Urban Working Women Research Articles

‘You are gold’: the role of workwear jewelry advertisements in ‘Disempowering’ urban working women in India

ABSTRACT From 2011 onward, jewelry advertisements in India have witnessed a surge in multimedia campaigns of branded work wear gold and diamond jewelry. These commercials target the urban Indian working woman with an affinity for fine, workwear jewelry marketed as versatile, cool and chic. This study takes up discourse analysis of 23 select commercials released on television channels and over the top (OTT) platforms between 2017 and 2022 to unravel the many contesting and contradictory displays of women’s apparently empowered personas. In doing so, it also seeks to unravel the rather complicated connections between the jewelry business and the gendered cultural habitus of working women in contemporary urban India. Most women depicted in the advertisements possess high economic and cultural capital and are seen as ‘doing urbanity’ in choosing workwear jewelry. Ironically though these possessors of refined habitus are perfectly adjusted in performing traditional gendered roles and relegating their own self-hoods, a much saleable business trope for advertisers. Such portrayals of urban Indian working women subtly and paradoxically dovetail in valorizing ideals of traditional femininity. This paper further argues that jewelry advertisements become sites where the projection of the ‘urban Indian working woman’ becomes a conduit for legitimizing a more mutated and reflexive patriarchy.

Perception of urban and rural working women towards e-banking

Perception of urban and rural working women towards e-banking

EMBRACING KHADI: URBAN INDIAN WORKING WOMEN'S AFFINITY FOR WESTERN OFFICE ATTIRE

In urban India number of women’s joining the corporate firms has grown significantly and hence the market for women’s office wear is expanding exponentially. The work wear outfit choices of these women’s matters a lot to them as it reflects their personality and somewhere their position in workplace. With changing lifestyles, women’s preference for western office wear outfits has increased. Also, on the other hand Consumer lifestyle preferences in Urban India shows some awareness and inclination towards sustainable fashion choices. This paper aims to analyse Urban Indian working women acceptance for western office wear outfits made using Khadi fabric which is one of the sustainable textile materials. This paper is an extension to a previous study on understanding consumer behaviour towards sustainable fashion and office wear outfit need and preferences of working women in India. For the research western office wear outfits styles were developed using Khadi Fabric material and were subjected to analysis on seven parameters – Fabric look and feel, Garment Quality, Garment Comfort, Garment Style and fashion, Garment Size and Fit, Garment care and maintenance and Garment Price and value. The primary data for the study has been collected from user’s study conducted over the period of three months with an average of once in a week usage of the garment The goal of primary research is to capture users authentic experiences as a potential consumer - while wearing the garment and after care. The findings suggest that the acceptance by users and potential target consumer was significantly related to the seven analysis parameters. This research recommends Sustainable Fashion brands, Women’s western office wear brands, Khadi weavers and designers to adapt and diversify Khadi in such a way which can deliver higher level of customer value and satisfaction Also the research can be useful for customers to adopt Khadi and for other stakeholders to popularize it.

Antecedents of economic empowerment: an empirical study of working women in Delhi-NCR

PurposeWomen’s economic empowerment (WEE) has emerged as a key component at national and international policy-making agendas. The purpose of this paper is to examine and validate the antecedents of WEE for urban working women.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a descriptive and exploratory research design. A total of 286 responses from women working in the formal sector of Delhi-NCR were collected through self-administered questionnaires on a five-point Likert scale using non-probability quota sampling technique. The sample was controlled for the employment sector, that is, healthcare, education and information technology. Exploratory factor analysis has been performed in the first step to test the data’s dimensionality with the goal of producing a set of items that reflect the meaning of the relative construct. Thereafter, confirmatory factor analysis has been used for data analysis.FindingsDigital banking usage (DBU) has been identified as the most significant contributor to WEE.Practical implicationsBesides digital banking, government support has also emerged as a key indicator of WEE, necessitating a government policy review to improve WEE. Research findings indicate that, if WEE initiatives are to reach their full potential, they must individually address the extracted factors. This study offers a new framework for understanding and enhancing WEE for urban working women in India.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to use factor analysis to explore the multi-dimensionality of WEE using the novel dimensions of DBU, women’s agency and government support, in addition to the established variables of financial literacy, social norms and workplace human resource policies.

