Inequalities Faced by Working Women: A Comprehensive Study of 4 States of India

Innumerable women work very hard to pursue their dream career. At the same time, the working women are vulnerable to harassment and several dimensions of discriminatory practices at workplace. The paper starts with concepts of gender homophily, queen bee syndrome, analysis put forth by Raweyn Connell, status characteristics theory, and functionalist and feminist approaches of gender inequalities. Further, the findings of past research works and review of literature in relation to gender pay gaps, latent inequality in veil of special provisions for women at workplace, the preferences in job interview, psychological pressure because of dual responsibilities of home and work are discussed. To understand the various dimensions as well as trends in which inequality is prevalent at workplace, a survey across four states of India namely Bihar, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal. The findings of the empirical part of research are then presented. The points of analysis draw light on major aspects which are considered next in this paper. The study further provides recommendation with a concluding note on positive trends and total elimination of gender inequality at workplace.