Dual career couples are a relatively new addition to the Indian workforce. In a country where women from urban educated India are increasingly joining the professional workforce, the socio-psychological profile is changing. With the economic boom and liberalization, the middle class in India has swollen to large proportions, bringing with it more prosperity and availability of resources. With both spouses working towards an increasing pay check, there is a proportional increase in their stressors and strains. To reduce stress these career couples try to cope. This paper aims to identify whether there are any gender differences in coping styles of these dual career couples. It looks at gender differences from the perspective of work family life cycle (WFLC), assuming that each stage of the work family life cycle brings in different stressors, which may lead to different styles for coping stress. Thus, the paper also attempts to answer a pertinent question to analyze if there are gender differences and at what stage of the WLFC these operate.
Work family conflict, work stress, dual career, gender issues
