Leisure-Time Activities: A Sociological Analysis of Professional Women

Leisure and dynamic attitudes help in constituting a style of life. One’s style of life may be defined as the personal manner in which each individual conducts his or her daily life. The individuality of many a person is best asserted during his or her free-time activities and less during the work that he or she has to performs. Through their activities, the individual has the time and means for developing his style of life, even with respect to his work. Seeking and realizing a style of life, gives leisure its greatest significance. Leisure time appears as the framework of an attitude that is by no means marginal but that is a mediator between the culture of a society or a group and the reactions of an individual facing situation in daily life.

During the last two decades, the importance of leisure behavior has occupied the attention of researchers demanding for more study in this area. Among these studies, the examination of leisure activities via-a-vis the time factor as a result of some empirical contributions has made significant impacts on the conceptual and theoretical understanding of this area.

More women are entering into the professional life; therefore, it becomes important to see what the opinion of working women towards leisure activities is. Furthermore, this paper also tries to delineate the effect of leisure and leisure time activities on professional work of professional women and also vice-versa. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction from leisure time in turn affect the working capacity at work site and also at home. This paper reports the findings of an urban-based empirical study which assessed the impact of time constraint in particular on leisure activities of professional women’s.