INTRODUCTION:

India is a country with diverse traditions and customs. In all the religions, women hold a venerable position. Unfortunately, since ages, the role of women was confined to household chores and limited to domestic issues. In the male-dominated Indian society, women suffered to extreme levels of exploitation. Some factors – like death of bread winner, sudden fall in family income or inadequate family income – forced women to seek employment in informal sector but yet, that did not result in women empowerment. The participation of women as workers and women’s education was negligible.

With changing times, the potential of women was acknowledged and gradually status of women soared up in the society.

Although the Government of India made great endeavors to break through such gender discrimination by introducing various initiatives like emphasis on women’s education, abolition of child marriages, women health activities, etc., but the results were not fruitful. The emergence of economic reforms in 1990s changed the entire dynamics of the economy. The economic liberalisation and its ensuing changes in the form of privatisation and globalisation added new dimensions to the role and status of women. Women started stepping out of domestic portals and demonstrated their potential in business world. The growing Indian middle class shed apprehensions about educating the girl child and gave due importance for higher studies. Focus on educating women has changed the role of women. Gradually, women’s education was encouraged and due importance given to women’s career and professional life.

Barriers to Women Professionals:

The following are viewed to be barriers to the advancement of women employees in their chosen career. Authors (Lundy M and Younger B, 1994; Standing, Guy 1983) have identified the barriers cited below:

Ø Male stereotyping and perceptions of roles and abilities of women

Ø Commitment to family responsibilities

Ø Exclusion from informal networks and communications

Ø Lack of significant general or line experience

Ø Lack of mentoring

Ø Lack of gender-sensitive policies the employer.

Problems of Working Women in Banking Sector:

A team of Bulgarian experts, headed by Professor Ivanovich, department head at the National Centre of Public Health Protection, conducted a survey on working conditions in the banking sector, aimed at determining risk levels based on employees’ self-evaluation. A case study was carried out in 2004 in a large bank that has branches throughout the country in Bulgaria. Findings of the study indicated that Female employees experience more physical pain and discomfort than their male counterparts. The feeling of fatigue appears earlier and increases more quickly among women (particularly after the fourth hour at work) than their male counterparts.

Constant exposure to computer terminals and the radiation there from has an adverse effect on the pregnant women. Women employees by their inherent fragile health suffer more from high work pace, high psychological pressure, dry air, noise, lighting and sitting position. Sedentary nature of bank jobs make the women employees more vulnerable to severe headache, paints and fingers and wrists, backache and waist problems, pain in neck and shoulders and eye strain.

Most of the women executives in private and public sector banks forgo promotion out of the fear of causing dislocation in the family though they have fully qualified themselves with CAIIB and other officer cadre exams conducted by the respective banks. The thought of attending to new born baby, toddlers, children returning from school, etc., distract the attention of women executives in their thirties. This has an adverse effect on the productivity of female executives. Some executives find it very difficult to manage male subordinates and have a tough time in extracting work from them. The very submissive nature of women executives come in the way of dealing with customers. It is also reported that the higher ups dump the work on submissive female executives which result in overloading the executives. In other words the very feminine nature does not permit them to resist the overload.

Since executives like cashier, teller, accountant, loan officer, portfolio managers, FOREX officer, assistant branch manager, etc., cannot leave the bank without tallying the account, the family members of female executives suffer more and executive concerned experience more mental stress than the male counterparts which have an adverse effect on the psychological health of the women executives. Besides women executives have to bear the verbal abuse of angry and irate customers. This upsets psychological well being of women executives. Some times when male chauvinist happens to be a performance appraiser in the capacity of higher ups, he shows his bias in the appraisal exercise. Similarly male chauvinist happens to be the subordinates; they willfully disobey the instructions of women executives and deliberately prolong the work. In the same vein, women executives do not get any cooperation from the peers in other departments of the bank thanks to male chauvinist attitude.

