Sindhu Bharathi & Anitha Vijayakumar
As a woman and more so as a mother, whether we attribute it to nature or nurture most of us endure a constant tug of war as we are forced to make a choice between career and family. It’s either as a working mom we feel guilty of not being able to spend enough time with our children and family because we have to be at office all day; or as a stay-at-home we feel restless, insecure, and discontent about compromising aspirations and ambitions.
If you scale all beautiful emotions as a mother on earth, that feeling of not having to choose family over work or work over family, rank galaxies ahead of the best.
Though a lot is being spoken about empowering women, in reality many women end up managing the household to meet the demands of the family that at times, the humongous energy and the strenuous efforts invested in acquiring education may seem futile and pointless. While organizations boast of employing a large women force, what matters beyond the numbers is offering them the opportunity to control their lives, a platform to unleash their utmost capacity and to learn new skills, and above all, offering them the much needed flexibility in schedules to enable them to attain a balance in multiple roles that they take up on themselves.
So here we are three guilt-free, homebound mothers working beyond countries and continents, standing big and bold drawing inspiration from each other as we cherish the best of both the worlds- stay-at-home mother and a working parent. A toddler sitting by our side, making unreasonable demands while we are on an official zoom call is a perfect moment for all of us.
All thanks to Badri for putting in constant efforts beyond his super busy schedules to understanding our needs, championing our ideas, valuing our contribution, and for making sure that the smallest of our accomplishments are celebrated big, in a way for truly empowering each of us in alignment with our own interests and ambitions.
It’s not just about Badri and Sumathi tolerating the kids during our work hours and meetings, but about cherishing and celebrating them. We aren’t scared about letting them know, when at times we have to take a day-off or close early to deal with our children’s unanticipated tantrums and meltdowns. The moment we let the team know our needs or when we seek help, the rest of the team would be in action rushing to offer support in the most possible way. Isn’t it the most luxurious offer on earth as a mother?
Insisting that we end our meeting short so as to make sure that we pay attention to our demanding children or offering a day-off to take care of them when sick may seem simple, but that kind of flexibility and acceptance is what makes each of us feel heard, valued, responsible and truly empowered. It is the best, that we could possibly be offered while working with our little ones by our side.
We are incredibly fortunate to work for an organization that not only engages mothers, but puts in strenuous and sincere efforts in empowering the ecosystem with the needed flexibility and accessibility. The ability to work from home and work as per our timings helps us to guiltlessly take care of our children when needed as well as to relentlessly pursue our goals and advance our career. The ability to accomplish both has been truly empowering, more so the opportunity to do both on our terms.