‘Working and Earning Status versus Domestic Responsibilities

that women would not achieve equal opportunities at work until their men-folk

contributed more to looking after the home. Sifferlin’s (2014) reveals that on an

average day, 83% of women and 65% of men spent some time doing household

activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household

management. On an average day, 19% of men did housework–such as cleaning or

doing laundry–compared with 49% of women. 42% of men did food preparation

or cleanup, compared with 68% of women. On an average day, among adults living

in households with children under age 6, women spent 1 hour providing physical

care (such as bathing or feeding a child) to household children; by contrast, men

spent 26 minutes providing physical care. Strasser (2012) reiterated that in spite

of 59.4% of working-age women are currently in the American workforce and

with 80% of women are the primary or co-bread winner for their household; most

women are still left doing the majority of the house work. This disproportionate

burden of housework on women shows that a ‘second shift’ still exists for those

women who work.

Methodology

Data for the present study were collected by employing ‘Descriptive Survey

Method’. ‘Descriptive research is devoted to the gathering of information about

prevailing conditions or situations for the purpose of description and interpretation.

(Salaria, 2012) A questionnaire with the basic demographic information and a

checklist of forty-two family chores were administered to the sample. Sampling

was done using stratified purposive sampling technique. (Cohen, 2006) The

sample included 112 working women from Nashik city, aging from 23 to 56 years.

The forty two ‘Everyday Family Chores’ listed in the checklist were sub divided

into five categories namely, Kitchen and food related Chores, cleaning related

chores, chores related to daily routine and maintenance, chores concerning

children and elders in family and finally, work outside home.

Findings

Out of sample population of 112 working women, 72 (64.28%) were salaried,

29 (25.89%) were self-employed and 11 (09.82%) were professionals such as

lawyers and doctors. The sample belonged to a monthly family income ranging

from ` 15, 000/- to ` 60,000/- and above. More than 90% of the respondents (102

women-91.07%) were coming from nuclear families and in about 90% of the cases

(98 women-87.50%) both the partners were gainfully employed. More than 80%

of the respondents (91Women- 81.25 %) were educated with at least graduation.

The forty two ‘Everyday Family Chores’ listed in the checklist were broadly

divided into 5 categories as shown in table no. 1.

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