The level of women involvement in the workforce has grown considerably over the last few decades, but the career advancement amongst working women remains to be affected by a number of structural, social, and health-related aspects. Physical health problems, mental health-related problems, reproductive health concerns, and work-related stress are major factors contributing to the professional path of the women. Whereas there has been growing academic focus on the topic of gender inequality and barriers to career success at work, few studies have attempted to study the overlap between health concerns and career mobility among working women in various sectors. This is a review paper and it will be able to synthesize the existing literature to analyse the impact of the health related challenges on career progression in working women in India. The article is comparative of industry-specific experience in industries like information technology, healthcare, education, corporate services and manufacturing. The contribution of the workplace policies, such as maternity leave, menstrual leave, occupational health and mental health programs are also looked at. Using extensive literature review, the study establishes the gaps in research, policy constraints, and structural disparities on career development of women. The results indicate that the key to improving the career progress of women can be the supportive organizational practices, inclusive policies, and health-related interventions. The review fits into the academic discussion because it incorporates the viewpoints of occupational health, gender studies, and organizational management besides providing recommendations to policymakers, employers, and researchers.
Dhawal et al. (Sat,) studied this question.