Work For Home For Women: 3 Biggest Challenges Faced By Women While Working From Home

The emergence of the COVID 19 pandemic has drastically changed the way industries are working.

With everything shifting to online mode, work from home has been accepted widely. Though some people are joining the physical workspace right now, famous companies like Facebook and Twitter are planning to allow WFH permanently because of the convenience that it offers to the employees.

Infact, Govt. of India has allowed maximum work from home for IT and BPO employees.

With flexible hours and diminution of traveling time, WFH is believed to have opened a wider range of opportunities for women, especially the ones who are mothers and are married, to continue working without deviating from their professional growth while taking care of other responsibilities.

But is WFH really giving such women any convenience? Well, the answer to this is yes and no.

Almost 17 lakh women are working in the IT industry in India right now, and almost 90% of them are working from home.

What are the challenges faced by them, while working from home?

Challenge #1: Maternity Responsibilities

Most of the women have to take maternity leave at some point in their life. Resuming work after that is like starting a career all over again.

While WFH is at least allowing women to continue with their work in such situations, the preconceived notion that only women are responsible for taking care of the child and looking after the household chores is not helping them handle their professional life effectively.

Challenge #2: Household Responsibilities

Earlier, women usually took care of the household responsibilities before leaving for work. Now, because of the presence of elders and children, she has to do it all over the day along with her work. Even the liberty of working flexible hours is not going in favour of women since working odd hours has become a trend. While working from home, most men and women with no children are not skipping weekends and tend to work more. This is not possible for women with children.

Challenge #3: Online Harassment, Inappropriate Texts

WFH is not even considered safer as sexual harassment has found its place even virtually. Women have witnessed inappropriate texts, voice messages, pictures, and even intentional lousy behaviour during video calls.

Though WFH has offered a plethora of opportunities for women, we can’t ignore that it has also brought new challenges in their lives. Working virtually can actually prove to be helpful for a woman if she gets proper support from her family and the people surrounding her.

Along with motivating women to work and be independent, it is also necessary to encourage men to help their partners with household chores. Both men and women are equally responsible in every situation, be it working on a project in the workplace or taking care of the household chores.

Once everyone accepts this, the world will be a much better and safer place for women.