Another day in woman's life - Journey continues with P.inc

The start is always difficult. Whether it is writing a letter, or a story, or taking the first step in solving a relationship issue, or in dealing with your first child. But once you take the first step, I feel the journey becomes much easier. Yesterday I attended a seminar initiated by the Times of India partnered with Cerebrand on a pan India basis for helping /supporting/ encouraging mid career professional women to regain entry into the work force. It’s a start for which I as a professional woman, who has been on and off the ramp more than once and who has personally gone through the heartache and the headache involved in trying to juggle career, family and self development, heartily congratulate the whole team for bringing together such eminent personalities and corporates under one roof for airing out the various issues involved.

This is the first step taken by Corporate India in a big way for tackling/ understanding the issue of talented professional women dropping out of the work force at every level (Junior, mid and senior) due to various issues like health, child bearing and rearing, taking care of elderly parents, or relocating on account of spouse’s career etc. so that ultimately a very small percentage of women actually make it to the Boardrooms and are able to prove themselves to be as good or even better than the men around them. The statistics are staggering. This step is in the right direction to sensitize the ecosystem as a whole so that there can be more support for meritorious and efficient women in urban India to make a come back to the workplace so that the economy does not lose out on the contributions they can make. 

My first question is – can we make the environment supportive enough so that the women do not drop out in the first place. I am not talking only support from the employer who has a big role to play no doubt, but also support from the family/ spouse/society- so that easier child care / nanny services etc are available. The Indian man is still grappling with this new Indian woman who has worked hard to get a degree, who wants to work but at the same time who wants to enjoy the joys of motherhood and caring for her family. But once the child arrives, sometimes he does not understand the changes that happen in the woman. I don’t blame him, because most of the times the woman herself does not know what she has gotten into when she becomes a mother. From a rational working woman, she suddenly changes into an emotional nutcase. A valid point which was made by Prasenjit Bhattacharya (CEO- Great Places to work) is child bearing is biological and necessarily the woman has to do it, but child rearing need not have to be only the mother’s responsibility. Both the partners have to come together to work out ways of being there for bringing up a well balanced happy and socially adjusted child. Here again, the first year of childbirth, I feel is very crucial by way of an adequate support. The emotional tussle and the physically exhausting challenge of feeding the child, taking care of your own health and your child’s and at the same time wanting to enjoy going out and working is not easy for any young mother. There is a lot of coping, which she tries to do in the best way possible, because she does not know whom to talk to. Here, I feel, counseling sessions are very important to let her know it pays in the long run to just stay put. Prioritize and juggling on an everyday basis is very important for this young working mother. The heart is torn in both the directions- work and child and most of the times the child wins, motherhood becomes more important than earning that additional income. So here happens the first drop from corporate India. 

But what is corporate India’s loss can be the society’s gain if the break or the sabbatical helps in bringing up responsible children for tomorrow and in containing health issues which women invariable suffer from trying to multi task roles at home and at work, not knowing whom to ask for support from. The health issues can be as small as ulcers and acidity problems in the beginning to cholesterol, blood pressure etc in later parts of their lives. The stress of trying to manage too much also results in a stressful environment at home for the newborn, which can later lead to emotional issues in the young adult. I am not saying it happens always, but somehow I feel the woman is more sensitive to such psychological issues of her child and can be swamped with guilty thoughts when she is at work. Here, I feel Ms. Chanda Kochar made a very valid point when she mentioned, about the “French fries enjoyed by the child with her grandparents while the mother is at work”. We as dutiful mothers may fuss all the time that we want to give them the healthiest food, but may be at times we have to allow for the fun that the child enjoys by eating junk food and having a good time. So there is no point in letting the work get affected because you are not there to decide what he has eaten and then go back home, pick up a fight with the caregiver and stress out the child.

I think the key is to learn to prioritize and make the extra effort to work smarter and not just harder, know who your lifelines are whether at work /home/friends and ask for help and just hang in there in the crucial years. But nobody tell you that and then you make your choice of opting out of work. So counseling at this stage by corporate India is of utmost importance. Know your talent pool; treat them with a bit more caring hands so that it is a win win for both of you in later years.

On the panel we had powerhouse women achievers like Ms. Chanda Kochar- MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Limited and Dr. Swati Piramal- VC , Piramal Enterprises Ltd. who need no introduction and who have also juggled work and those initial years of motherhood, done the fine balancing act to reach where they are today.  They are an inspiration to all the others who feel they can pitch in a bit more than what they are doing today to achieve more meaning out of their lives.  Economics no doubt plays a big role in determining whether a woman would continue to work or not.  Once the second income does not look as important to the family kitty, that’s the time when couples take the decision that its ok for one person to drop out of the rat race and for the other to continue as the earning member in the house.  And in most cases, it is the woman who has the luxury of dropping out and decides to take care of home issues rather than continue to run for the professional dreams she had once set out for herself.  One of the reasons for her taking the lead at the home front could be because she is naturally better at it than the man, second her career had taken a backseat for women centric issues like child bearing etc.

This time can be valuably utilized by such women to introspect on what exactly she herself is looking for. A career to reach the top or a job where in she can juggle both home and work and do justice to both the way she wants. Ms. Lalita Iyer rightly pointed out this issue – “more clarity is required as to what we want to chase in life- money or good work.“ The choice is ours to make and then we have to go about finding suitable opportunities for having access to a sensitized employer.

In this area, I feel P.inc can play a big role in building up a platform wherein efficient women who want to do the juggling act can have access to the employers who are more than willing to bring them back on ramp, not because they want gender diversity at the work place, but because they know that the woman coming back will make the rightful contribution to the company and will be an asset to them. The fitment has to be right for it to be a win-win situation. The woman has to be clear what she wants and the employer should see her as capable enough of delivering.

Once again I thank the whole team from Times of India for making this beginning  and for giving access to us to talk to such eminent woman achievers, “ The journey has just begun and my hope is that it would be a meaningful walk for women who can successfully come back on ramp due to this initiative and even if they are not able to make this transition the journey itself would be rewarding enough to raise questions in their minds to which they have to find their own answers.