“Career Woman” is a bad word?

I know..I know…I should begin my blog with less seriousness. But whilst searching for appropriate blog name (more like what is still available), I came across a few sites which made me go “Oh, really?!”

Dear all,

Here’s my first entry. Read the definition of career woman. More reason to start this blog!

Let’s rewind……………………..

I started this blog for one reason – I have always wanted to start a cause. And oftenly the one topic that I like to think and talk about is on women. There could be many reasons – my gender, my childhood trauma, now a mother to two adorable daughters, educated in the field of human resources, did a four-years research on employee retention (I understood more about, not only women but also men as human resources/labour/workforce) and their economic and social significance.

Because of what I do for a living, I have developed a keen interest to study about women in the workforce a.k.a. career women (now I feel uneasy using the word).  I also tend to look at the female character more than the men in everything that I read, watched, or listened to. So recently I did an online test to find out what career suits me best.

I can’t possibly be like Angie, can I? But I wished I could do something too to make a difference. What difference? Why? This question has got me sleepless nights……..   Best way to solve this misery is by writing in my polkadot book. I called it my Idea Book.

I consider myself a career women but I disagree that I am “more interested in her career than in being married and having children“. I love my kids and I love being married to a wonderful and very supportive husband (who is a career-man, I realised that’s not the antonym!). But I found it increasingly difficult to maintain a balanced work and life. I prefer this definition…

But this definition is still not adequate to me. Yes I want to be successful in my career BUT I also want to have quality time with my kids, have time to spend (enjoy) the rewards I obtained from my job, able to commit several hours every week for community services, can utilize my annual leaves to visit my parents, go holidays etc. Now I am stuck in between.

The times I spent with one orphanage home has made me realised that there are so many uneducated single mothers out there who are struggling to finance themselves – not because they don’t want to work but because they have young children, and even if they work, the cost of childcare is more or less equal to their monthly salary.

There are also companies which refuse to hire married women for fear of the cost associated with maternity leave.

My research has revealed that female engineers can be discriminated and denied job promotion simply because of  ‘getting pregnant every year’.

Several of my friends – working as professionals in their field, quit and left their jobs to care for the family. Which is a good thing, or maybe not?

Some women in some companies are denied key position simply because they are not – well men. Interestingly a random survey I did in my class revealed that female students actually prefer men as their leaders/bossess than women. Guess why?

In certain jobs, men are also earning more than women.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is still a taboo topic.

“A report published by al-Hayat – Pan-Arab newspaper – in 2012 alleged a study had shown that 90% of all Yemeni women had at one point or another in their life been subjected to some forms of sexual harassment, verbal or physical, without their perpetrators having ever been challenged by the authorities or the law” 

How about the girls in some countries whom education is denied for them, remember Malala?. Without education, how can they possibly support themselves (and their kids) when their husbands passed away/left them irresponsibly?

In a nutshell, women – married women – especially women with children – are torn between family role (as a wife and a mother) and job role. I believe we all want to be successful in both, don’t we all?. But are we too greedy to ask for both? Am I, in a way, a feminist?

Yes, I am asking for equal rights. No! Actually I am asking for MORE rights and privileges for women! All because I strongly believe that all career women have at one point (or more) felt bad leaving their young child in the nursery, wished they could care for their family (cook, clean etc…) and at the same time be able to support the husband and have a comfortable life – both quantity and quality.

So may I conclude that this cause is not just for me. But for all women in the workforce. My hope is, together we could improve the welfare and the benefits for all women in the workforce.

 

Yours sincerely,

Not a feminist