This Mothers’ Day … Give The Mothers A Hand.

… So I was talking to a friend who while pregnant couldn’t concentrate much on her unborn child but was more worried about her job… the organisation she worked in was only giving her two months leave post-pregnancy and one month prior… she had to keep her job…she needed this job… life itself was getting exponentially expensive… with the baby coming her expenses would spiral since she obviously wanted the best for her child… the best clothes, the best toys, the best docs and the best schools… then of course there were the taxes and loans that were only slowly eating up her family income from the fringes moving in towards her savings…

Image Courtesy: jezebel.com

But then she was also feeling helpless… she wanted to be with her child…for the first one year at least… not an illegitimate request or desire, eh?!… As per the WHO a child is to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of her life… so if the new mother is compelled to join her job in the first two months of her child’s life, where from would she arrange to breastfeed the child every two hours for the next four months? Who will manage the nappy changes? Who will rock the baby to sleep and give her a bath? How will the mother and child ever form a bond that is so crucial to be established in the first year of the mother and child relationship? And then, does the organisation expect a cent-per-cent performance from a woman who is only physically there to sign the muster but her pangs of separation from her new born is reflected in the disarray of her sheer being? How does she manage to keep her home and hearth, keep a job and still perform the joyous acts of motherhood that are such a small part of a child’s life and his growing years? Won’t she miss her child’s first words? Her first steps? Her first sit-ups? Her first morsels of real food? Her delight at being able to hold herself up? Her first two-second long run? Won’t she miss her child’s first irritation? Her first anger? Her first full throated giggle? And her first excitement of understanding the mother’s value in her life? Isn’t that a long list of Misses?

In my first job, I was delighted with my employers since they were so large-hearted that women chose the dates when they wanted to come back from their maternity leaves and most came back after a sabbatical of six months to one year… and there was no discrimination whatsoever… the women who came back were grateful women, satisfied mothers and even more important… had satisfied babies 🙂 Of course my second employer was not so kind… I remember one colleague who mourned the fact that she had to resume work in the second month post delivery and that she left the child at home unable to breastfeed her. Hence the child was sick all the while with less immunity 😦   I for myself chose to quit that organisation post my maternity leave since I had decided not to compromise on the time I spent with my child during her first year of life. 

Of course now when she enters her second year and is slowly evolving to be an individual, I am glad I made that decision… the so-many-firsts in her life as well as mine are PRICELESS and I wouldn’t miss them against a truckload of money…And yet I can already feel the strain… when I went for an interview a couple of months back I had the so called prospective employer deciding on my behalf that I would not be able to do justice to my duties as a new mother and an employee…so he was not sure of hiring me …. HHHRRUUMMMPPHHH!!!!!!

On this Mother’s Day, my plea goes out to all in the Corporate Sector… be kind, be more empathetic and more wise in your dealings with a woman who is in the family way or is a new mother…we owe our nation and our society healthy children and healthy citizens and that would not be possible if we did not help our mothers to nourish their children… Give the Mothers a Chance… And if you really want them back and cannot have such long sabbaticals at work, then be thoughtful and make arrangements for her to be at ease… set up a clean, hygienic and a pretty feeding room, a changing room for the baby, may be a lounge for an expectant mother, a nursery or a day care where the new mother can safely bring her child to work and deliver to the best of her potential duties… and if you have space constraints then tie-up with renowned day-cares…. Some corporate sectors in my country do take these steps but yet the examples are small and miniscule… It’s a large task force that is not being catered to and thought of. A huge talent pool who is being penalised to make one of the best decisions of her life… to be a Mother.

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This Mother’s Day gift your employees the joys of Motherhood… Give them a Hand… Give the Future a chance to be nourished and taken care of so we can have brighter, better and stronger individuals. Happy Mother’s Day Everyone.

Image Courtesy: guardian.co.uk