leership and Co-Founder and Managing Trustee of Infravision Foundation.

Yesterday, centre also held a stakeholder dialogue on “Realising Women’s Potential in Agri-food Systems”, which aimed to build an understanding of challenges faced by rural women in agri-food systems across different regions of India and explore innovative and transformative solutions and good practices that can empower rural women.