Understanding the impact of work from home on women: do responsibilities at home and advancement at work come with a gender lens?

Abstract

The work from home phenomenon, although did exist pre-covid, became the staple norm post the pandemic. In fact, the impact was so far reaching, most organisations in the world have irreversibly changed the way they think, function, and operate. With lack of domestic help and the pre-conceived notion in the society regarding gender roles, many working women felt their personal and professional responsibilities overlapping, leading to stress, unhappiness and in extreme cases, even a withdrawal from the workforce. Additionally, they also had to deal with the perception of managers assuming that they would be less productive from home and put in more checks and balances in place. We have outlined our approach in detail in the following sections and tried to corroborate and tie together the perspectives of men, women, and the corporate world in order to gain insights on the issue.