Motherhood or career? This has been a daunting question that most working moms have been facing for many decades. While in India, the focus is on empowering women and educating them having more women in leadership roles, everything goes for a toss once these women take the role of mothers. There is an age-old belief that working mothers are not good mothers. However, the opposite is true – Working moms can be good mothers. For a woman to be an achiever in her career and a good mother, balancing motherhood and career is indispensable.
Did you know?
India has one of the lowest and worst female participation rates (21 percent) in the labor force globally against a global average of 47 percent.
Making a successful career is not just about the money
- Do many women return to jobs after motherhood only for salary? No.
- Successful mothers with careers are an inspiration for women in the motherhood phase. It gives them a sense of satisfaction, better problem-solving ability, positivity, confidence, fulfillment, financial independence, and most importantly an individual identity in the world around them.
- All these factors combined will help boost their confidence in all walks of life, including motherhood.
- Motherhood is no less than any profession or job. It is something that deserves the highest honor.
Balancing motherhood and career is not easy
- Things can get really difficult for working moms, as balancing motherhood and careers is not easy.
- Many traditional beliefs still exist that taking care of the child and performing household chores is the responsibility of a woman. However, this is not true.
- Both parents should be equally involved in raising a child.
- Working moms juggle between housework and office work, hence experience fatigue and high stress levels throughout the day.
- It is not easy to be a woman, mother, and excel in the career as well.
- Balancing motherhood and career is extremely demanding and a challenging task as well.
- More often than not, there is a compromise of either motherhood or career.
- Balancing motherhood and career is possible, but it requires support from the family members as well.
- In families where both parents take care of the child, there is less feeling of guilt and more satisfaction in working moms.
What can be done to balance motherhood and career?
- Most people believe that when it comes to motherhood or career, women compromise their dreams and career aspirations in order to devote themselves completely to being a responsible mother.
- It is not a choice which they make, but a conditioned response which develops over a period of time.
- The sole responsibility of upbringing the child should be on the shoulder of the mother is a myth.
- A working woman takes a break from her career during the maternity period to take care of the child and herself too.
- In this case, her role of being a mother becomes the first priority over career.
- The choice to continue being a working mom is often accompanied by the guilt of not being there in the house to spend enough time with the child.
- Remember, parenthood is a unique journey for both father and mother.
- If the mother shifts her responsibilities from career to motherhood, so should the father, to prevent any overburden on the mother.
Balancing motherhood and career is not a walk in the park. Here are the different ways in which working moms can balance motherhood and career.
- Spend quality time with the family, resulting in a healthy, happy, and positive environment.
- Create a plan to make a comeback to the career.
- Reevaluate the situation and list down the priorities.
- Seek professional help or reach out to someone who is experienced in the same field.
- In today’s world, where technology is changing rapidly, upskilling and matching up with the existing market skills is important.
- Clearly communicate the commitments to the organization and maintain an open communication with the manager.
- Avoid distractions and stop getting into things that are not important.
- Perform special, meaningful activities at home with the family. It may be something like organizing a picnic or family game time at night after dinner.
- Schedule important tasks in the calendar so that they don’t get missed.
- Find a reliable and trustworthy childcare provider to ensure complete peace of mind during office hours.
- Instead of directly jumping into a full-time job, try a part-time or contractual job to see how things are working out.
- Choose a company that offers flexible working hours, hybrid working model, or work from home option.
AI School of India (AISI) – The Indian Mama’s Code Course for balancing motherhood and career
- With the aim to help all young mothers begin their coding journey and empower them to code with confidence, AISI has started the ‘Indian Mama’s Code’ course.
- In order to survive in today’s tech-savvy and digital world, working moms need to learn how to code.
- Indian Mama’s Code is specifically designed and developed for women who want to restart their career after taking a sabbatical or break from their career due to motherhood.
- The tutor led India Mama’s Code course builds a strong foundation in AI, empowering mothers to dive deep into the real AI world.
- There are different modules which are a part of the Indian Mama’s Code program.
- The AI and Coding courses from AISI, exclusively for women, help them step into the world of AI and coding.
- The purpose of offering the coding courses to women is to assist them in gaining valuable skills and bridging the gap that exists due to a long break in their career.
- Balancing motherhood and career is crucial. The flexibility offered by coding courses from AISI is a great way to strike the right balance for working moms.
In the journey of balancing motherhood and career, you are not alone. If you feel stuck anywhere in maintaining the work-life balance, take help from others. Create a strong network who can provide the right career guidance and help you achieve your professional goals. A mother is considered to be an epitome of sacrifices. She compromises with her health, personal goals, career aspirations, and others. Motherhood or career is a big dilemma which most women come across in life. To support women, society must stop seeing working moms as selfish, and a mother who is prioritizing motherhood as someone who is irresponsible and unproductive at work.
