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Abstract

Women often take career breaks as a response to major life events such as marriage, childbirth, and migration; nevertheless, the emotional complexities and nuanced decision-making attached to these events are hardly discussed. This study explores the lived experiences of twenty-two urban Indian women from the information technology sector who took career breaks and then returned to work. Using an interpretivist phenomenological approach and reflexive thematic analysis, five themes were identified across the three phases of career transition: before, during, and after the career break. Drawing on feminist frameworks including Kabeer’s (1999) agency within constraints and Kandiyoti’s (1988) patriarchal bargaining, the study examines how women navigate career decisions within patriarchal structures. We found that while women considered caregiving and familial obligations important, they also sought to negotiate opportunities for self-care, using the break to recoup and rebuild their mental and physical health. Career disruptions, on the other hand, led to a loss of professional identity, reduced self-worth, and diminished social status due to lack of financial independence. Familial expectations continued to influence women’s career and life choices, further defining their sense of self-worth. Women simultaneously experienced externally imposed breaks and an internal need for self-care, constructing personal meaning within structurally imposed circumstances. The study found that career breaks were neither purely chosen nor purely imposed but represented sites of negotiation within patriarchal structures. Upon returning to work, women encountered emotional strain, organizational bias, and motherhood penalty while striving to reclaim their professional identities, and they received limited structural support from organizations and society. This study advocates for a change in narrative from viewing career breaks as acts of selfless sacrifice to recognizing them as expressions of negotiated agency and self-preservation. Practical implications extend to families, organizations, and policymakers, urging collective responsibility to normalize nonlinear career trajectories and foster gender-equitable work and family structures.

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