Role Satisfaction of Employed and Unemployed Mothers Regarding Child-Care Activities

Indian employed mothers have dual responsibility of concentrating on the family and work. Thus employed mothers are not fully satisfied for their role performance as compared to unemployed mothers. The study was designed on the basis of scarcity hypothesis; this hypothesis postulates that individuals have a limited amount of time, energy and attention. Therefore multiple roles could easily and quickly deplete an individual’s resources and affecting their satisfaction, if not allocated appropriately. Women still bear more responsibility for child-care than their male counterparts. Since mothers are more likely to prepare their children for day care and school in the morning hours than fathers, working mothers, in reality, are engaged in three shifts combining family, care work and paid work. The present study was carried out in Udaipur city of Rajasthan state. Out of total 150 respondents 75 each employed and unemployed mothers were selected. The questionnaire was sent to each sampled mother through their children and data were collected. The study was designed to compare the satisfaction derived by employed and unemployed mothers of nuclear families in the performance of child-related activities. The results showed that employed mothers required greater help from others including husbands in child-care activities because women who work will have less time and ability to attend to duties at home.