Optimism in Indian Women: The Role of Employment Status and Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

Optimism is a core construct within the framework of women empowerment. The present study was designed to investigate the role of employment status and emotional intelligence (EI) in optimism of Indian women. It was expected that the delineation of the predictive role of these two variables for optimism would be helpful for future intervention programs. The study adopted a 2 (employed versus unemployed) x 2 (low EI versus high EI) factorial design where employed and unemployed women were separately divided into low EI and high EI subgroups on the basis of median split of EI scores. Apart from the test of EI, all the participants were individually administered a standardised test of optimism/pessimism scale. The analysis of variance supported both the hypotheses. Employed women exhibited higher optimism than unemployed women. Women with high EI showed greater optimism than women with low EI. The findings were explained in terms of the contemporary theories of optimism and interventions were suggested for women empowerment.