Motherhood Or Career

Conflict of choice.

- Priyanka Chauhan

A woman who rides the success wave as an underwater photographer, pilot, financial adviser, management consultant, business woman, pearl diver, bartender, bus driver, police officer is suddenly swung back looking for answers after delivery.

And there comes a phase when she has to choose between motherhood and her thriving career. The former takes precedence for many as it becomes the purpose for the latter to exist. As C S Lewis said, “The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only and that is to support the ultimate career. ” Motherhood surely answers existential crisis, spurts inner growth, shuns materialistic desires and, above all, is a spiritual discourse. But the problem arises when motherhood is chosen over career.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) conducted a survey in 2015 which revealed: a growing number of highly-educated women in urban India are abandoning their professional lives to become fulltime mothers as raising children with a career became complex. (Assocham interacted with over 400 mothers, in the age group of 25-30, in 10 cities to know their employment decisions after motherhood.)

According to a 2013 World Bank study, only 27 per cent of the female population aged over 15 was found to be working in India. This is the lowest rate of women's participation in any workforce among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, with the highest in China at 64 per cent.

Perennial dilemma of choice