A STUDY ON PROBLEMS FACED BY WORKING WOMEN · PDF fileCite this Article: M.P.Bavya and Raghunandan M.V, A Study on Problems Faced By Working Women of Bpo Sector in Mysuru, International

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 1, January 2018, pp. 399–406, Article ID: IJMET_09_01_043

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=1

ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

A STUDY ON PROBLEMS FACED BY

WORKING WOMEN OF BPO SECTOR IN

MYSURU

M.P.Bavya and Raghunandan M.V

Department of Management & Commerce, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Mysuru

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Mysuru, Karnataka, India

ABSTRACT:

Women’s participation in every sector is undoubtedly high and women employees

constitute one third part of the BPO sector but there are various difficulties faced by

them. Women who work in BPOs generally have an issue in balancing between three

jobs i.e. office, household and child care. It is also felt that they aren’t given equal

opportunities and the evaluation of performance isn’t fair. This study aims at

understanding the difficulties faced by women while working in BPOs. The aim of the

study is also to identify the various attributes that adds to a women’s safety and

security. The objectives of the study are to analyze the problems faced by women in

BPO sector and to understand the influence of education on women working in BPO

sector. The study was conducted in Mysore city and data was collected by giving the

respondents, structured questionnaires. The sample size of the study was 50 and the

tool used is reliability test, factor analysis and one way anova test. The result obtained

from the study says that hesitation is the problem that stands with women.

Keywords: women employee, BPO, problems, hesitation, family.

Cite this Article: M.P.Bavya and Raghunandan M.V, A Study on Problems Faced By

Working Women of Bpo Sector in Mysuru, International Journal of Mechanical

Engineering and Technology 9(1), 2018. pp. 399–406.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=1

1. INTRODUCTION:

In earlier days the contribution of a woman was restricted only to her home and family but

now, crossing the thorny boundaries of the society, women have ventured into corporate. The

growth of education and awareness has led women to work in industries and corporate.

“Women are not only the backbone of nuclear and joint families but also the national

economy”. Women have started venturing into areas which were seen as dominated by men.

Women in all fields have proved their excellence and skills. Women have proved their

commitment and versatility for ages and have also carried different roles successfully. When

highlighting BPO industry, women constitute a major part of the BPO sector and their

contribution to this area is huge. The specific reasons behind joining this industry are easy

A Study on Problems Faced By Working Women of Bpo Sector in Mysuru


entry and exit, acceptable remuneration and not much qualification. Despite all these facts,

women still find it difficult to cross the boundaries of their home and make future in the

corporate world. Further they also face issues like gender discrimination, harassment, stress

and less support from the family. Women employees are sometimes benchmarked against the

male counterparts, despite the fact that they undergo the same hardships to accomplish their

objectives. A married woman has higher responsibility to take care of children and the family

and hence encounter difficult situations sometimes. It is also because of the office norms that

a woman employee has to leave job as some companies do not facilitate them with maternal

and child care leaves. The growth of the BPO sector has been highly inspiring but it has also

caused tremendous changes in the life of its employees. As organization’s expectation from

an employee is high, employees have to focus on their demands which creates work life

imbalance resulting in stress. What makes the situation more alarming is the unique nature of

work as employees are only subjected to their work and recreations are generally ignored.

Along with all these facts another add on is that women are seldom considered for managerial

posts as somewhere the old and outdated prejudice prevails in the society about the efficiency

of a woman’s work. The great scientist Albert Einstein says that “Life is like riding a bicycle.

To keep our balance we must keep moving”. The participation of women has also raised the

challenges to balance between responsibilities of paid work and family life as there is barely a

time when there isn’t any struggle. As the years have passed the societal framework for

women has also been newly designed. Though the change is but slow, women are more

liberated and the role of women has undergone changes. However there are instances when

the safety and security of women at work place can be questioned. This particular study aims

at studying and understanding the different difficulties faced by professional women in BPO

and the facilities that a woman must be provided when at work place. The objective of the

study is to know the benefits provided to the female employees in a company and to

understand in its true context, the different hindrances or difficulties faced in work life in

BPO.