Knowledge, attitude and perception about surrogacy among urban working women

Introduction and Aim: Infertility is a social stigma in India. Infertility affects 10% of the population in India. Surrogacy is an advanced form of assisted reproductive technique (ART) wherein one woman bears a baby for another woman. Surrogacy is an alternative for the infertile parents for whom it is difficult to have a baby due to medical reasons. The aim was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception about the ethical issues involved in surrogacy among urban working women.
 Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was devised to determine knowledge, attitude, and perception about surrogacy among young working women. Questionnaire was sent for validation and then distributed to urban working women between the age group of 25-35 years. The questionnaire consisted of 21 questions with a range of 4-point response options and 1 open-ended question. Based on their response given a descriptive analysis was done using SPSS 16.
 Results: The urban women were aware of the ethical principles. 63% believe women should not be forced and have complete autonomy in making decisions. 60% believed Surrogate mothers and the baby born of surrogacy should not be ill-treated by the community and 70% said they should be given respect like any other human being.
 Conclusion: Altruistic surrogacy should be promoted and not commercial surrogacy as commercial surrogacy leads to the exploitation of the mother’s womb for money. 70% of women in our study believe that the Indian government should not promote surrogacy and in order to protect the rights and prevent injustice suitable Laws should be made and put into action.

Beauty Premium of Working Women in Urban Indonesia

Being attractive is believed to give many benefits in life. Economic studies have observed that physical attractiveness is associated with a higher wage. The benefits of being attractive have been perceived from early age, to the labor market, and to the marriage market. Despite all the advantages that beauty brings, efforts are being made to achieve or maintain attractiveness. People spend substantial resources, such as time and money, to enhance appearance. Using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression, this study examines the correlation between perceived attractiveness and earnings among urban working women in Indonesia. Findings show that the income of women who perceive themselves as attractive is 19% higher than those who are unattractive after makeup application. Meanwhile, attractiveness without makeup application is found uncorrelated with earnings. Thus, grooming behavior may be a source of the observed wage premium for female workers.

A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR OF URBAN INDIAN WORKING WOMEN TOWARDS OFFICE WEAR OUTFITS AND SUSTAINABLE FASHION

The lifestyle of today’s urban consumers has dramatically changed due to various reasons which has led to a shift in their needs, preferences, and attitudes towards various product s in their day-to-day life. The urban working women’s entering the corporate workforce in India is increasing day by day. The increasing number of urban working women has led to demand of clothing appropriate for the workplace. Indian Urban women working in Corporates are opting right business attire as it gives them a serious image at their workplace with respect to their male counterparts. Also, in recent time there has been a surge in demand for sustainable products due to growing awareness of sustainable practices amongst Indian consumers. The purpose of this study is to understand the workplace clothing need and preference of urban women working in corporates. The research also tries to understand the attitude of such women towards sustainable fashion. A clear understanding of consumer behavior of urban Indian working women will help sustainable fashion marketers to attract and maintain their target consumer segment. The study is based on notable past research and two set of questionnaire surveys followed by subsequent data analysis. The findings suggest a scope for sustainable western business casual wear as a preferred choice of clothing in work environments among a new emerging class of women in urban India.

Impact of Financial Literacy on Financial Capability: Evidence from Urban Working Women in Rajasthan

Impact of Financial Literacy on Financial Capability: Evidence from Urban Working Women in Rajasthan

Chick Lit in India: A Step Towards Power Feminism

Chick lit which is generally described as the modern-day fairy tale focuses upon the lives of young urban educated working women in search of a life partner. These books labelled as popular literature were summarily dismissed by the critics as frivolous and insignificant. A deeper study focusing upon transformed symbols and motifs with respect to the lives of women, offers an important insight into how 21st-century feminism is moving beyond a ‘victim feminism’ mindset to that of ‘power feminism’. This study is a semiotic study of Indian chick lit with a special focus upon four novels: Piece of Cake (2004) by Swati Kaushal, Girl Alone (2005) by Rupa Gulab, Almost Single (2009) by Advaita Kala and Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas (2011) by Madhuri Banerjee.

