My message is simple: we need a 21st century mentality for women’s economic participation. We need to flush away the flotsam of ingrained gender inequality
Christine Lagarde
Society places more responsibility on the mother’s shoulders in the upbringing of a child. Despite an upward trend in women seeking higher education, jobs and financial independence most of them after marriage and immediate motherhood starts disappearing from the workforce. A 2013 World Bank study indicates that only 27% of the female population aged over 15 is working in India. This is the lowest rate among the BRICS countries. A survey conducted in Delhi and neighbouring cities found that only 18-34% of married women continued working after having a child.
Maternity Leave – India and World
Working women struggle to find the balance between their career and motherhood. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 has the provision of providing 12 to 26 weeks paid maternity leave for working women in an organization with minimum 10 employees and prenatal leave from 6 to 8 weeks. Women working in the informal sector lack such benefits and inflexible working hours leaves those in formal sector with no choice but quit their job.
Countries like Canada, Japan and Sweden provides about one year of paid leave. The Czech Republic provides two years of paid leave. Finland, Slovakia and Estonia provide three years of paid leave along with breastfeeding breaks for new mothers.
- Maternity Leave | OddNaari Show (Hindi): https://youtu.be/iUj6Jd17Hl8
Covid-19 pandemic and motherhood penalty
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the motherhood penalty worldwide. McKinsey’s 2020 Women in the Workplace Report reveals that one in four working women in North America were considering downshifting or dropping out of their careers. For working mothers with young children this number is one in three.
Recent surveys suggest that remote working during pandemic has affected the mental health of mothers more than fathers in a negative way. Reason being the increase in housework and caregiving duties more attached to women than men. Unable to grapple with work responsibilities, household responsibilities and mental health challenges single mothers stare at a looming high unemployment issue. This may upend years of progress in women’s participation in workforce.
Family Pressure
The ‘Guilt’ factor also plays a role in drop out of women in workforce after motherhood. Due to social conditioning women feel guilty of not being the primary caretaker of the child and is forced to keep aside her career aspirations. Women planning to return to work after pregnancy face a lot bumps in their journey ahead.
A woman is expected to handle her office responsibilities and household chores while family should be the first thing on her mind. The society and gender stereotypes put her in a compromising situation where career is secondary. There are times in a working mother’s life when she won’t be able to give attention to her family. Its during such times that women face immense pressure from the society and her family. A working mother is constantly guilt ridden by regressive social norms whereas fathers are seldom expected to take time off their work towards childcare. Government sector employees are granted a paternity leave of 15 days and certain MNCs grant paternity leave with Facebook leading by granting 17 weeks. Paternity leave still remains unpopular and underutilized in India.
A Mother-Friendly Workspace
In the fast-paced world, a career break might put the employee’s future in an awkward position. Lack of infrastructure facilities and favourable company policies act as a deterrent for women looking forward to return to their career as a new mother. Here are some solutions that will create a mother friendly workspace and enables enhanced participation of women in nation-building:
- Maintain low attrition rates for female employees.
- Providing training and promoting female managers in the workspace.
- Tailored returnship policies for women.
- Flexible working hours, Partial pay and remote working policies for women.
- Enhanced paid maternity leave for new and adoptive mothers.
- Creating networking forum and applications to motivate women returning after career break.
- Infrastructure facilities for breastfeeding corner and creche.
- Providing paid paternity leave and ensure that they are implemented properly.
- Diverse, inclusive and employee friendly company culture.
- Good HR policies.
Women’s advancement in workforce matters. The motherhood penalty which manifests in many ways ranging from gender inequality at workplace to hindering career aspirations needs to be addressed. Companies should adjust their childcare related policies to address the unique challenges faced by mothers and retain them in the workforce. Across the globe 90 out of 187 countries offer paid paternity leave but less than half of the eligible fathers made use of the same in OECD countries. Implementation of flexible remote working models for both fathers and mothers and normalizing their use retains women workforce.
Supporting women during their motherhood and creating a favourable environment for them to return to work by implementing workshops and ramp-up programs and removing bias in people processes has a positive impact on the society and the economy. We still have a long way to go in bridging gender gap in the workplace. Both the companies and families play a huge role in this process. Motherhood is something which is very special for a woman. The society can ensure that motherhood doesn’t come with penalty by being more inclusive.
Check out: NAVIGATING CAREER & MOTHERHOOD: MENTORING FOR WORKING MOMS
