She woke up with a loud noise ringing through her head — it seemed to be a medley of a saxophone and a jingling bell. Only after some time did she realise that it was the alarm trying to outdo her husband's snoring! She slapped the alarm shut, wishing she could somehow stop the other source of music too!
She got out and took a deep breath — had to get ready for the long day ahead. In a while she was freshened and the table was set for breakfast. The next one hour would witness a wonderfully orchestrated human process of getting the two kids ready for school — brush, feed, bathe, uniform, a highly focussed and efficient effort that can remind any manufacturing expert of the ‘Just in Time Delivery' concept.
She sets out for office — around lunch time she gets a call, the nanny cannot come today. She frantically tries to call her husband. “I have a meeting I just cannot cancel,” is the reply she gets. So she cancels her afternoon meetings and rushes home just in time to receive the kids when they come back from school. She helps them with their home work in the evening, all the while glancing at the clock — why is the cook late today? Will she not come?
The cook did come but had explosive news — she was quitting. ‘But why?' she almost choked. The reason: the cook, all the while, had her mother to help take care of her four children. Now the mother had to go to the village and help her ailing husband during the harvest season.
Welcome to the Working Mothers' Club — a unique community whose challenges and aspirations, joys and sorrows, are universal across geography and social strata.
Are you amazed at the chain of dependency? There are clearly three broad dependency factors that can help a working mom become successful. The family or primary support system, a very congenial work atmosphere characterised by flexitime, an understanding boss, supportive colleagues and last but not least, a very dependable and trustworthy secondary support system in the form of cooks, nannies and drivers.
By the way, the scenario I just described is pretty common in many households these days. With about 60 per cent of women in the age group 25-45 working (it is close to 75 per cent in the developed economies), it has created this new genre of working moms. For some of them, it is a necessity. For others, it is a choice — they can probably quit their jobs and become homemakers as women traditionally used to be. But if one were to look at the average income and expenditure statements, the economics would certainly work in favour of their going to work! Moving to macroeconomics, they help increase a country's GDP. Not only are they marketing their own services, they are creating job markets for babysitters, domestic help, and home deliveries. I know of companies which are minting money by supplying these services to an ever-increasing demand.
I somehow feel the learned men of ancient ages were great visionaries. How else could they have even imagined someone like Goddess Durga with eight hands! If you remember the dependency chain, she had all of it — a very dependable and loyal secondary support system in the form of the lion, had all the other gods supporting her in the form of lending her weapons so that she could accomplish her mission and a wonderful primary support system, in the form of Siva, who is known for his non-interference. In fact, many Hindu maiden women pray to have husbands like Siva.
(The writer's email is >Aindrila_Chatterjee@isb.edu )
