Does marriage really make it harder for women to pursue their careers? Actor Radhika Apte believes the question itself needs to be reconsidered. In a recent conversation with Kamiya Jani on Curly Tales, she said the challenge is not necessarily marriage or motherhood, but a work culture that expects people to remain available at all hours.Radhika pointed out that having responsibilities or interests outside work is not exclusive to married women or mothers. Every employee, she argued, has a personal life that deserves time and respect.
9 Feb 2026 | 17:28
What advice would you give your younger self about work or finances?
“Everybody has a life outside work”
When Kamiya asked whether marriage comes in the way of a woman’s career, Radhika questioned why the discussion is often centred on marriage and children. “So that’s the thing, no? Marriage or children doesn’t have to be marriage or children. What if I’m a single woman? What, I can’t have a life or what?” she said.She explained that the issue is not simply about women needing flexibility because they have children. A single woman also needs time for herself, her interests and relationships outside the workplace. “It’s about having a life outside work. It’s not about children. It’s not just because I’m a mother now, I can’t be like, oh have a child, please let me go early. That’s not the point. The point is, everybody has a life outside work,” she said.Her point was that personal time should not be treated as a special concession available only to employees with caregiving responsibilities. Having a family is one reason someone may need time away from work, but it is not the only reason.
“Just because I’m doing your job doesn’t mean you own my time”
Instagram/@radhikaofficial
Radhika also spoke about the expectation that employees should be reachable even after working hours. She said completing a job should not mean giving an employer unlimited access to one’s time. “Just because I’m doing your job doesn’t mean you own my time. That’s the thing. You can’t call me at 11.30 in the night and expect me to answer,” she said.She extended the point to weekends, questioning why employees are expected to respond to repeated calls outside their working hours. “You can’t call me over the weekend. You can’t keep calling me and think that I work 24-7, 365 days. But that’s the culture we have,” she said.For Radhika, this expectation is a workplace problem rather than an issue caused by marriage or parenthood. “But that’s the culture we have. And that’s the problem. It’s not about marriage. It’s not about child,” she added.
A single woman also needs time for herself
To explain why the conversation should go beyond marriage and motherhood, Radhika described the ordinary things she would want to do with her free time. “I might be a single woman having a great life, but I need time for that life. I want to sit on my couch. I want to read a book. I want to see my friends. I want to write a book. I need my free time. So it’s not about marriage,” she said.Her comments shift the focus from whether women can manage marriage and careers to whether workplaces allow employees to have lives beyond their jobs. A woman should not have to be a wife or a mother to justify wanting evenings, weekends or uninterrupted personal time.
The workplace conversation needs to go beyond working mothers
Radhika’s argument also points to a distinction that often gets lost in discussions about work-life balance. Flexibility is frequently discussed in the context of maternity, childcare and family responsibilities. But the need for boundaries is not limited to parents. An employee may want to spend time with friends, read, pursue a creative interest or simply rest after work. These needs do not become less valid because someone is single or does not have children.