Challenges of Modern Working Women in India: Balancing between Work and Home

Women's Empowerment is a process enabling females to understand the relationship between their actions and outcomes, allowing them to achieve the results they desire. Empowerment is an intrinsic motivation made up of four cognitions: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. The globalized economy has facilitated the entry of women into various sectors, empowering them economically and socially. Globalization has coincided with a global increase in female workforce participation rates which has narrowed the gender gap from 32 to 26 percent. Several factors associated with globalisation including the growth of production and export in the developing world are responsible for this. Despite representing half the world's population, women and girls still face inequalities that stifle social and economic progress. They only contribute to 37 percent of the global GDP. The effects of globalization have been gender-differentiated because of the differences between men and women in terms of access to and control over assets and economic resources.

On the one hand, women are the backbone of families. They provide care, support, and nurturing to their families, essential to the development of children. On the other hand, women also play a significant role in community building and often take on leadership roles in community organizations. However, working mothers face a distinctive set of challenges in the professional arena. Biases against their commitment to work, assumptions about their inability to work late or during weekends, and the potential for frequent absences due to family responsibilities can make them restrictive in the recruiting process, contributing to their stress and frustration. The juggling act between work and maternity, compounded by social norms and workplace expectations, can result in difficult decisions for women striving to excel in both spheres. The paper focuses on women of the middle and lower class who are struggling between empowerment and home management.