Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
The woman smiled and answered my unasked question "She is my daughter. Her nanny left me a few days back without notice. I couldn't find another one.
Today I visited the bank for some paperwork. There was a queue of 5-6 people at the single window counter where a clerk, a woman in her 30s sat working busily. Behind her was a girl of 5-6, colouring in her book with crayons.
The girl would interrupt the woman once in a while like any curious preschooler, and the woman was handling both the questions of the child and the customers cheerfully, even as she carried on with her work. I just asked my daughter to say hi to the child.
The woman smiled and answered my unasked question “She is my daughter. Her nanny left me a few days back without notice. I couldn’t find another one. I took leave for a couple of days and then decided to get her here with me for a few hours after her school”
I smiled and said “More power to you” as she smiled back.
As I was led to the manager’s room, I saw another graceful lady seated there. I couldn’t help but wonder, had the manager been a man, would he have let his staff’s child play in the bank for a few hours everyday while she did her work? He might or might not, but this is all that women need- a support system either at work or at home.
The the percentage of women in work force in India, stands at a dismal 19%. And statistics show that most women drop out of work just because there is no support system for childcare. Of the rest 81%, most would happily come back to work if their workplace offers childcare facilities. And I would like to believe this is more likely to happen only when there are more women in decision-making positions. But herein lies the whole problem – how will women reach policy-making positions at work if they have no support systems in place?
Editor’s Note: We will be publishing some of your stories as #WomenAtWorkTrueStories, so go ahead and share these with us on your author dashboard with this hashtag in the title.
Image source: shylendrahoode from Getty Images Signature Free for Canva Pro
Writer| Poet| Self-published author| Oral Surgeon| A woman who believes that subtlety is strength, feminine is formidable, beauty is in benevolence and vulnerability is validation of strength of character. For more read www.soumyabharathi. read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address