THE WORKING MOMMA

 

“My mom is having NAAC visit in college, so she was not able to make me do my homework,” replied Babu, a 5-year old boy innocently to his angry tution teacher. His teacher first stared at him angrily and then burst out laughing. This incident that happened with Babu is probably the plight of many kids with working mothers today. With the fall in corona curve, many work places and educational institutions are resuming to the offline mode of functioning; many places have observed a surge in the workload of the employers thereafter. Now this is the plight of all employers irrespective of gender, but the burden of it is mostly borne by the working women, especially the “working mothers.” Together with working full time in the office (even overtime, if necessary), she has to balance multiple other things in a calculated fashion – online classes of kids and their exams, the night’s dinner with breakfast and lunch of next day, aging parents and in-laws, grocery, cleaning the house….the list goes on! In the midst of all this, if she complains or asks someone to share this load a bit or if she hires an extra pair helping hands for her, she is often greeted with replies like “Who asked her to work”, “It was ok initially, but now why is she is still working after having kids”, “This is what happens when you educate the girls too much”, and so on.

Though working has always been a choice for women, in today’s expensive lifestyle it has become a necessity – a minimum necessity of a house, good education for kids, EMIs, and other requirements can be afforded by people only when there are two earnings in the house. And who doesn’t wish to provide the best for their kids? When we are sent to school, weren’t we always told “Pora shuna kore jey, gari ghora chore shey (the one wo gets educated can only afford the luxuries of life).” Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had said, “Your education has no value if it doesn’t benefit the society in any way.” Hence, women, the equal halves that make up the society, have every right to contribute to the well-being, growth, and development of society and the world.

But then, the question lingers – what are working mothers supposed to balance their personal and professional life? Well, according to the Indian Maternity Benefit Act 1961 (Amendment 2017), working mothers are free to avail the “work from home” provision after the expiry of 26 weeks of maternity leave, depending on the nature of her work. This Act further states that all work places that employ women, whether government or private, should compulsorily have a crèche facility that a working mother can visit four times a day. However, the ground reality is that very few workplaces provide this option – this particularly becomes difficult for nursing mothers, and many of them end up losing their jobs. Though having a crèche facility at workplace doesn’t complete solve this issue, but it will definitely help to reduce the burden of a working mother significantly.

Last but not the least, family support is utmost necessary for a working mother. Share and care by husbands, cooperation from parents/ in-laws/ relatives, employment of additional house-helps can be of great help. And most importantly, the ‘working momma’ – a multitasker and an efficient time manager – has to learn to draw the line at work when her hands are full – yes, the paycheck comes from work but even she has to set her priorities right!

(This article is dedicated to my colleague, the mother of Babu, and all the amazing working mothers – just hang in there, things will fall into place soon!)