Spicy Stuff

Software Work Stresses Women

I guess it stresses everyone who is not working in the field they are interested in. However these days people are under undue stress to perform better and put in more hours. On top of that people have loans which makes taking bold decisions (read quitting) even more difficult.

In Bangalore’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) industry, 50 per cent employees (1.5 lakh) are women and most are unable to balance work and family, according to a study.

The burn-out stress syndrome is luring these women into smoking and drinking. It's true, most of my friends (who are girls) have taken to smoking assuming it would destress them. I don't know how effective that would be. I'm not a smoker and drinking alcohol seldom helps. I never get stresses, so I can't say! :)

A presentation on “Women in call centres: New Threats and Prospects”, by S Y Surendra Kumar of the Department of Political Science, Bangalore University focussed on how incidents of molestation, attempt to rape and acid attacks haunt women. All this adds to the extra pressure and stress.

The findings included somatization, paranoid, phobic anxiety, anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, obsessive-compulsive and psychotism. According to the study, 40 per cent of the employees in the BPO industry are women. And the worst part, these women don't even know that they may be sufferring from these symptoms.

In another study conducted by Ms Sheetal Gai and Dr Sudha Bhogle from the Department of Psychology about “Stress and its correlates in women working in the IT sector,” not one woman reported good quality of life. The stress response included getting upset over small things, frustrated, irritable, anger, difficulty to relax, bodily aches and pains and disturbed sleep.

posted by Arun @ 5:25 AM