When it comes to recommending disciplinary action against the errant subordinates on the ground of insubordination or non performance or poor performance, women executives feel nervous to recommend for penal action. Thus the inefficiency syndrome continues to mar the work efficiency of male subordinates. Since most of the public and private sector banks are located in prime locality of the town or city and in the case of reaching branches located in far off places, women executives experience more physical strain in commuting to and fro work spot. This travel leaves an adverse impact on the physical and mental health of women respondents.

In view of hectic work schedule and heavy workload, women executives find it challenging to strike work life harmony. In other words the inability to give up conventional domestic obligations as a home maker cast additional strain on women officers across the bank. Besides women executives across the bank have to be away from the family on account of official meeting, inspection, assignment, etc,. This widens the gap in the relations between the women executives and the family members. All the inconvenience and discomfort suffered by the women executives in their professional journey as cited above have the potential to influence the work efficiency of the subjects thereby striking the quality of work performance.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Sophia J. Ali (2011) investigated the challenges facing women in career development in Kapsabet Municipality, Kenya. She found that most of the women employees were dissatisfied with career development programmes and women were discriminated against in career development opportunities. The study recommended that organizations should strive to ensure that career development programmes were set to enhance career development amongst women employees. Top management should also be committed to the career development of women, and organizations should also introduce affirmative action to urgently address career development of women.

Ronald J. Burke, Mustafa Koyuncu and Lisa Fiksenbaum (2010) examined the relationship of the perceived presence of organisational practices designed to support women’s career advancement and their work attitudes and satisfaction and their psychological well-being. Data were collected from 286 women in managerial and professional jobs working in a large Turkish bank, a 72 percent response rate. Five organisational experiences were considered: negative attitudes towards women, equal treatment, support, career barriers and male standards. Women reporting more supportive organisational experiences and practices were more engaged in their work, more job and career satisfied, and indicated greater levels of psychological well-being.

Adelina Broadbridge (2008) examined the continued under-representation of women in senior management positions. She reported that lack of flexi-time; need to work at odd hours, company culture that upholds patriarchal social system were the main barriers to under-representation of women in senior management positions. The paper demonstrated how women’s primary position in the home and domestic domain and men’s primary position in the economic domain have shaped the way retail organisations are organised and the roles that men and women are traditionally expected to adopt within them.

Skinner and Pocock (2008) investigated the relationship between work overload, work schedule control, work hours and their fit with preferences and work-life conflict among full-time employees (N=887). It was found that the strongest association with work-life conflict was demonstrated by work overload, followed by work schedule control, work hours and work hours fit. Time-based work life policies, procedures and interventions were found necessary, but not sufficient, for addressing work-life conflict. They called for effective management of work overload to support a healthy work-life relationship.

Ahmad, Aminah (2007) examined the work-family conflict experienced by 239 married female production operators in dual-career families, the social support they received and the coping strategies used to manage the conflict. The women experienced more work interference with family than family interference with work. The intensity of work interference with family was significantly higher in the earlier life-cycle stage than in the later stage. About two thirds of the women indicated that they intended to leave their job upon having another child, mainly due to the rising cost of childcare services. They received the least social support from their supervisors compared to other sources, and tended to cope with conflict using reactive role behaviour and personal role redefinition strategies.

Gunavathy and Suganya (2007) in their study among married women employees of BPO companies traced the causes, consequences of work life imbalance and interventions for work life balance. More than two-third of the respondents stated the experienced work-life imbalance primarily on account of work interference with personal life. The causes for work life imbalance were classified as organizational and personal factors. The organizational factors included work-related factors, time-related factors and relationship-related factors. The personal factors included lack of family support, marital conflicts and frequent change in sleeping patterns. According to the study, the three main consequences of work-life imbalance were stress and burnout, ill-health and poor work performance. The respondents also experienced guilt of not being able to spend time with family, anxiety about poor performance, displacement of negative emotions on family members and on co-workers.

