Dual-Career Couples in Bangladesh: Exploring the Challenges

Abstract

With the increased opportunity of women’s education and employment, the numbers of dual-career couples are increasing in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. As a result, these couples are confronting various types of problems every day, as they need to maintain both the work and family role demands simultaneously. After an extensive literature review, the study was initiated to explore the challenges of dual-career couples in terms of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was used as a means of data collection and the survey was conducted on 155 dual-career couples (N = 310) in Dhaka. Principle component analysis revealed nine challenges that are encountered by dual-career couples. These challenges include childcare, family-work conflicts, work-family conflicts, marital relations, dependency on others for housekeeping and childcare, personal well-being, family activity maintenance, housekeeping, and social relationship maintenance.