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A woman's corporate career today is often cut short by maternity, but it doesn't have to be, if companies saw pregnancy as a natural part of life.
A woman’s corporate career today is often cut short by maternity, but it doesn’t have to be, if companies saw pregnancy as a natural part of life.
“Climbing stairs is difficult during pregnancy, whether it be literal steps or the corporate ladder”. These words, randomly uttered by one of my childhood friends struck a nerve with me.
My friend since college, Prajakta was one of those people who always knew what they wanted to do with their life. Hence, while the rest of us were busy trying to test the waters of the corporate world, Prajakta was already charting her own course and taming torrid seas. The allure of Marketing had drawn her into the media sector and she rose rapidly in the ranks. Her innate sense of consumer understanding and her passion for product marketing soon earned her many accolades. A decade into her corporate career, she met her soul mate and soon commenced her matrimonial journey.
The pressures of her career, and her constant travel schedules did not bode well for planning a family initially but, a ticking biological clock made her rethink her decision. Happily, she conceived and things seemed ship-shape. Both husband and wife were ecstatic with the news and the initial pregnancy itself proved easy.
However, although her personal life flourished, Prajakta sensed a withdrawal in her professional life. The assignments that she was perfect for started going to other colleagues. The meatier field studies were assigned to other peers and Prajakta was handed down assignments related to research compilation and analysis.
Although the attitude of her superiors and peers remained solicitous and ever helpful, Prajakta sensed a withdrawal in their manner when it came to discussions on ongoing assignments. Could she be over thinking things? Could it be that her pregnancy hormones were making her overtly sensitive? Was she misjudging the situation? These and many other such questions also coursed through her mind as she spent endless days sifting though mind-numbing data and sitting at a desk tapping away at her computer.
Prajakta may have been wrong. Maybe even entirely so! Her colleagues and peers could have been trying in their own way, to be helpful towards an expectant mother. They may have been misguidedly trying to ensure her welfare by ensuring that she be given less taxing assignments in order to ease her pregnancy. Prajakta could have misjudged the situation at her workplace!
But, sadly the inverse is true in a lot of organizations. Although, the maternity benefit Act 1961 protects the employment of women during the time of her maternity and entitles her to ‘maternity leave benefit‘ – i.e. full paid absence from work – to take care for her child and also prohibits discrimination against women employees on account of pregnancy or related conditions yet, at times expectant mothers in Indian corporate are often regarded as free-loaders who draw a salary for the work that the management has to pass on to other employees.
Not all may agree with this statement and indeed companies today are becoming more cognizant to an expectant mother’s needs. A few companies in India with noteworthy initiatives in this area are Flipkart, Accenture, Google, TCS, Godrej, Marriott hotels, ICICI, Pepperfry etc (sources: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/10-companies-in-india-that-take-great-care-of-their-employees-243744.html and https://yourstory.com/2016/05/workplaces-mothers/ ). This is by no means an all inclusive list but it is hopefully a teaser for better and more initiatives to come from Indian corporates when it comes to maternity breaks for women.
Perhaps, more companies would follow suit if Indian industry started to view maternity as a natural progression in the life curve of a woman and not as the end of her professional career. If this viewpoint could change then women would not have to give up their jobs in order to bear children. They would not be forced to take sabbaticals. But, till such a time dawns, the fact remains that there are more companies in India that still need to adopt a broader perspective when it comes to procreation.
First published here.
Image via Pixabay
Sonal is a multiple award winning blogger and writer and the founder of a women-centric manpower search firm - www.rianplacements.com. Her first book, a volume of poetry - Islands in the stream - is slated read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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