Wu, Hwei Ming (2007) examined the relationship of self-efficacy, work family conflict, social support, gender role attitude, role model and career aspiration to top management among women in middle management at the manufacturing line. This study intended to determine the contribution of each factor to career aspiration. Data were collected from 109 married women in middle management at eight private manufacturing companies located in Bangi and Nilai. This study found that self-efficacy, social support, gender role attitude and role model were significantly related to career aspiration (p<0.05). Specifically, self-efficacy and gender role attitude were the most significant antecedents of career aspiration among women in middle management in manufacturing line.

Babita Mathur-Helm (2006) examined the reality of the glass-ceiling phenomenon in South Africa’s four major retail banks. The study investigated women’s low numbers in their top management jobs. A total of 40 women managers were interviewed for their in-depth responses, which were content analyzed. The paper provided clarity for organizational leaders to identify growth barriers existing in their organizations, leading their women workforce towards a glass ceiling. The results indicated that the glass ceiling considered a myth by many was real and are nurtured by the organizational culture, policies and strategies besides women’s own inadequacies. The study concluded that only the most decentralized organizations, characterized by a culture that supports women’s top positions, will help in breaking down the glass ceiling, along with women’s own efforts to grow, develop and empower themselves through academic and career development.

D. Jamali, et al. (2006), made a study to explore the salience of glass ceiling type barriers in the Lebanese banking sector, based on the perceptions of a sample of Lebanese top and middle level women managers. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 61 top and middle level women managers, drawn from the context of 12 different banks in the Lebanese context. The found that the common precepts of the glass ceiling theory were not supported in the context of Lebanese banks with overall positive inferences and perceptions reported by Lebanese women managers in relation to their work environment and daily work experiences. These findings were explained by the progressive evolution of the Lebanese banking sector over the past few decades.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study is purely exploratory in nature and seeks to identify the factors preventing women employees from aspiring for higher post and problems faced by women executives in commercial banks related to work performance, studying the impact of work life of women employees on their home life and the impact of family responsibility on career decisions of women employees in banking industry. Further this aims also at finding out the organizational support for women employees to achieve better work life balance. The present study intends to survey only women executives who confront challenging situations which demand skills of a higher order for meeting them successfully.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

Ø To study the Problems Hindering the Performance of Women Executives Working in Private Sector Commercial Banks in Puducherry

Ø To study the factors preventing women executives from aspiring for higher post.

Study Area

Union Territory of Pondicherry region is the study area. Pondicherry State is multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. This diversity makes it more attractive for this research. Besides, the state, though small in geographical area, has branches of all leading commercial banks.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Sample and Questionnaire:

Data were collected using the personal contact approach. Questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 92 women executives located in Puducherry State women employees in executives’ cadre working in public sector, private sector and new generation private banks were surveyed. In the Questionnaire, Likert’s five point scale was employed to determine scores, where respondents were asked to rate each attribute on 5-point scale ranging from highly satisfied to highly dissatisfied, The data so collected was subjected to Factor Analysis. Census survey is to be adopted for collecting data. The statements/items for the questionnaire were formed after consulting relevant literature and some relevant research conducted in the area. Besides attitudes scale, the survey questionnaire also included a section to capture the general profile of respondents. They were asked about their demographic background including age, education level, marital status, job level, year of experience, nature of organisation and type of ownership. The present study has used tools like simple percentage, Garret ranking method and Factor analysis.

Analysis and Interpretation:

Table – 1 Selected Respondents Demographic Profile

Age	Low Age (Below 25)	12(13.0)
	Middle Age (25-50)	64(69.6)
	High Age (Above 50)	16(17.4)
	Total	92(100)
Educational Qualification	Graduate	28(30.4)
	Post Graduate	44(47.8)
	Doctorate	0
	Professionally Qualified	20(21.7)
	Total	92(100)
Marital Status	Single	24(26.1)
	Married	52(56.5)
	Widow	16(17.4)
	Total	92(100)
Salary Range / Month	Less than Rs.20000	8(8.70)
	Rs.20000 - Rs.30000	36(39.1)
	Rs.30001 - Rs.40000	16(17.4)
	Above Rs.40000	32(34.8)
	Total	92(100)
Designation	Assistant General Manager (AGM)	8(8.7)
	Chief Manager (CM)	24(26.1)
	Manager (M)	24(26.1)
	Deputy Manager (DM)	28(30.4)
	Asst. Manager (AM)	8(8.7)
	Total	92(100)
Experience	Less than 10 years	44(47.8)
	10 to 20 years	32(34.8)
	21 to 30 years	8(8.7)
	Above 30 years	8(8.7)
	Total	92(100)

