Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to attempt to understand the effects of gender, masculinity-femininity and social support from three sources (supervisor, co-worker and family) on the quality of work life (QWL) of an employee. In addition, the paper tried to explore the moderating effects of gender and social support in the relationship between masculinity-femininity and QWL. Relevant background variables such as age, marital status, parental status and sector have been included as control variables in the study. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 307 bank employees in India (208 males and 99 females) working in private and public sector banks using the purposive sampling technique. Prior permission was obtained from the relevant authorities. To test the hypotheses, t-tests and hierarchical regression analyses were performed. In addition, the Baron and Kenny (1986) approach was used to test the moderating effects of gender and social support in the relationship between masculinity-femininity and QWL. Findings – Masculinity-femininity was not found to be significant predictor of QWL, while gender emerged as a significant predictor of QWL. Also, gender moderated the relationship between masculinity-femininity and QWL. All three sources of social support significantly predicted QWL. Results of t-test showed that female employees experienced better QWL than male employees. Furthermore, supervisory category employees and parent employees reported significantly better QWL than non-supervisory and non-parent employees. Practical implications – The key implication for organisations is that employees with both masculine and feminine tendencies are required to strike a balance between goal orientation and people orientation within the company. Also, employees should understand that their gender as well as their individual orientations towards masculinity or femininity will affect the dynamics of any interaction. Hence, being aware of the tendencies that are typical of their gender role orientations both while dealing with themselves as well as while dealing with customers, colleagues or supervisors would help in improving the quality of their work, as well as their QWL, especially in customer service professions. Originality/value – This is one of the few studies that have tried to answer the “why” part of gender differences in QWL. In addition, this study contributes to an understanding of the relative importance of different sources of social support in improving an employee's QWL. Finally, this is the first study to understand the relationship between masculinity-femininity, social support, gender and QWL in the Indian context, where the overall cultural orientation towards gender roles is currently changing.

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Bio-medical wastes are produced during the analysis of a patient, during healing process or vaccination to all animals while performing research and induced into humans by the fabrication or checking of biological samples, as per the guidelines in Schedule I, of the BMW rules, 2016 (AIIMS, 2020). The health care workers should be provided with proper guidance for the safe disposal of biomedical wastes. Especially rag workers are more involved in cleaning residential areas where hospitals are nearby. The awareness of mediwastes should be publicized more to the people in order to prevent from serious health hazards. The sources of mediwaste are elaborated in this review and flowcharts make the readers to easily gain knowledge of the sources and details about the category. There is various treatment method practiced in India but still residential clinics and hospitals should strictly abide by the rules and guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO). The precautionary measures and safe disposal of wastes are mentioned in this review focusing and creating awareness to the public.

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