Causes and Effects of Stress among Women Workers in the Private Sectors – A Study.
 
Sahadeva Raula*
Research Scholar, North Odisha University

Abstract - Stress is a chemical process in the human brain, which generate by some external affectional or forcefully sources. Stress can be relaxed but one can learn how to manage it .In the Jharsuguda District of Odisha state ,within last few years has shown that a large numbers of small scale private Industries has been developed . The majority of Women Workers are engaged in those private sectors.The present study is based on a sample of 70 women employees from various private organizations in Jharsuguda district, the majority of which were experienced more than 2 years.

Here the main discussion is, what changes are required to manage stress among working women and what is being done to get the best services in the private sector. For that, a set of questioners are framed for analysis and to prevent the predominant factor that causes stress and to provide the best solutions to overcome it.
Keywords - Stress, women workers, workplace pressure, tension, targets in work and family life.

INTRODUCTION

Within last few years India has shown huge developments in the areas of communication, software and power sectors. In today‘s context the word stress we often listen everywhere in this
globalized world, In general terms, the meaning of stress is often described as feelings of being under too much physical, emotional, and mental resulting in strain. The growth of the private sector has been tremendous as compared to the public sector. While this growth has been inspiring, the
lifestyle of women workers from this sector has also changed drastically. While the nature of jobs in the private sector is called blue-collared jobs which involves some manual work and could also be technical related jobs, public sector jobs are considered to be white-collared jobs on account of the job being professional, and it requires a strong academic background and it is generally an office job. Though the income in the private sector is low, the job satisfaction level of private employees is still a question mark. and this is even true in the case of women workers , because balancing family and work-life are making more stress and challenge in today‘s context.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In this topic, the problem is to study stress on women workers in the private sectors of Jharsuguda city. Today most working women are experiencing stress at work. Balancing work and family life became difficult for every woman worker in any sector. Most of the time women workers are facing a lot of stress which effects their health and family maintenance. Stress Management can enable women workers to improve their family and personal life. Hence the study is aimed to find out predominant factors that is causing stresses and to enable them to follow proper stress management techniques.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of the study is to investigate and examine the effects of work-related stress on Women workers in the private sectors of Jharsuguda city.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

  1. Research Design
Sources of data collection: Primary Data–The survey method was employed to collect the data from the women workers and the data was collected with the help of a structured Questionnaire.
Sampling: The study was planned among 70 women workers in Jharsuguda city. The data was analyzed with the help of Microsoft excel.

STRESS

Stress has been identified as one of the most common perils of modern lifes. It has become a major buzzword and a legitimate concern of the ultimate human. The characteristics of life have undergone radical changes over the last century and are still shifting at a twister pace.

According to Barrie S Greiff, the term stress has come into wide use in behavioral studies only within the past four decades. Originating in the physical sciences, the term has the meaning of a force which, acting on a body, produces strain or deformation. Later stress has come to represent the bodily condition under strain. In physical and biological sciences and behavioral study, the concept of stress meant an extreme condition, involving tension, perhaps damage some form of resistance to the straining force. Stress aggravates other conditions such as mental illness,diabetes, alcoholism, drug abuse, family discord and violence.

WOMEN WORKERS

From the ancient time women in India have been came from as an expert housewife/homemaker .
She not only has acquired skills and abilities to being a perfect housewife but being at the same level with their spouse or a life partner. Now, women want to follow up their dream careers and this is the new propagation of working women. At the same time, women are suffering from many symptoms of stress. More difficulty arises with those women, who are working in the private sectors. They have to fulfill the assorted demand at the workplace and home. Today, maximum married couples are working to create a balance with occupational life as well as their personal life at home with their children. But it is not that easy for women as she has to take on multiple roles right from a cook, a tutor, a housemaid who takes care of the home, a caretaker as well as cater to fulfill requirements at home. At this place, a working woman can be strained and restless.

B) Research Analysis and Interpretations

Stress can be categorized by three main parameters for working women, those are , Job Stress, Psychological and Personal stress.

Table-1: Job Stress

Source: Field Study
From the table -1 of rank order 1 to 10, it is observed that most of the women employees are pessimistic about their job and they ranked it as 1. Observation from the study reveals that most of the women workers perception of their job is negative. Some of them ranked 2 for low salaries, and 3 for Poor job satisfaction, 4 for frequent arguments with customers, 5 for Change in responsibilities at work, 6- for Gender bias, 7 for Workaholic boss, 8 for More worried about a job, 9 for over workload, 10- for Sexual harassment.

Table-2: Psychological Stress

Source: Field Study
From the study of table -2, it is observed that 23% of the women workers are suffering from frequent back pains, neck pains, and another 23% of the respondents starting that frequent headaches. Nearly 17% of the women employees are suffering from depression which leads to high stress. 15% of the women are suffering from Thyroid and 12% are suffering from sleeping disorder which leads to high stress and laziness. Nearly 10% of the women workers are suffering from menstruation problems, which general cause them depressed and uncomfortable.

Table-3: Personal Stress

Source: Field Study
From the table - 3, it is observed that personal stress and its impact on women workers; it is observed clearly that 26% of the women workers are facing child care problems at home. Nearly 24% of the employee‘s statement that they are in personal financial problems. 18% of the workers are stating that they are having marital problems. 17% of the workers are stating that they are having problems with their in-laws and 15% of the workers are stating that the quality of personal life that they are leading causes them stress.
Table-4: The solution to overcome Stress

CONCLUSION

In the private sectors job-related stress is a major challenge for working women. Therefore the stress management for women worker are very essential as it suffer their work life and family. From the study it is observed that the majority of the women workers feel a pessimistic talk on their job and they ranked it as 1, the study reveals that 23% of the women workers are facing multiple health issues like, frequent headache , back pains , 26% of the married women are facing child care problems. Private sectors have to understand the needs of the women workers and they have to provide a good number of counseling sessions and to provide good opportunities for their career development. Conducting regular health checkups and frequent yoga classes can make them balance family and work-life stress.

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