Source: Primary Data

Problem Facing Women Executives in Private Sector Banks:

The problems facing women executives in Pvt. SBs have been examined the table 2. The details of the results derived from factor analysis have been exhibited therein. It is evident from the table that three factors were discriminated out of the total 10 problem variables in terms of Eigen values. An unrotated factor matrix was obtained. To decide when to stop functioning so as to get the final rotated matrix, the latent root criteria was applied i.e., only the factors having Eigen values greater than 1 were considered significant, and all the factors with Eigen values less than 1 were considered insignificant and discarded. The factor matrix as obtained in the principal component analysis was further subjected to Varimax Rotation. Accordingly component 1 with the Eigen value 3.721 contributes to problems suffered by women executive to the extent of 37.214. The component 2 (Eigen value 2.419) contributes to 24.187 per cent to the problem experienced by the women executives and the last component (Eigen value 1.281) is responsible for the problems encounter by women executives to the extent of 12.808. All the three problem variable account for 74.208 per cent of the problems face by women executive in Pvt. SBs.

Table – 2Total Variance Explained

S. No	Problems
S. No	Problems	F1	F2	F3
1	The heavy workload makes me completely worn out at the end of the day.	-0.296	0.561	0.464
2	Physical strain involved in extracting work from subordinates, in dealing with customers and in answering our higher officers is unbearable and in causes mental stress	0.007	0.820	0.182
3	The thought of my children who would have returned from schools does not allow me to concentrate on work after office	0.314	0.163	0.846
4	Extracting work from our male subordinates is very tedious.	0.170	0.809	-0.005
5	Because of submissiveness natural to womenfolk, there is exploitation. I am asked to do work which is beyond my stated job routine.	-0.233	0.079	0.816
6	Ignorant customers pester me and sometimes quarrel with me causing me tension. I am unable to contain them unlike our male counterparts.	0.814	-0.094	0.364
7	There is workplace harassment and I have to tolerate verbal abusement.	0.769	-0.068	-0.065
8	On account of pressing work, supervising the work performance of my subordinates and dealing with different types of customers all at the same time, I feel overburdened in my work. Being a woman it is beyond my physical endurance and I lose my temper quite often	0.923	0.423	-0.060
9	Sometimes I have a feeling that because of gender discrimination, I am burdened with more and more work.	0.837	0.252	-0.029
10	Difficulty in controlling subordinates who quite often quarrel with customers.	0.772	-0.140	-0.167
	Percentage of Variance	37.214	24.187	12.808
	Cumulative Percentage	74.208

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization

The factors ranked by women executives have been shown in the table 5. In terms of mean scores, factor balancing work and office occupies first rank (Total Mean Score 67.77) followed by the factor fear of transfer on promotion (Mean Score 60.85) occupying second rank. Since the environment in public and private banks is more or less similar, these two factors may prove to be great hindrance to women executives working in both the banks. However factor like difficulty of better judgment ranked at last position (Mean Score 30.07) and the factor strain of frequent tours which is ranked at fifth position in terms of mean score 44.38 point to similarity of attitude between public and private sector women executives in the matter of self-confidence in arriving at best decision and sound judgment and their indifference to undertake tours and field visits to be made on their jobs.