OBJECTIVES:

1) To study and analyze the problems faced by the working women of BPO sector in

Mysore

2) To analyze the influence of education on perceiving the problems by working women

of BPO sector

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:

No. Author & Title Methodology Conclusion Date & Journal

1. Women and BPOs in India –

Dr. Kousar Jahan Ara Begum

Data were collected using face

to face interview and through

two focus group discussions.

The data collected was by

questionnaires.

Women find it difficult to balance

between paid work and family

and also face high stress due to

work overload and other issues.

International journal of

humanities and social

science invention,

Volume 2, Issue 5, My

2013

2.

Problems faced by working

employees in BPO sector –

Dr.Patil Amol & Ashok

Kumar

For this study descriptive type

research design and sampling

method was adopted. Primary

data was collected through

structured questionnaires.

Secondary data was collected

from books, journals, magazine

and unpublished reports etc.

Women are suppressed and are

discriminated both at work places

and at home. They are not able to

give quality time to their family

and hence face hurdles to

maintain a balance between work

life and family.

North Asian

international research

journal of social

science and

Humanities, Vol-3

Issue-8 August 2017



3.

Women in the work place -

BPO industry –CM Sudha

&Arogya Mary

The study is based on primary

and secondary data.

Questionnaire was prepared and

followed. Books were referred

for secondary data collection.

Research design used is

descriptive research and sample

design is stratified random

sampling

She states that women generally

quit BPO jobs especially because

they are not provided various

allowances

Journal of philosophy,

culture and religion

Vol-3,2015

4.

A study on gender issues in

the workplace of women

employees in BPO sector,

India – Dr. SA Sameera &

Mr.Shakir Shaik

They state that women employees

are not considered for higher

posts in management and a

woman’s career development is

largely influenced by other’s

opinion.

Asian journal of

Management Sciences

5.

Women employees in BPO s

and call centers: problems

and solutions – Arvinder

Kaur & Shivani Gupta

Data collection was through

questionnaire and sample size

was 100.

Women are a huge part of the

BPO industry but they face

several challenges like safety and

security issues at workplaces and

these issues need to be addressed

very sensitively

Gian jyoti journal –

Volume 1 Issue 3

(Apr-Jun 2012)

6.

Challenges faced by working

women at workplace, family

and society: its major issues,

impact and remedial

measures – Ms Shivi Mittal,

Ms Sapna Sharma &Prof(Dr)

Prabhat Srivastava

Primary data was collected

through questionnaire and

secondary data was collected

through articles, research

papers and journals on women

empowerment.

Women face much gender

challenges. Women are not

considered for higher posts

largely and they do not get

maternal leaves and there is lack

of effective mechanism to several

law implementations regarding

the interests of women.


research in social

science and Humanities

Volume 5, issue 11

7.

Problem faced by women

executives working in public

sector banks in Puducherry –

P. Ashok Kumar & Dr. K

Sundar

Data were collected using

personal contact approach and

questionnaires.

Women executives face mental

stress and face exploitation due to

their submissive nature.


marketing, financial

services &

management research

Volume 1, July 2012

8.

Gender issues of women

employees at work place in

Indian BPO sector – Dr. TN

Murthy, Govinda Pedireddi

& Sayyed Imtiyaz


through pre tested, structured

interview schedule by direct

interview method.

Majority of the women employees

are not considered for higher post

and hence it can be derived that

discrimination prevails in the

work places.

National monthly

referred journal of

research in commerce

and management.

Volume 2, Issue 2

9.

A study of work life balance

with special reference to

Indian call center employees

– Parul Agarwal

This study was conducted by

exploratory research method

Work life programs have the

potential to significantly improve

employee morals, reduce

absenteeism and retain

organizational knowledge. Hence

employees must be equipped with

such programs that help restore

mental happiness.


engineering and

management research

Volume 4, Issue 1,

February 2014

10.

Mental and physical health

related problems of call

center workers – Dr. Vaibhav

kumar Ramanuj

A sample size of 100 call center

workers was interviewed.

It was observed that the call

center employees feel

occupational burnout and the

level of stress was high in both

the shifts

Research article



11.

