Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of spousal support toward a working woman’s career progression. As women continue to bear the brunt of shouldering more domestic responsibilities than men, this research focuses on their extensive need for spousal support. The work attempts to examine how working women perceive the roles their spouses play in sharing home and childcare responsibilities vis-à-vis supporting them in pursuing a career. The compartmentalization of gender roles and how it influences division of labor between husband and wife have also been explored. Design/methodology/approach The study used a qualitative approach based on analysis of multiple cases regarding women academicians. In-depth narratives based on rich interview data presented an inquiry into spousal support working women received. The impact of spousal support on the career trajectories of women was also explored. Findings Results show that spousal support is an important dimension toward the success of a woman’s career. Findings also suggest that gender role is an essential dynamic that determines the pattern of dominance between couples. Gender role ideology between the husband and wife was a key determinant of husbands’ support toward his working wife. Originality/value The present research, unlike previous studies, explores how women perceive the presence/absence of a husband’s support in a little studied group of female workers.

Female employment has witnessed a drastic paradigm shift. Several factors like improving literacy, change is the socio-economic scenario, zest for financial independence and ambition; are responsible for this changing trend. Being the largest employer of women in India, education sector is witnessing drastic changes. The present study examines Work-Life Balance of women working in various universities of J&K with emphasis on work pressure the females face in the course of trying to balance their professional life with their personal life. Investigation shows that most working women are upset with the amount of work-load in the universities. Women who work for longer hours tend to be more dissatisfied with their Work-Life Balance. The study strongly suggests that academic expectations must be attuned with the demands of a woman’s personal life or else a woman can never give her best.

Despite the vast research on human resources, little is known about the perspective of perceived organizational support in helping women faculty in professional education to strike the desirable balance between their work and non-work activities. This paper studies the role of Organizational Support in relation to Work-Life Balance of working women. India in general and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in particular, shows paucity of research conducted in this area. Therefore, this paper empirically examines the influence of these three dimensions on the Work-Life Balance of women faculty at college and university level in Kashmir. The results of the study indicated that all the factors were significantly related to a woman’s Work-Life Balance. This means that modern organizations should frame robust organizational policies aimed at supporting and enhancing career development of women professionals at work.