Balancing Work-life: A Narrative Study of Career Challenges of Working Married Women of Kathmandu

Abstract

In Nepal, married working women struggle to balance work and family under cultural norms that emphasize joint homes and women's roles within them. City life splits families, while NGO, bank, or casual jobs bring long, irregular hours. This forces hard choices, like skipping babies for field work or handling elders without time off, hurting health and progress. Despite more women working, jobs lack flex hours, childcare, or shared home tasks. Women lean on spotty family help or tough it out alone. Money shortages and gender bias still limit choices, keeping many in survival—not thriving—needing studies on job-type strategies. This study used narrative research to capture women's experiences with the challenges they face in their work and personal lives, the support systems they rely on to fulfill their multiple roles, and the strategies and coping skills they use to maintain work-life balance. This research aimed to explore how educated, married, working women cope with demands at home, work, and in their families. It mainly focused on the balance they have achieved in their lives as working women, wives, and mothers. Narrative research methods were used to collect participants' stories, which addressed the community's social, cultural, political, and ethnic aspects. I have adopted an in-depth interview as a technique for information collection, so the informants have full space to reflect. Memorable, interesting learning about the challenges working married women face and how they tackle them was collected. The major focus was to explore and then compare participants’ responses to those questions. This method was chosen because it allows to compare different experiences of a common topic. The stories of Sita, Purnima, Sangita, and Kalpana teach and guide married women on how to juggle their jobs and families, and the major areas they need to consider. Their experiences indicate that relying only on your own strength is not enough. To be successful, you need a combination of family support (such as from a spouse, parent, or neighbor), flexible employment policies (like changeable hours or leave possibilities), and your own hard work. These services work together to help people develop habits that they can stick to over time. In conclusion, married women need family support to manage both work and home effectively. Flexible workplaces with understanding managers and leave policies help women balance job and family demands. Motherhood added responsibilities that require careful planning and strong support systems. Work–life balance is learned gradually through experience, adaptation, and setting personal limits.