women at workArticle 2 of series, Week of women’s day 2021-Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Article 2 of series- Week of women’s day

Every day is a new opportunity to create the destiny you desire.

I recall a powerful quote, ‘The grass is always greener on the other side’. Did you wonder that despite knowing this quote, how often we miss the message of this line in our everyday life?

There was a young, educated woman who wanted to be financially independent. She accepted the first job she got, learnt more on the job, contributed well and got new responsibilities to handle. And then in a couple of years, it was time for her to “settle down”.

(What settle down means needs another article. But broadly they mean different things for men and women. For most men changes may not be drastic but for the woman, life changes drastically. In some cases, her name and identity changes. In all other cases, she has to move to a new family, start all over again. It could sometimes be a different city or a different country altogether. She has to rebuild her life, prove herself all over again as a person and a professional)

So the woman in our story gets engaged to a man who lives in the same city, not by design but by default. After her wedding, she moves into the joint family and she discovers the long list of expectations of her. She is dejected that her career does not feature in it. The money from her job does. She grapples with how to prioritse her life, her new chores and responsibilities, her career aspirations? Her new family feels she should choose a job that will get in the money for the family but not take too much of her time and efforts. This repeated narrative plays on her mind. She starts thinking how unfortunate she is. She thinks of all the other women who are happily married yet are able to give wings to their career as well. She thinks they can do it as they have been blessed with more support, more money, more good luck, more encouraging husbands, more of this and that. This is precisely the moment when she has accepted defeat. She forgets the quote like many women do.

Everyone has their challenges, each of those women she thought of, have their own problems, hurdles, tough decisions to take, win-win solutions to think of.  But the woman in our story refuses to understand this and lets go of her dreams of being a #successfulwoman@work&home, even without trying.

Data shows that although there is an increase in women joining the workforce, they drop off work too. The above challenge, in my view is one of the causes.

Solving for challenges that come in the way of your goals is a necessity. Find solutions, prioritise and delegate well, find mutual support systems in your family and friend circle who can pitch in, do not let go of your professional capabilities and aspirations unless you have truly tried it all. I can tell you that if women have been given more responsibilities, they have also been blessed with the capability to expand and become more.

Rise up to challenges, they are opportunities for you to find solutions.  YOU can, only if you want to!