Stress among working

women – Vemuri Swathi &

M Sudhir Reddy

Different literatures were

reviewed and data was

collected through

questionnaires

The study reveals that working

women are generally involved in

many tasks like balancing

between the family and work life

which is a reason for stress and

reduced performance.


computational

engineering and

management

Volume 19, Issue 4,

July 2016

12.

Women employee work life

and challenges to industrial

relations: Evidences from

North Kerala –

S Rajesh & Manoj PK

The respondents were

personally contacted and

interviewed in the factory

premises during the off duty

hours.

This study aims at factors like low

salary, job insecurity, harassment

at workplace, shift work, lack of

legal protection and poor working

conditions. This study concludes

that programs can be organized to

create awareness in the women

workforce regarding all the

aspects.


computational

engineering and

management

Volume 19, Issue 4,

July 2016

13.

The perspective of challenges

for women HR managers in

Indian BPO industry

This study is based on both

primary and secondary data.

Primary data was collected by

way of administering a

structured questionnaire.

Women in managerial posts also

have the problems that any

women employee has.

International journal in

multidisciplinary and

academic research,

Volume 3, Issue 3.

14.

A case study on

psychological and physical

stress undergone by married

working women –

Bhuvaneshwari M

Questionnaires were used to

collect primary data.

This study concludes that stress

can be well managed through

institutional support.

Journal of business

management

Volume 14 Issue 6,

Nov-Dec 2013.

15.

Women empowerment in the

BPO sector in Bangalore –

Damini Singhal &Nidhi

Maheshwari

Random sampling method was

used and data was collected

from both primary and

secondary sources.

Gender bias still prevails in the

society as women are sometimes

not considered for higher

management posts in the work

places.


ethics in engineering

and management

education, Volume 1,

Issue 8, August 2014

16.

An impact of stress on

women employees with

reference to selected BPOs in

Visakhapatnam – T Narayana

Rao & Dr.V Srinivasa Prasad

Survey method was employed

to collect data from the

respondents through

questionnaires.

Job related stress is a major

challenge for working women.

Organizations have to understand

the needs of the women

employees and must provide

counseling sessions.


scientific research and

management.

17.

A study on employee

retention in BPO sector with

special reference to

Coimbatore city – S Mohan

& Dr. PR Muthu Swamy


through questionnaires.

The management must try to

retain those employees who are

really important for the system

i.e. effective contributors to the

organization


informative and

futuristic research

Volume 2, Issue 6, Feb

2015

18.

Problems and prospects of

women employees in BPO

sector: a study of selected

BPOs in Delhi and NCR –

Sarangdevot, S S Yadav,

Rajender Kumar Sharma,

Rakesh Kumar

Questionnaires were collected

using primary data and

secondary data by referring

journals

In this study it was observed that

women working in BPOs were

subject to stress and the issues of

safety was a question

IUP Journal of

Entrepreneurship

Development,

Hyderabad, Volume 9,

Issue 2, June 2012

19.

Work life balance issues of

women at call centers –

Sujata, T Lata Singh, and

Sapna.


through questionnaires and

personal interviews.

This study focuses on the

problems faced by women to

balance between their job in the

office and household duties.

(2011) IUP Journal of

Entrepreneurship

Development,

Hyderabad, Volume

10, Issue 4, October



20.

Problems faced by working

women in India – Dr.

Kamini, B Dashora

A detailed study of the related

articles, books and journals

were done and data was

collected through interviews

and questionnaires.

It was found in this study that

women face various problems

related to safety, stress and family

support while working.


Advanced Research in

Management and

Social Sciences,

ISSN:2278-6236

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The present study is confined to women employees working in BPO sector in Mysuru. This

study lights upon women employees working in BPOs in Mysuru and the different challenges

like gender discrimination, harassment, stress faced by them while at work.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The first objective of this paper i.e., to study and analyse the problems faced by working

women in Mysore, Karnataka. The important dimensions were considered from the literature

survey for the problems faced by working women. Those are: Hesitation, Gender

Discrimination, Salary, Insecurity, Family Support and Stress. Each dimension was measured

nearly four to five variables using Likert scale 1 to 5. The data was collected using

questionnaire for the sample of fifty working women of BPO sector in Mysore. The sample

size was restricted to fifty due to feasibility, ease and involvement of cost. The reliability test

or Cronbach’s Alpha was conducted for the above said dimensions. This test is generally used

for internal consistency of data collected using the questionnaire. The reliability test was

conducted using SPSS (Software Package for Social Sciences) version 14 and results are

shown in the Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Reliability test for problems faced by women