Assessment of Self-Esteem among Working Women

Women are significantly involved in the development of any nation by managing personal responsibilities as well as professional life. They are playing an important role in economic and social development of any society and their participation gives them satisfaction at their home up to a greater extent. Self-esteem is defined by how much value people place on themselves being the evaluative component of self-knowledge, high self-esteem refers to a highly favorable global evaluation of the self. So, the study was conducted in Hisar district of Haryana state on 400 rural and urban working women to assess their self-esteem. It was found that a very high majority of respondents (95.5%) of urban area were having low level of leisure time exercise and 47.5 percent respondents were having high level of self –esteem. Occupation of respondents was observed statistically significant only in low level of self-esteem (F=2.84, p<0.05).

Awareness and Exercise of Human Rights Among Women of Punjab

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, irrespective of their nationality, places of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. People everywhere should know and understand what human rights are, to lessen the chances of tyranny and to promote justice and well-being in society. Awareness, understanding, and use of human rights can empower individuals, can promote solutions for specific problems and thus can reduce friction within society. A recent study was conducted to explore the awareness and exercise of human rights among working and non-working women of Punjab. The study was a descriptive survey. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select a sample of 200 women (100 working women and 100 non-working women). Further, out of 100 women, 50 were from the rural area while 50 were from the urban area. The results of the study revealed that working women had a greater awareness of human rights and exercise more human rights in comparison to their non-working women counterparts. Further, rural working and urban working women had similar awareness of human rights while rural working women exercise more human rights as compared to urban counterparts. While rural and urban non-working women had similar awareness as well as knowledge about human rights.

Mobility of urban working women in India: study of Jalandhar in north India

The Indian census of 2011 collected for the first time since its inception, sex disaggregated figures on the journey to work along two dimensions- trip lengths and modes of transport. This data was analyzed as part of a doctoral thesis on the mobility of urban working women in smaller cities of India, completed in May 2019. The aim of this paper is to present the census data and illuminate these figures with lived experiences of working women on their journey to work, gathered through primary research in one of the cities studied- Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab. This approach serves to humanize quantitative data and show how lack of state involvement in solving urban transport problems affects women’s daily lives. The importance of the study also lies in the fact that mobility of urban women in south Asian countries, is little understood. Attempts such as this one may open up pathways to think along gender lines while formulating policies.

Glass Ceiling Effect on Women Career Progression in Urban Pakistan

Regardless of the notable increase in the women workforce worldwide, their advancement toward the senior managerial designations has remained limited. The obstruction for women to achieve senior-level positions due to gender discrimination is referred to the Glass Ceiling (GC) effect. Gender discrimination persists as a constant setback globally, but it has become an acute problem in developing countries. The key objective of this study is to investigate the glass ceiling effect on women career growth in urban Pakistan. Deductive approach is used to determine the variables which support the GC effect. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed using random sampling technique among the female employees of Karachi, out of which 100 responded. Data is analyzed using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS. The study concluded that urban working women are drained with family responsibilities, workload and gender discrimination at work, which eventually results in inefficiency and a high degree of stress. Study findings reveal that the strongest predictor that hinder Women Career Progression (WCP) is Gender Stereotype (GS), followed by Organizational Practices (OP), and the Work-life Conflict (WLC). Based on the study findings it is recommended that the organizations in Pakistan should inculcate equality, encourage diversity in the senior management, offer the women workforce flexible-job arrangements and maternity leaves, and provide day care facilities to the children, to balance the women work-life conflicts.

