Life satisfaction and stress among working women and housewives

In India, especially in urban areas an increase in female employment outside the home has occurred during the last few decades. This has greatly increased the number of multiple role women. A working woman may face difficulties in attempting to fulfill the demands of both worlds, at home and outside, while a housewife may feel tired and irritated with her household chores and financial dependence. All these may cause stress in these two groups and may affect their life satisfaction. The present study was undertaken to examine and compare the level of life satisfaction and stress among working women and housewives. Altogether 80 married working women and housewives whose age ranged from 25 to 40 years were randomly selected from Moradabad city. Alam Life Satisfaction Scale was used to see the level of satisfaction among the two groups of women whereas Singh Personal Stress Source Inventory was administered on the subjects to examine their level of stress. It was found that magnitude of life satisfaction was significantly higher among working women whereas housewives were significantly better in terms of the level of stress. Incompatibility between work and family life disturb the thought process of working women that is manifested as higher stress among them.