Abstract: Indian mothers confront multifaceted challenges as they navigate through the intersection of work, gender roles, and motherhood. Adding to it, the struggles faced by employed mothers in India encompasses issues such as limited maternity leave, workplace discrimination, and the scarcity of childcare facilities within workspace. As culturally motherhood is viewed as the pinnacle of women's success, it influences policymakers, employers and society at large. As a result, mothers face several unspoken and invisible challenges in their everyday life. The Covid-19 pandemic, which encouraged remote work, furthered these challenges as mothers were expected to grapple with the heightened demands of balancing office work and family responsibilities. No significant shift in mindset or policies are noticed even after normalcy has resumed. All of these demands an intense dialogue on gender equality with an emphasis on matricentric mode of feminism, placing mothers' needs at the forefront of feminist theory and political discourse. In this context, here I plan to discuss the challenges faced by employed mothers through their lived experiences with an intention to theorize it in the context of feminism and also propose possible ways to improve maternity policies and promote gender equality at workplace.
About the speaker: Dr. Sudhansubala Sahu is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Christ University, Bangalore. Her research focuses on the Gender Studies, Sociology of Media, Disability Studies and Pedagogy of Teaching and Learning. A recipient of the prestigious ‘Professor M.N. Srinivas Memorial Prize’ in 2019, Dr. Sahu has published in national and international journals.