Socio-cultural factors affecting the problems of rural and urban working women

Even today in the 21st century, the socio-cultural factors have a great influence on the lives of working women in Haryana as it has innumerable prejudiced traditions and customs which play a dominant role in curtailing her freedom to large extent. There are still numerous social, cultural and psychological pressures on women for the ideal role to be played by them in the society. Status and role of women are linked to the cultural and social practices of their regions. As a result of this their attitude, value and belief system are formed in relation to their role and status. Therefore, the study was conducted to study the socio-cultural factors affecting the problems of working women. Analysis revealed that suitable accommodation (70%) was the major social problem of respondents followed by transfer (31.6%) and limited participation in social network (28.3%). Educational level of respondents was also found significantly associated with level of social problems. Further results highlighted that respondents faced low level of social problems irrespective of family type and size of the family. Results further revealed that 50% of the respondents with annual family income up to 5 lakhs faced low level of social problems. Results depict that a good percentage (35%) of respondents used bus to reach the office followed by 29.1% used their own vehicle to reach the work place.

Fertility intentions for a second child among urban working women with one child in Hunan Province, China: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to describe the fertility intentions of urban working women whose family planning has been limited to one child since the universal two-child policy was adopted and to explore factors associated with intentions to not have a second child. Study designThis is a cross-sectional study. MethodsThis study was conducted among 703 urban working women with one child using a self-administered questionnaire from May to August 2016 in Hunan, China. Data were collected on the women's sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards having another child and fertility intentions. A descriptive analysis, chi-square test and logistics regression were used for data analysis. ResultsThe ideal number of children among the urban working women was 2.03 ± 0.35. Fewer than half (32.4%) of working women with one child clearly intended to have another child. Not having another child was independently associated with family type, husband's age, age of the first child, attitude of the husband and parents-in-law, whether the parents-in-law provided economic support and the influence of friends. Participants showed lower second-child intentions with increasing age of the partner and first child (P value = 0.002, 0.026). Participants whose parents-in-law provided economic support were less likely to not want a second child than those whose parents-in-law did not provide economic support (P value = 0.037). Those with husbands and parents-in-law with supportive attitudes were less likely to not want another child (P value = 0.001, 0.022). Participants whose friends positively influenced them to have another child were less likely to intend to not have another child (P value = 0.000). ConclusionsThere is no guarantee that the universal two-child policy will be enough to prompt an increase in fertility among urban working women with one child in Hunan Province. Supplementary measures are urgently needed to create a favourable environment for childbearing in China.

Emerging Afro-Parisian ‘chick-lit’ by Lauren Ekué and Léonora Miano

This article examines the novels Icône urbaine (2005, Urban Icon) by French-Togolese writer Lauren Ekué and Blues pour Elise (2010, Blues for Elise) by French-Cameroonian/Afropean writer Léonora Miano, with regard to their contribution to chick-lit in a broad sense. With a focus on urban working women, their love lives and consumerism, these novels fulfil a number of criteria of mainstream chick-lit. At the same time, however, a serious concern for structural power relations is inscribed into these texts. Both novelists make ample use of intermedial writing such as structural borrowing from and references to music, TV formats and the fashion press. I will analyse these narrative strategies and address how far Ekué and Miano copy, rewrite and reinvent the Anglo-American chick-lit genre from the transnational perspective of the African Diaspora in France and considering the peculiarities of black Paris as a space.

In the Middle of Two Separated Yet Overlapped Spheres: Rural Nannies in Shanghai

This qualitative research expands previous conceptualization and theorizing of the separation and interaction between the public and private spheres in post-reform urban China to rural migrant women working in urban middle-class women’s private family. Collecting data from a domestic service company and eleven rural nannies in Shanghai, we develop a theoretical framework of separated yet overlapped two spheres for rural women in the urban care service sector. We found that, for these rural nannies, the separation of the two spheres is elongated compared to urban working women. Geographically, their urban work place is far away from their village home. The scientific and intensive care they provided for the urban babies challenged their past mothering experiences, induced guilty toward their own children as an absent mother, and urged them to provide better care for their grandchildren in the future. Further, working in other’s family and developing bond with urban babies, the boundary between work and family became blurred and difficult to handle sometimes. We further discuss the intersectionality between gender, and other social dimensions.

