Factors causing work related stress and strategies for stress management: a study of working women in private and public sectors in the Indian context.

Abstract

In the present context, various underlying social factors such as workload, lack of support, job insecurity, work-life imbalance, mental health, gender bias, financial pressure, harassment, and discrimination cause stress to women. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to identify some of the pertinent factors affecting working women's mental health and physical health in the work place. The study also aims at finding strategies for coping with stress. A cross-sectional research design and simple random sampling method were used in this study. This study was conducted between the women employees of both public and private sector institutes employed in the fields of teaching, banking, nursing, clerical and IT professionals across the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The study adopted the survey method and the data were collected by administering questionnaires to 200 (100 public sector and 100 private sector) participants through online mode and were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of the study showed that the majority of the women (32.5%) experienced stress when evaluated performance by superiors and given negative feedback, by their employers. The analysis also showed that the most effective strategy for stress management was spending time with children, with an average rank of 3.55 whereas doing yoga and meditation has the lowest average rank of 2.65, indicating that respondents rarely use this strategy for managing stress. The study offers some measures to support their mental and physical health and to ensure equal opportunities for all. Finally, AI-driven solutions are recommended to foster a dynamic and responsive environment that empowers working women to proactively manage stress, boost mental well-being, and improve overall productivity.