CONCLUSION:

The 10 problem variables were rotated thrice by varimax rotation method. The first rotation surfaced the variable stress resulting from dealing with the subordinates who interact with customers has been identified as a prime factor of problems to women executives in private sector commercial banks. The second factor namely physical strain involved in extracting work from subordinates and in reporting to higher officers has been discriminated as second important factor. The third factor thought of children problems confronting women executives. All the three factors are highly responsible for the problems experienced by the women executive in private sector commercial banks. All the three major contributory variables are titled as staff management stressors. In terms of mean scores, factor balancing work and office occupies first rank followed by the factor fear of transfer on promotion occupying second rank. Since the environment in private banks is more or less similar, these two factors may prove to be great hindrance to women executives working in private sector commercial banks. However the private sector women executives in the matter of self-confidence in arriving at best decision and sound judgment and their indifference to undertake tours and field visits to be made on their jobs.

REFERENCE:

1. Sophia J. Ali. “Challenges Facing Women Employees In Career Development: A Focus On Kapsabet Municipality, Kenya” International Journal of Current Research 3.8, (2011) 196-203.

2. Ronald J. Burke, Mustafa Koyuncu and Lisa Fiksenbaum (2010), Organisational practices supporting women’s career advancement and their satisfaction and well-being in Turkey. Women in Management Review Vol. 21 No. 8, pp. 610-624.

3. Adelina Broadbridge (2008), Barriers to ascension to senior management positions in retailing. The Service Industries Journal Vol. 28, No. 9, November 2008, 1225–1245.

4. Skinner N and Pocock B. “Work-life conflict: Is work time or work overload more important?” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 46.3 (2008): 303-315.

5. Ahmad, Aminah. “Work-Family Conflict, Life-Cycle Stage, Social Support, and Coping Strategies among Women Employees”. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 3.1. (2007): 70-79.

6. Gunavathy, “A study of work life balance in BPO Sector”, University of Madras, Chennai 2007.

7. Wu, Hwei Ming Self-Efficacy, Work-Family Conflict, Social Support, Gender Role Attitude and Role Model as Antecedents of Career Aspiration among Women in Middle Management. Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 2007.

8. Babita Mathur-Helm (2006), Women and the glass ceiling in South African banks: an illusion or reality?. Women in Management Review. Vol. 21 No. 4, 2006 pp. 311-326

9. D. Jamali, A. Safieddine and M. Daouk (2006) The glass ceiling: some positive trends from the Lebanese banking sector. Women in Management Review, Vol. 21 No. 8, 2006 pp. 625-642.

10. Lundy M and Younger B. Empowering women in the workplace. Harrington Park Press. 1994.

11. Standing, Guy (1983). Women’s work activity and fertility. In Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries Volume 1 Supply and Demand for Children, Rodolfo A. Bulatao and Ronald D. Lee, eds. New York, Academic Press. pp.517-546.

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Received on 17.03.2012 Accepted on 18.05.2012

Asian J. Management 3(2): April-June, 2012 page 73-79

Component	Initial Eigen values			Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
Component	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative%	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %
1	3.721	37.214	37.214	3.672	36.721	36.721
2	2.419	24.187	61.401	1.950	19.497	56.218
3	1.281	12.808	74.208	1.799	17.990	74.208

S. No	Factors	Total Score	Total Mean Score	Rank
a.	Inevitability of conventional domestic obligations as a home maker leaving little time for career growth.	5303	57.64	III
b.	Combining domestic work and office work leaves no time for making us fit for higher posts.	6235	67.77	I
c.	Physical strain necessitating longer hours of stay in the office	4493	48.80	IV
d.	Difficulty of better judgment and quick decision-making required in higher posts.	3503	30.07	VI
e.	Strain of frequent tours and/ field visits.	4083	44.38	V
f.	Fear of transfer which disturbs family life and domestic peace.	5598	60.85	II

S. No	Factors (% of Variance)	Problems	Factor Loading
1	(37.214)	On account of pressing work, supervising the work performance of my subordinates and dealing with different types of customers all at the same time, I feel overburdened in my work. Being a woman it is beyond my physical endurance and I lose my temper quite often	0.923
2	(24.187)	Physical strain involved in extracting work from subordinates, in dealing with customers and in answering our higher officers is unbearable and in causes mental stress	0.820
3	(12.808)	The thought of my children who would have returned from schools does not allow me to concentrate on work after office hours.	0.846