Does the status of a woman as the primary bringer of income into the household improve her mental or physical health? Does such a status make her happy? Not really, because such a woman still shoulders the greatest responsibility for childcare. They suffer from health issues that they cannot or do not discuss. The better way to highlight this would be to say that even women who are primary earners of the house are no better than the ones who are so bogged down by their household and domestic responsibilities that they do not have time to go out and do their bit to put food on the table.
Looks like education and a job alone aren’t enough to make a working woman truly happy. She also needs a partner back home who will share her load—mentally and physically. They need male colleagues who understand their physical pain. There is enough data going around in support of this.
The Deloitte Women@ Work 2024 report reveals that a significant 21 per cent of women that live with a partner are the primary earners in their household. One would think that these women would be busy chasing their professional dreams, climbing up the corporate ladder and dreaming of the top executive position. But no! A good 48 per cent of these primary earners are being held back because they continue to have the greatest responsibility of childcare at home. Only a small number (19 per cent) of main women earners of the house say their partner takes on most of the responsibility for childcare. This must be eating into their happiness levels, right?
This is just one of the issues women are dealing with. Four percent of women in this year’s survey have admitted to experiencing health challenges related to fertility. What is worse is that they are not taking time off to look after themselves for fear of career setbacks. That means, even when they are in extreme pain or going through symptoms, three in 10 women still drag themselves to work. The two in 10 that are suffering so much that they just have to take time off have never disclosed the reason for the leave! Surely this cannot be making them happy!
Why are they choosing to suffer in silence like this? Well, Almost two in 10 women who have revealed their fertility challenges and made it known that they are taking time off because of the same, have seen an adverse effect on their career. Only 14 per cent said their employers were supportive. That is a pathetically small number. And yes, this has its ramifications:
Talented women who can be assets to their organisations will not work for employers who are not supportive. In fact, one in 10 participants of the survey said that they have left organisations that failed to support them in their moment of need.
Deloitte Global surveyed 5,000 women across 10 countries and seven sectors between October 2023 and January 2024. The findings are rather alarming.
Thirty per cent of the women surveyed— in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Africa, the UK and the US —who have experienced fertility health problems said they experienced high levels of pain and chose to work through their symptoms!
About 19 per cent have taken time off for symptoms related to this issue, but preferred not to disclose the reason to their managers. Not surprising, considering that 18 per cent who have previously disclosed fertility issues as the reason for taking time off have witnessed the negative impact of doing so on their career. Only 14 per cent found their employer to be supportive in such a situation. That means, many professional women out there are unhappy with their organisation’s lack of support.
Of course, there are women (13 per cent) who feel uncomfortable discussing the issue or its effect on them professionally. Nine per cent who have disclosed this as a reason for taking time off in the past have left their organisation just because they did not receive any support from their employer.
Does the culture of the organisation have something to do with this? Clearly it does. A significant 14 per cent of women battling menstruation issues, menopause or fertility problems are not comfortable discussing the same with their managers. About 27 per cent aren’t comfortable discussing personal issues with their seniors at all. In fact, 13 per cent women admit that their organisation’s culture keeps them from talking openly about these topics. It is not just stigma but the lack of an open culture that keeps women from talking about their health issues.
Additionally, women fear that disclosing their health issues can jeopardise their position. About 15 per cent believe that speaking up about their health challenges would affect their career progression, while 10 per cent believe that it would lead to stereotyping or assumptions being made about them. There are also 10 per cent that believe speaking openly about the issues they are struggling with would make them vulnerable to layoffs/redundancy; they fear being stereotyped or are scared assumptions would be made about their abilities or behavior during the time they are tackling symptoms. How can women living with such fears be truly happy and satisfied?
In a country such as India, most women do not discuss such topics at all. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that nine per cent of the women surveyed across 10 countries admit that the cultural norms in their country or community does not allow them to discuss these topics.
Things don’t seem to be looking up for working women in any part of the world. An alarming 50 per cent of the 5,000 women who were part of the survey said that when it comes to childcare, they themselves shoulder the maximum responsibility. What is worse is that the number of such women has grown from 46 per cent in 2023. When it comes to caring for another adult back home, again 57 per cent women said that they themselves shouldered the maximum responsibility. In 2023, only 44 per cent admitted to this. Forty one per cent of the women said that they do most of the cleaning and domestic tasks. This percentage is also higher than last year (42 per cent) but only slightly.
Maybe organisations need to sensitise the men in the workforce to the issues that are weighing down their women co-workers. Maybe the men need to be told—repeatedly if required—that gender parity at work is a reflection of the same at home. Organisations need to accept that they are losing out on productive women because they are not lending them enough support when they need it the most. Women are anyway more productive than men at work. There are umpteen surveys to prove that. Imagine how much more productive they would be if they were truly happy?