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Neha Bagaria through her platform, Jobs for Her, helps women who are often inhibited by internal and external barriers, to advance their professional lives after a career break.
Women all over the world, and in India especially, are viewed as caregivers and homemakers first. A woman is often considered to be the lynchpin around which the household revolves – her choices are therefore, not always, her own – they are often dictated by circumstances – financial or otherwise, intrusive relatives, un-supportive spouses and the like.
A lot of women discontinue their jobs, entirely or partly, when they get married, when their spouses relocate to another state or country or when they have a child. Some do it out of choice, some out of compulsion. Nonetheless, this makes resuming careers a challenge. We live in an economy, where skills become outdated by the minute. Justifying career breaks to prospective employers, thus, becomes a painful challenge.
Through Jobs for Her, a platform for connecting women looking at resuming jobs to competitive opportunities spread across industries and sectors, Neha Bagaria has helped hundreds of women get their careers back on track.
She quotes her breaking barriers moment as the day when “I decided to stop my 3.5 year career break and get back to work. The day I decided to get back to a career which used to fulfill me before I became a full time mother. The day I decided that I need to stop holding myself and by becoming a better and happier person, I can be a better and happier mom”.
In a world where women are breaking barriers, we still have a long way to go and the need for such enabling platforms is on the rise. Some women are still finding their voices, some women know they want to go back to work – they just don’t know how, while others feel their skill-sets have rusted over the years. No matter what the case might be, it is becoming increasingly imperative to create enabling conditions at work, to advocate for jobs for returning moms, and to give women the space and opportunities to hone and showcase their skillsets.
Neha has used her platform to advocate for such rights with employers, who are now creating gender inclusive policies and are looking at hiring women resuming their careers after a break, often with innovative programmes such as returnee internships, giving women the crucial buffer to transition into their roles with ease.
Keep powering on, Neha. We need more of your tribe.
Watch Neha Bagaria speak here.
Tell us your stories of resuming work after a career break. Has it been tough to break into the professional world again? How did you deal with it? Let us know in the comments below.
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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