“It would be advisable that you do not take a reduction in hours,” her bosses told her a few days after announcing that she was going to be a mother for the first time. Our protagonist -false name-, was responsible for a team of 20 people in an international company in the tourism and leisure sector. “At that time, I did not find meaning in that phrase, perhaps because I probably did not know the true meaning of the word mother nor did I consider the fact of reconciling work and family life,” she says.
Time passed, she had her baby, she returned to work after almost six months (she combined her maternity leave, breastfeeding, and vacations) and was welcomed with open arms at her company, even though her boss did not understand why else. Her partner had joined before her if she had given birth a month later, and the fact is that the girl, fearful of losing her position -also one of high responsibility- chose not to take all the leave and share it with her husband. Since that day she returned to her position, she has asked herself the same question ‘ Why is it so difficult for women to reconcile work and family life?‘ “To reconcile you need the support of the environment, and as almost always the only one interested in reconciling is the woman, the mismatch between our work and professional lives occurs.”
Women’s difficulties in reconciling their work and personal life
Being something so normal and natural, being a mother and being a woman seem, to this day, something incompatible, but it is not so. “Our right to be mothers should not even be considered, especially when we find that the Spanish population is far below the birth of children (1.2 per woman), as well as that the age is currently rising to 32 years of women when it comes to having their first child”, comments the president of Womanco Spain. At a professional level, we cannot forget that women make up 50% of the world’s population and that society cannot afford to waste so much talent, so let us claim our rights in the most natural way possible.
Institutions, companies and society in general have to take measures so that work and family reconciliation ceases to be a dream and becomes a reality. “I hope that with all the digitization that companies are going to undertake, it will be easier (partial teleworking, etc…). The problem is that we are in a society in which childcare is still given priority to women: they are the ones who are more likely to request reductions in working hours, leave of absence, etc… Until parents become more involved in childcare, it will not be easy for women of childbearing age to eliminate the obstacles mothers’ access, as it should be, and unfortunately the data shows this. When we start in the professional career we participate at the same level, the difficulty is when women are in the middle of the process of their way to management positions, which is where they do not arrive. Only 27% of women hold a management position and if we talk about CEOs we are at a scant 11%.” Why? For being a woman and for wanting to be a mother.
The role of the father in reconciling work and family
More and more men are taking advantage of their right to enjoy their paternity leave or even their leave to care for children. Undoubtedly, one more step towards the desired work and family reconciliation. “Reconciliation cannot exist without the role of men, as well as being a commitment to an egalitarian society.”
And, we talk a lot about equality in the workplace, but what do we do at home? How can we achieve that equitable distribution of household chores? “In this we already depend on ourselves, the distribution of tasks is essential so that we do not have to carry everything ourselves. It is not a question of being superwomen capable of doing everything, but of delegating,” he points out.
The future of women
When we ask a prediction about how she thinks things will be in the not too distant future and what hopes we can have about this long-awaited reconciliation of work and family, she is optimistic. “We have been advancing, less quickly than would be desirable, but I am convinced that in the short and medium term the future is in our hands.” And she sends a message to millennial and generation Z: “Fight for everything you want, take risks, don’t let anything or anyone stop you and become everything you want to be.”
