What do Women Want?
I don’t claim to know what other women want, but if you are reading my blog and you are a woman, you will likely want some of the things I have listed here. This is a part of my #International Women’s’ day series. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get all the posts in the series.
If you are an Indian woman born in a middle-class family anywhere in the world, you know the drill right?
Study hard. Grow up
Marry a nice man who can help support your dreams and respects you and whom you can respect. It’s great if you have kids buy a home and save for your pension and live happily ever after.
What no one tells you about is the struggle you will face as a working woman and as a mother later in your life
Women want validation a little support and the need to feel they can do their thing without letting down others
Women are natural caregivers and mother earth material. With our overload of empathy and social conditioning putting our needs first takes a lot of work.
We not only suffer from societal pressure but also internal guilt. Its a constant struggle balancing self need over family need. But what does the woman want to have to do with all this?
The woman’s heart loves taking care but she also needs to be taken care of. She needs those who love her t tell her that she can go fight her battles and they will have her back. She needs them to tell her the dinner will be ready when she has an urgent late meeting.
She needs her partner to get the homework done with the kids when she takes on a new project.
Women hold up half the sky
Mao Zedong
She needs family support for the days when she juggles home and work. Don’t men expect the same and get it? If women hold up half the sky, shouldn’t we get at least half the social support?
But why am I writing all this?
I am grateful for getting more support from my spouse, family, and society than many others.
But then I realized, the buck doesn’t stop at just Beti Bachao Beti padao.
Dr.Amrita Basu
Because we need to teach the older society the men and women that they must support the working mom, work from home mom, stay at home mom , who to be and stay financially independent. If you are okay with the majority of women not paying taxes, because they are not having a taxable income, that’s strange for a society.
Potential talent, resources, and money are lost when you make professionally educated women, strictly caregivers because of a lack of sensitivity at the corporate level. Lack of policymakers representing female interest and just lack of empathy.
In a world with women everywhere struggling to find their voice and place at the table its time, each of us tries some more.
When I left my Government job it was a conscious decision to build my own practice. It helps me earn but with my time schedule being a priority. I don’t have to worry about shifting night emergencies struggling with sudden leaves and all the random other things I was struggling with. But that’s not a choice everyone wants or has.
What Society can do to help?
I feel Government and corporate, should have in house child care and at least a preschool facility offered for all parents working. Because childcare is not just a mother’s responsibility.
Having the child close to the office means parents being able to pop in at break times and more. It helps moms get back to work after the period of maternity leave much more smoothly. That’s when we struggle with having a baby at home, starting weaning and getting back to our professional lives.
It helps parents become more productive and fewer work hours lost.
It helps moms get back into the mainstream without suffering from insecurity and lost opportunity. Since businesses first have to make money, their bottom line will improve, if their workforce takes less unscheduled leaves.
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