Handling adversities is not easy. There are moments that pour sorrow upon you. You may feel that you are most likely to be buried deep beneath them. Sometimes, you just give up and allow yourself to be buried. Away from sight, away from conversations, away from chaos…is it an escape or is it just you being fed up with the struggle?
It occurred to me that I hadn’t penned down anything for quite some time now. The reasons were many. But it looked like I was burying myself, withdrawing from the world, busying myself and settling within myself.
Like a sign from the Universe, I came across a beautiful narration. This is the story I would like to share as a delayed New Year’s gift to all my readers! It’s a story almost all of you must have heard. But I hope that you are reminded of the strength within yourself when you read this. Let me name this simple story – Shake it off and step up!
There was a farmer who had an old mule. The farmer used the mule for most of his hard work on the farm and gradually as time passed, the mule became less useful around the farm. One day, the mule stumbled and fell into a deep well on the farm. The farmer decided to bury the mule as it had become aged and was no longer as useful as earlier. So he got out his spade and started filling a bucket of mud to throw into the well.
As the first bucket of mud landed on the mule, it got alarmed. The thought that its owner was burying him must have been devastating. The second bucket of mud fell.. and the third. Then it struck the mule that getting buried was not the only option left. It shook off the mud from its back and used it to step up.
With every bucket of mud, the mule stepped up higher and higher. Finally, just when the farmer decided that the mule was buried, he threw in one more bucket of mud. Behold, there stood the mule as smart as ever. It stepped out of the well and walked away, never looking back. The farmer was left gaping behind!
Is anyone of you getting buried by chaos and stress?? Shake it off and step up… There’s so much for you to do. It’s time to find yourself and start living your life exactly how you want to. Love to all of you 🙂
Is work-life balance turning out to be an uphill task for women since the onset of the pandemic? Do women prefer working from home 24/7? Does a career woman find herself torn between maintaining the balance between the two? Let’s try and find out all these answers by looking at some of the challenges working women face in a remote environment.
The Major Challenges Faced by Working Women
Let’s take a look at some of the major challenges a working woman faces as she tries to balance both her work and family responsibilities!
Defining Boundaries
Women may find it hard to define boundaries while working from home due to the constant pressure of trying to do their best in both worlds. With the economy becoming a remote-based one, the stakes of divided attention are higher than ever as far as female employees are concerned.
While earlier they could do their household chores and then leave for official duties, the scene has changed with working women having to focus on meeting official requirements also together with household chores.
Increased Multitasking
While some say that women are experts at multitasking, the real question is how effective is this? Multi-tasking is something women, especially working moms do out of necessity, not because they are experts. Due to the pressure of remote working, women tend to switch quickly between tasks as a means of coping or completing all required tasks. This may lead to low productivity and if left unattended, may also result in failure to achieve the set targets.
Career Growth and Recognition
With greater flexibility in getting things done at home, working moms tend to take a back step for the family. They feel compelled to give up on their plans to advance into senior roles for the convenience of family members. Their attention is divided and the drive to stay connected to the corporate world and happenings, may suffer dilution. As a result, their corporate circles grow smaller, keeping them out of major discussions and promotions.
Being seen or being present at the office becomes less easy while women opt for staying behind. They become the unseen employees who are branded more as family caregivers than office tycoons. This creates unwanted bias and gender discrimination.
A woman’s career graph can be affected when she fails to get the deserved recognition. The employees who work physically in the office get considered more for such rewards women who opt to stay at home do not get as much recognition.
Extension Of Working Hours
While at the office, there is a schedule that gives a specific time to log in and log out, remote working requires employees to be present at all times. So working hours extend and this leaves very little space for recreational activities. Working women are more likely to fall into depression considering the extra hours they put in at home after office requirements. Without a proper support system, remote working which is meant to give working moms control over their time leaves them in a compromised state.
Work-life Conflict
There is a high risk of exhaustion as working moms struggle to juggle their work along with household chores. Attending a zoom meeting while managing the family needs keeps them less focused. Likewise, attending to the family while work calls are due to begin also tends to throw them out of balance. As a result, female employees may find it tough to give their hundred per cent in either scenario. They may feel unappreciated at home as well as in the workplace, even when they are performing well.
Feelings Of Isolation
Women are likely to suffer emotional burnouts from being exhausted all the time. They spend their days rushing from chores to office assignments, leaving them feeling drained. The toll of being present in two places at the same time is likely to affect their emotional well-being. Many women state they could be happier when they have some me-time.
Feelings of isolation may arise as they no longer commute for official duties in the corporate settings. The absence of brainstorming sessions, group discussions and even occasional coffee breaks with teammates are factors that working moms enjoyed in a physical office environment. They try to spend time on entertainment at home to overcome such difficulties
Hear It From The Experts
In an interview given at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive director of U.N. Women rightly said.- “There is a danger there that women are the ones who are likely to opt to work from home, and offices may just end up being the places where men go to,” said
She truly speaks for all working women when she says: – “We worked so hard to say a woman’s place is not in the kitchen. We don’t want corona to say a woman’s place is in the home, that she’s sitting in the kitchen with her laptop, and the man’s place is in the office,” she said in a recent interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Recently a women’s rights forum LeanIn.Org in collaboration with McKinsey & Company had conducted a survey that gave alarming evidence that during the pandemic, women have had to be three times more responsible than their male counterparts when it came to dealing with childcare and housework.
Estimates suggest that 70% of the female population are mainly responsible for all the duties at home, while childcare rests primarily on the shoulders of 66% of them. As per a report from ILO (International Labour Organization), women perform over 75% of unpaid domestic activities at home. Experts also say that women, especially working moms carry the major bulk of responsibilities at home.
Taking into consideration these facts, it is not surprising that women are facing concerns about maintaining a healthy work-life balance in this era of remote working.
The words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres deserve applause-“Gender equality and women’s rights are essential to getting through this pandemic together, to recovering faster, and to building a better future for everyone.” -he states.
Summary
Every organisation should take measures for gender inclusivity. There should be a fair evaluation of the employees working from home, regardless of gender. The basics of performance evaluation should be revised and the results /outcomes of quality work have to be focussed upon.
A routine or schedule to stick to, exclusive office space and measures to prioritise the task at hand will enhance productivity. Taking steps to ensure mental well-being is equally important. With a conscious mind to maintain boundaries, women will be more at ease when they take support from all available resources. A rested mind is the main key to creating a positive work-life balance.
Life offers you choices all the time. You can choose how to take your next step. There is always a choice! Bringing to you today: My Poem From An Anthology- “The Slice Of Life”
Struggling to stay motivated? You are not alone. All of us need a little push to get through some days. Sharing with you some of my favourite quotes that get me through my Not-So-Great days!
“The clock is ticking. Are you becoming the person you want to be?” – Greg Plitt
¨Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but, because of lack of commitment. ¨ – Vince Lombardi
¨Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. ¨ – Michael Jordan
“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” —Jerry Rice
¨Look in the mirror. That’s your competition. ¨ – John Assaraf
Put all excuses aside and remember this: You are capable. ¨ – Zig Ziglar
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” —Tommy Lasorda
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health. ¨ — Hippocrates
“A champion is someone who gets up when they can’t.”- Jack Dempsey
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” —Aristotle
“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked”- Bernard Meltzer
“Cherish the friend who tells you a harsh truth, wanting ten times more to tell you a loving lie.”- Robert Brault
“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart.. I’ll always be with you.”- Winnie the Pooh