Modern marriage survey: Is everybody really fine?

[sheeza]

I still remember the first day my mother stepped out of the house to work; we were all on the same school bus. With growing kids and growing inflation, her ‘job’ was more of a budgetary necessity than a shot at a ‘career’. Ma had given up any plans of a career when she married and had a baby in the first year of the marriage.

Having tutored two kids at home – ages 8 and 13 – teaching came naturally to her and she joined the school we were studying in. However, there was another reason she took up teaching: It ensured she was back home early enough to complete her household chores. She was the consummate working mother of the late 90s.

Since Dad was an Army officer, Ma changed jobs as frequently as we changed schools: Each time Dad was posted to another city. It never occurred to either of my parents that she would stay back in a city without my father. Today they have been married for 30 years.

Circa 2008. The scenario for the working wife/ mother has not changed much. Perhaps not everyone becomes a teacher today, but most women still keep ‘Family First’ as their mantra and do whatever is needed to keep the work-family balance. And going by latest research, increasingly, it is NOT an easy balance to maintain…

In a survey conducted on 425 ‘Two Career Couples’ across five cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad – TeamLease Services, India’s largest staffing company, found that two careers has bittersweet implications on marriages.