Dimension Cronbach’s Alpha

Hesitation 0.67

Gender Discrimination 0.62

Salary 0.65

Insecurity 0.71

Family Support 0.69

Stress 0.66

Cronbach’s Alpha values obtained in the Table 1.1 are more than 0.60 and this was

considered acceptable level for small size of data. In the questionnaire, questions were framed

to measure these dimensions. These dimensions were analysed based on the average ratings

given by the working women. Initially, average ratings were considered for each variable with

respect to each dimension. Then the average of each dimension was calculated with respect to

all variables of that dimension. The results are shown in the Table 1.2.

After getting the average of the dimensions, it has given ranks based on the average.

Higher the average indicates the higher rank and this has been considered as most influencing

dimension for the problem faced by working women. According to this “Hesitation”

dimension was the highest rank and this was considered as most influencing dimension for

problems faced by working women. Other reasons followed this in the order; Salary,

Insecurity, Stress, Gender Discrimination and Family Support. This indicates “Hesitation” is

the general characteristic of the women in the society. They always hesitate to give any

information to male higher officer or sharing of information to others. The lowest influencing

problem was family support; generally working women have family support in all respect by

the family.



Table 1.2 Average ratings for dimensions

Dimensions Variables Average of variables Average Rank

Hesitation

Hesitation Q1 4.62

3.94 I

Hesitation Q2 4.06

Hesitation Q3 3.60

Hesitation Q4 3.98

Hesitation Q5 3.46

Gender Discrimination

Gender Discrimination Q1 2.60

3.24 V Gender Discrimination Q2 3.28



Salary

Salary Q1 4.28

3.76 II Salary Q2 4.10

Salary Q3 2.48

Salary Q4 4.20

Insecurity

Insecurity Q1 2.04

3.69 III Insecurity Q2 4.12

Insecurity Q3 4.26

Insecurity Q4 4.34

Family Support

Family Support Q1 2.66

2.68 VI Family Support Q2 3.84



Stress

Stress Q1 3.74

3.49 IV

Stress Q2 2.74

Stress Q3 3.90

Stress Q4 4.28

Stress Q5 2.80

The second objective is to analyse the influence of education on problems faced by the

working women of BPO sector in Mysore. The education of the working women was not

significantly different (P > 0.05) for all the dimensions. This result was shown in the Tables

1.3 to 1.8. The ANOVA post hoc results are not required because between the groups in the

ANOVA result is not having significant difference. This indicates that the different education

group of working women were having almost same perception on the problems, which they

were facing.

Table 1.3 ANOVA test result: Hesitation score

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 0.131 2 0.065 0.351 0.706

Within Groups 8.752 47 0.186

Total 8.883 49



Table 1.6 ANOVA test result: Insecurity score

Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 0.637 2 0.318 1.674 0.198


Total 9.570 49

Table 1.7 ANOVA test result: Family support score

Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 0.415 2 0.207 0.631 0.537


Total 15.880 49

Table 1.8 ANOVA test result: Stress score

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 0.731 2 0.365 1.555 0.222


Total 11.777 49

4. CONCLUSIONS:

The first objective that is to find and analyse the problems faced by the working women of

BPO sector in Mysore was analysed based on the ranks given to the dimensions. These ranks

are given based the averages of the dimensions and average of the dimensions were calculated

based on ratings given by the working women. Finally, the dimensions were emerged out

from this result are in the order of ranking: Hesitation, Salary, Insecurity, Stress, Gender

Discrimination and Family Support. In these dimensions “Hesitation” is most critical problem

faced by the working women. Generally, hesitation is the characteristic of women in the

society. In the second objective that is influence of education of the working women on

problems they were facing was analysed by the AVOVA test. In this test, different education

groups of working women were not having significant difference on the problems they were

facing. It indicates that despite the different educational background, working women have

almost the same perception on problems they were facing.

