Back to Threads
These are some of the things that women at work listen to while they take Maternity Leave, and these all are from organizations that are big enough to have 33k+ employees working all across the globe.
I still remember the day when my wife gave birth to my daughter. It was one of the most beautiful but exhausting experiences of my life.
Although my work was to take my wife to the hospital and wait for the delivery, still I had to stay up the whole night and run around in the hospital for payments, bringing medicines, and taking care of people who were with me.
It is nothing compared to what ladies go through.
Ladies have to go through excruciating pain, that chills down the spine and they are even not able to speak properly. They shout, they feel the pain, and it is the worst that we men can ever experience.
During the time of labor, the pain comes in waves, reduces a bit, then again starts with full intensity till the time dilation is as per requirements, and then the lady is taken to the operation theatre for further procedures.
I don't know how many of you might have gone into the operation theatre, but it is not assuring at all. There are nurses around you, who keep motivating the lady to do her best and push out the baby. Then comes the doctor who again does the same. It's not a pop-and-out, but the lady has to use the pain to push out the baby.
Any female who has undergone a normal delivery process knows that doctors always advise her to push the baby when they feels a contraction or pain coming. They ask not to waste the pain. It is the opportunity to push the baby out.
Not all can do it and then the doctor might also cut to make more space.
There is blood all around the place, the mother is shouting and crying out of pain and asks for anesthesia and C-Section. It is up to the doctor how they may handle this situation but this is an exhausting process for sure.
Once the baby is out, a corporate mother usually has 6 months of Maternity Leave. She is around with family, and dealing with feeding issues.
First, the child won't latch, and then when it latches, she starts biting on her, which makes the feeding process just difficult.
Lady has stitches, and it has to be washed and ointment applied every single day. If not done properly, that may get infection. Some even experience opening the stitches, which may result in vomiting.
Every single day is a fight. She can't sit because of stitches, but she has to sit to feed her baby. She can't walk. She has to follow strict rules which may include covering the ears, tucking the tummy, eating bland food, etc.
This was the green side of the childbirth.
As soon as everything seems to be falling in place, and the family tries to adjust to a new routine, several hormonal changes happen to women, and they just can't stop thinking. They may think about everything from the future of the child to their future and the things that never bothered her will become evident. She cries because she feels suffocated, but still, she has to take on her daily tasks like she used to do, especially if no one is at home, the loneliness comes to eat the lady.
This time, it has already 3 months and she starts getting messages from her colleagues and bosses;
These tactics are to make her ready to join as early as possible.
I remember, my wife had to go to her office with our daughter and sit in an entire meeting to let them know that the baby needed only mother's milk and she had to be available. Our daughter doesn't stop crying if she is hungry, like any other child of her age, and she had to breastfeed her and ask for permission because the meeting was getting disturbed because of the same.
There was a new person who joined at her position but in other department, who even warned her juniors to tell her if she is not willing to work, she can leave.
That was hurtful because this was only when she was around 4 months through.
We know that legally we can sue them, but women in the workplace also know their responsibilities and adjust to a lot of things.
They have to be available for their child, even if it is for a year. I know some countries have 2 years of Maternity Leave, but not all people look at ML as everyone else. They are unsympathetic and don't care. They just want to move ahead to the corporate ladder, even by stepping on the fate of a lady who has just delivered a baby.
Office politics is another thing that makes lives difficult for the women who are on Maternity Leave.
👉 The pressure of being needed 24/7 and never having a day off
👉 Being touched out
👉 Handling competing demands for attention from an older sibling
👉 Loss of identity
👉 Managing huge physical changes
👉 Repetitive busy boredom
👉 Change of friendships
👉 Centring your whole being around your children
Maternity Leave is not a paid holiday. Governments around the world have kept ML mandatory because of some reason. Women have to be available 24/7 for their kids. They have to stand on their feet even when they cannot. They bleed, and yet they have to live. Taking Maternity Leave is not a holiday package, but a right of every single working woman around the world.
I know I might have missed a lot of things in between, but it would be great if you could also add to this article by posting your views, so that corporations, or at least those people who haven't experienced it, know the realities of Maternity Leave, and try to be more sympathetic towards their female colleagues.
No comments yet.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login here