Abstract
Leisure is an experience that gives one pleasure and happiness without any restriction or bondage. Indian women feel pleasure in very simple activities including rest, socializing, and entertainment. Activities during leisure need not be productive but they make better use of free time. There are positive associations between quality time spent in leisure activities and life satisfaction. But for many Indian women, leisure remains fragmented (interruption in leisure due to other responsibilities e.g. attending to children/husband etc.) and secondary (refers to leisure that is combined with non-leisure activities). The empirical evidence in this paper highlights the importance of leisure, identifies the constraints experienced and their effects on the well-being of Indian working women as they carry out multiple tasks at the same time. This paper is an attempt to establish an association between age, type of family, monthly income and job type with leisure activities, constraints, health benefits of leisure and time management of Indian women who work in the field of education. It is found that the Indian working women spend their free time in shopping, solo TV watching, spending time with family, spiritual practices, gardening, sewing and physical exercise. The study indicates a significant association between monthly income and job type with the health benefits of leisure such as happiness and life satisfaction. India’s working women save time for their leisure by doing multiple tasks at the same time.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beniwal, A. (2015). Leisure and Health. Germany: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
Burton, N. W., & Turrell, G. (2000). Occupation, hours worked, and leisure-time physical activity,Preventive Medicine (Baltim), 31(6)
Carruthers, C. P., & Hood, C. D. (2011). Mindfulness and Well-being: Implications for TR Practice. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 45(3), 171–189
Chun, S., & Lee, Y. (2010). The role of leisure in the experience of post traumatic growth for people with spinal cord injury. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(3), 393–415
Deschenes, G. (2011). The Spiritual Anthropology of Leisure. The Homo- religious-ludens. Counselling and Spirituality/Counseling et spiritualite, 30(2), 57–85
Garland, E. L., Farb, N. A., Goldin, P. R., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2015). Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic Meaning: A Process Model of Mindful Positive Emotion Regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 26(4), 293–314
Godbey, G. (1999). Leisure and Sexuality. In Leisure in your life: An exploration. State College, PA: Venture
Heintzman, P. (2008). Leisure-Spiritual coping: A model for Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Services. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 42(1), 56–73
Henderson, K., & Gibson, H. (2013). An Integrative Review of Women, Gender, and Leisure: Increasing Complexities. Journal of Leisure Research, 45(2), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.18666/jlr-2013-v45-i2-3008
Iwasaki, Y., Coyle, C., Shank, J., Messina, E., & Porter, H. (2015). Role of Leisure in Meaning-Making for Community-Dwelling Adults with Mental Illness. Journal of Leisure Research, 47(5), 538–555
Iwasaki, Y. (2018). Leisure and meaning-making: The pursuit of a meaningful life through leisure. In A. Beniwal, R. Jain, & K. Spracklen (Eds.), Global Leisure and the Struggle for a Better World. Leisure Studies in a Global Era (pp. 287–302). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70975-8_14
Kuykendall, L., Boemerman, L., & Zhu, Z. (2018). The importance of leisure for subjective well-being. In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of Well-being. Salt Lake City, Utah: DEF Publishers
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2008). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing, 2nd Edition, Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, California
Little, E. (2002). Women and adventure recreation: Reconstructing leisure constraints and adventure experiences to negotiate continuing participation. Journal of leisure research, 34(2), 157–177
Mattingly, J., & Blanchi, M. (2003). Gender Differences in the Quantity and Quality of free time: The US experience. Social forces, 81(3), 999–1030
Moti, H. O., Masinda, J. S., Mugenda, S. G., & Sindani, M. N. (2012). Effectiveness of Credit Management System on Loan Performance: Empirical Evidence from Micro Finance Sector in Kenya. International Journal of Business Humanities and Technology, 2(6), 99–108
Mugenda, O. M., & Mugenda, A. G. (1999). Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi: Acts Press
Naganathan, R., Gupta, D., & Prasad, R. (July 2021). Connotation of Leisure and Leisure Activities among urban Indian middle-class working women. Leisure Studies, 40(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2021.1942519
Nagla, M. (2017). Leisure and Mental Health: Sociological Study of Women Experiencing Leisure during their Mental Illness. In B.K. Nagla & Vinay Kumar Shrivastava, Globalisation, Leisure and Social Change (pp.118–133). Jaipur, India: Rawat Publications
Namgyal, D. T. (2006). Mahamudra- The Moonlight-Quintessence of Mind and Meditation. Sommerville: Wisdom
Newman, D. B., Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2014). Leisure and Subjective Well-Being: A Model of Psychological Mechanisms as Mediating Factors. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(3), 555–578
Singh, D. (April 2, 2021). The Right to Rest: Women at Leisure. The India Forum.
Watters, A. M., Pearce, C., Backman, C. L., & Suto, M. J. (2013). Occupational Engagement and Meaning: The Experience of Ikebana Practice. Journal of Occupational Science, 20(3), 262–277
World Bank. (2017). India Development Update, May 2017: Unlocking Women’s Potential. New Delhi, World Bank: World Bank
Wu, B., & Porell, F. (2000). Job Characteristics and leisure physical activity.Journal of Aging and Health, 12(4)
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2012). Research Methods for Business Students. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Shaw, S. M. (1994). Gender, Leisure, and Constraint: Towards a Framework for the analysis of Women’s Leisure. Journal of Leisure Research, 26(1), 8–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.1994.11969941
The Times of India (2016). Working Women enjoy more Leisure time, April 20,
United Nations Progress of the World’s Women 2019 report
Verma, A., & Mulani, M. (2018). Challenges and Issues of Working Women in 21st Century. Sp. Issue: 3, March: 2018 (IJRSML). 21st Century (6 vol.). Changing Trends in the Role of Women- Impact on Various Fields
Yerkes, M. A., Roeters, A., & Baxter, J. (2020). Gender differences in the quality of leisure: A cross-national comparison. Community Work & Family, 23(4), 367–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2018.1528968
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beniwal, A. Leisure for Working Women: An Indian Scenario. Int J Sociol Leis 5, 359–371 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-022-00112-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-022-00112-y