REFERENCES:

[1] Dr. Kousar Jahan Ara Begum, Women and BPOs in India, International journal of

humanities and social science invention Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2013

[2] Dr.Patil Amol & Ashok Kumar, Problems faced by working employees in BPO sector,

North Asian international research journal of social science and Humanities Vol-3 Issue-8

August 2017

[3] CM Sudha &Arogya Mary, Women in the work place - BPO industry, Journal of

philosophy, culture and religion Vol-3, 2015

[4] Dr. SA Sameera & Mr.Shakir Shaik, A study on gender issues in the workplace of women

employees in BPO sector, India Asian journal of Management Sciences

[5] Arvinder Kaur & Shivani Gupta, Women employees in BPO s and call centers: problems

and solutions, Gian jyoti journal – Volume 1 Issue 3 (Apr-Jun 2012)



[6] Ms Shivi Mittal, Ms Sapna Sharma &Prof (Dr) Prabhat Srivastava, Challenges faced by

working women at workplace, family and society: its major issues, impact and remedial

measures, International journal of research in social science and Humanities Volume 5,

issue 11

[7] P. Ashok Kumar & Dr. K Sundar ,Problem faced by women executives working in public

sector banks in Puducherry, International journal of marketing, financial services &

management research Volume 1, July 2012

[8] Dr. TN Murthy, Govinda Pedireddi & Sayyed Imtiyaz, Gender issues of women

employees at work place in Indian BPO sector, National monthly referred journal of

research in commerce and management. Volume 2, Issue 2

[9] Parul Agarwal, A study of work life balance with special reference to Indian call center

employees, International journal of engineering and management research Volume 4,

Issue 1, February 2014

[10] Dr. Vaibhav kumar Ramanuj, Mental and physical health related problems of call center

workers, Research article

[11] Vemuri Swathi & M Sudhir Reddy, Stress among working women, International journal

of computational engineering and management Volume 19, Issue 4, July 2016

[12] S Rajesh & Manoj PK, Women employee work life and challenges to industrial relations:

Evidences from North Kerala, International journal of computational engineering and

management Volume 19, Issue 4, July 2016

[13] The perspective of challenges for women HR managers in Indian BPO industry,

International journal in multidisciplinary and academic research Volume 3, Issue 3.

[14] Bhuvaneshwari M, A case study on psychological and physical stress undergone by

married working women, Journal of business management Volume 14 Issue 6 Nov-Dec

2013

[15] Damini Singhal &Nidhi Maheshwari, Women empowerment in the BPO sector in

Bangalore, International journal of ethics in engineering and management education

Volume 1, Issue 8, August 2014

[16] T Narayana Rao & Dr.V Srinivasa Prasad, An impact of stress on women employees with

reference to selected BPOs in Visakhapatnam, International journal of scientific research

and management

[17] S Mohan & Dr. PR Muthu, A study on employee retention in BPO sector with special

reference to Coimbatore city, International journal of informative and futuristic research

Volume 2, Issue 6, Feb 2015

[18] Sarangdevot, S S Yadav, Rajender Kumar Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Problems and

prospects of women employees in BPO sector: a study of selected BPOs in Delhi and

NCR, IUP Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, Hyderabad, Volume 9, Issue 2, June

2012

[19] Sujata, T Lata Singh, and Sapna, Work life balance issues of women at call centers, IUP

Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, Hyderabad, Volume 10, Issue 4, October 2011

[20] Dr. Kamini, B Dashora, Problems faced by working women in India, International journal

of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences, ISSN: 2278-6236

[21] T. Ezhilarasi, A Study on Problems Faced By Married Non-Working Women While

Taking Decisions in their Household Affairs, International Journal of Management (IJM),

Volume 7, Issue 2, February (2016), pp. 567--571

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A STUDY ON PROBLEMS FACED BY WORKING WOMEN · PDF fileCite this Article: M.P.Bavya and Raghunandan M.V, A Study on Problems Faced By Working Women of Bpo Sector in Mysuru, International