Working Conditions, Job Insecurity, and Well-Being among Women Teachers in Self-Financing Colleges: An Empirical Study of Colleges Affiliated with University of Calicut

The present study was an attempt to study the working conditions, job insecurity and well-being of women teachers working in self-financing colleges affiliated to the Calicut University. The results show that while the respondents generally have a positive perception of their physical work environment and opportunities for career development, there is a need for significant improvements in terms of organizational support and workload management. The study further reveals that women teachers experience high degree of job insecurity especially in terms of employment security, mainly due to the prevalence of contract appointments. This job insecurity leads to a reduction in their professional confidence, career growth and overall well-being. Furthermore, the moderate levels of psychological well-being, work–life balance and occupational well-being indicate the ineffectiveness of the existing institutional support systems in addressing the professional and personal needs of women faculty. The study concludes that better working conditions alone are not enough unless accompanied with better employment security, fair remuneration, transparent promotion policies, institutional support practices and good work-life balance initiatives. Therefore, the universities, as well as the government of Kerala, need to have comprehensive human resource policies to provide a stable employment environment, increase organizational support, avenues for professional development and effective grievance redressal mechanisms. These initiatives would go a long way in enhancing the wellbeing, job satisfaction and long-term professional commitment of women teachers in self-financing colleges, thereby improving the overall quality and sustainability of higher education.

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