Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
I never saw how women managed jobs, stress, and housework all together, and I wondered if they were even capable of doing a job? Am I capable of doing work?
Imagine a world where people constantly tell you what you should do and who you should be. You grow up accepting their words, but when it’s time to fulfil those expectations, you realize you have many questions as a woman in a world full of jobs, dreams, and aspirations.
This new place you were preparing for since childhood is unknown territory. There’s no one to look up to or confide in, and you’re afraid to be vulnerable with colleagues.
As a child, whenever I had any difficulty or questions, I would turn to my dad, a successful businessman who provided the best for me. However, there were things that he couldn’t control, such as the lack of female role models in my family. I never saw how women managed jobs, stress, and housework all together, and I wondered if they were even capable of doing a job? Am I capable of doing work?
To clarify, I grew up in a time when the internet wasn’t easily accessible. I got access to the internet in my first year of college. Before that, the internet was only accessible in cyber cafes, and i didn’t have the option of finding female role models online. In my family, there was only one other woman who worked, but only after she got married and became the primary breadwinner for her family.
So I am the first unmarried woman in my family who’s working. The questions that plagued me still remain unanswered, but I keep going because I may not be the role model I needed in my life, but I can be someone my younger cousins can turn to for answers. I can be someone they can confide in and be vulnerable with.
The questions I had about my abilities and future haunted me. However, I have found a way to keep moving forward. As I said earlier, I may not have the role models I wanted, but I have become someone my younger cousins can turn to for answers and support. I can be the confidante and support system for them that I never had, and that is a source of strength for me.
In conclusion, I want to say that although navigating a new world without the guidance of role models can be challenging, the possibility of creating a positive impact in other lives drives me. I may not have all the answers, but I hope my willingness to not give up will make a significant difference in their lives.
Image source: a still from the Marathi film Muramba
I am Ekta Sati, born & brought up in a very peaceful and beautiful city, Rishikesh. I am an admirer of nature and loves to spend my time on the riverside and in the forests. 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