Challenges and problems faced by urban working women in India

Generally, it is perceived that gender bias against working women starts right from the stage of recruitment. It is very hard to accept by most of the Indian men that women are capable enough to work side by side with men in all the sectors. Their capabilities are generally underestimated as a result of which Indian women have a tendency to opt for less demanding jobs even if they are highly qualified. Women have the responsibilities to effectively manage their multiple roles in domestic as well as professional lives. This makes the life of working women in urban areas most stressful. The objective of this research paper is to understand the problem and issues faced by urban working women in India. This is a secondary data-based study.

Impact of advertising strategies on the cognitive and behavioral component of attitude of women consumers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to cover the gap from the previous literature with regard to the cognitive and the behavioural component of attitude of consumers. The literature was scant in examining the influence of the mostly used traits on the purchase behaviour and the switching behaviour of consumers. Therefore, this research paper examines the impact of different marketing strategies used by the advertisers on the components of the attitude of the consumers. Design/methodology/approach First, the perception of the consumers towards the traits was measured by the factor analysis approach. Second, the impact of the traits on the purchase behaviour of consumers was scrutinized using regression analysis, and then descriptive statistics approach was used to analyse the switching behaviour and the most important tactic used in the advertisement. Findings The results indicate that repeated exposure, comparison of products and sexual appeals has a significant impact on the mind of consumers which determines the influence of advertising tactics. Further, the results evaluated that information, pricing element, image of company and sexual appeal are the other important traits influencing the cognitive attitude of consumers. The consumers switch to the advertised products which indicate the behavioural change with the impact of advertisement. Research limitations/implications This research paper is suffering from some limitations as the area of research is restrained to the urban population of three districts of Punjab only, i.e. Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, because of which the results cannot be generalized for other areas. Due to the changing behaviour and the attitude, income level and media, the response of the consumers in the present study may not be relevant in the future period. The study was confined to the working women consumers only and does not represent the whole population. Practical implications This research paper provides an insight to the marketers. The managers can measure how by using appropriate tactics can they make their advertising more effective. In case of unfamiliar products, the attitude of consumers to accept or to avoid the product is influenced by the tactics used by the marketers. It was recommended that the marketers must use the appropriate tactics to make their products/brands more pertinent and important among the consumers. Originality/value This research paper examines the impact of TV advertisement of beauty products on the components of the attitude of the urban working women consumers. This study presents the influence of the various marketing strategies used in the advertisement to influence the purchase and the switching behaviour of consumers.

Problems and issue faced by working women in Amreli city

The financial demands on the Indian families are becoming rise day by day working women in India are faced with lot more challenges that their counterparts in the other part of the world. The sky rocketing cost of living increasing expenses on education of children increasing cost of housing properties in India force every family in India to look for ways and means of increasing the house hold income. As a result, women in India who were mostly known as homemakers are forced to go for jobs and take up evencareers that were considered and suitable for men such as working in might shifts in call centers. Indian Society is extremely hierarchical with virtually every one ranked relative to after according to their caste class wealth and power. This ranking even exists in areas where it is not openly acknowledged, such as certain business settings. Though specific customs vary from religion to religion within the country there are different standards of behavior for men and women that carry over info the work environment. This paper examines the problems and issue faced by working women in Amrelicity. The research objective was to know the knowledge about the problem and challenge faced by urban working women in the workplace, farther the study also aims also at finding out the organizational support for women employers the present study surveyed only urban women employer. The study was conducted within Amrelicity. Data was collected from working women of the organized sector using mix methods approach that included face to face interview and by questionnaire. 60 samples were selected for present study from different areas of city. The result conducted that different women have different perception of their heads fears, frustration etc.