Paper short abstract:

Dual-career families have drastically increased in our Indian societies since women are taking a more prevalent role in the workforce. Against this backdrop, the present study makes an humble attempt to study the role conflict among the working women in dual career families in Sambalpur city of Odisha, India. Data were collected by interview, observation, case study and focus-group discussion methods from sixty married women, working in different government and non-government sectors in Sambalpur city. The study explores how the multiplicities of familial and professional roles are creating conflicts among these working women due to lack of familial support and sympathy.

Paper long abstract:

Role conflict of employed women in dual career families has become an inevitable subject for discussion in the context of recent globalization. Women's liberation movements in the last centuries along with changing socio-economic dynamics and higher educational exposure expanded the opportunities for qualified women in India to enter in to the workforce for personal satisfaction and self-enrichment rather than simply for supplemental income in family. In this changed social milieu women are now entering into the labour force taking up different professional roles with admirable designations in the organizations. Thus playing several roles simultaneously with inadequate time and energy often creates conflicts in the role performance of these working women. Against this backdrop, the present study makes an humble attempt to study the role conflict among the working women in dual career families in Sambalpur city of Odisha. It tries to explore how the multiplicities of familial and professional roles are creating conflicts among these women in the dual career families and analyzes how they are failed to balance these roles due to lack of sympathy and familial support. Data were collected from sixty married women working in different government and non-government sectors in Sambalpur city. Adjustment in family life depends on the attitude and personality traits of individual. Often the new sets of demands by the members in family and unpreparedness on the part of these overloaded working women to fulfill them are the major causes of these conflicts which lead to disharmonious functioning of the family structure.