A while back Flipkart was in the news on a subject that should bring cheer to young ladies embarking on a career. They announced 6 months of paid maternity leave, followed by upto 4 months flexi working hours and the option to take a further one year break without pay. This follows an announcement by Citibank, India, offering women employees a childcare allowance of Rs 1.32 lakh per annum towards day care services. Such measures are important building blocks towards correcting the gender diversity ratio in senior roles
Over the last few years, I have been engaging with some Corporates in the city towards developing women for leadership roles. In some sectors like banking and IT at entry levels the proportion of women is as high as 30 - 35% but as one moves up the experience curve the percentage goes down. The most challenging years are between 25 and 32 years when these ladies silently drop out (while their male counterparts compete to move up the corporate ladder). As succinctly put by an HR expert – Mobility, Marriage and Motherhood are the 3 Ms limiting working women.
The mobility issue begins, many times, well before marriage. In marketing, I have had requests to speak to parents and seek permission (read take responsibility) to allow a woman officer on tour. Recently, a young colleague left to join another organization in an HR role, assuming there would be no travel. On her first day into the job, she was asked to get ready to visit the branch offices. Matters were escalated to the point of ascertaining whether this requirement was clarified in the recruitment process and she finally had to leave! Interestingly, I have also experienced situations of complicity between mother and daughter, where the latter has travelled without the father knowing it is an official tour.
In every Organization where I have worked, there has been at least one very good lady that we have lost to marriage. Funnily, I have not sensed pressures from in-laws-to-be but clearly the lady has looked forward to giving up her job, getting married and settling down. This I attribute to unclear goal setting and lack of visibility of career and growth options within the Organization
Of all the three, probably Motherhood is the most complicated. Most ladies continue at their jobs almost into the last week, cheerfully seen through with the baby shower and friendly advice from colleagues. The problem starts when they resume work after the maternity leave as many assume the task of child rearing will be happily adopted by parents or parents-in-law. However, the reality is that, as long as the mother is at home, the primary responsibility rests with her. The minute she returns to work, the grandparents realise that ‘joy’ has turned to ‘job’. That, companies are recognizing this need and responding with creative options should only build the numbers in senior roles.
While these actions are important, are they also adequate? Talking to many young mothers, I have a conviction that it is most times a clinical problem of postpartum depression, rather than any insurmountable issues at home. Unfortunately, this aspect is not correctly diagnosed by doctors and the family. In our society the act of motherhood is assumed as a reward in itself. There is a fundamental assumption the new mother should be happy and feel fulfilled. A state of hyper anxiety often goes unnoticed and the mother remains convinced that calling to check on the baby once an hour is normal.
At the heart of all this lies the need to share experiences and guide these young ladies to rise above the 3M challenge. Organizations could do a lot by creating the environment for their women executives to network. Provide them the opportunity to meet other women who have been there, done it all and have contributed more than meaningfully to the organizations where they work.
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