Instead, let’s focus on where mothers are in terms of their mental and physical well-being, on the tightrope walk to negotiate and make spaces conducive for themselves as mothers so that they can claim a guilt-free healthy life, one that is lived on their own terms. A mother is just human and relegating her to the status of a goddess is not doing anyone a favour, especially not the mother.
At the home front, a woman has to handle overt pressures to bear a child as soon as she gets married and covert family tactics, equally taxing, to strike a fine balance.
I remember a colleague of mine was almost on the verge of depression, as the office refused to provide her a longer break during lunch time to go home and feed her child.
While 12 weeks’ maternity leave is often seen as the most important benefit given to a woman at the workplace, there are few other equally important and sensitive steps that need to be integrated.
A quick look at the statistics show India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio has improved to 103 in 2017-19 from 113 in 2016-18.
One of the major steps we took was to start with a Minimum Dietary Diversity-Women survey in 120 randomly sampled households in Roshan Nagar with women and girls between the ages of 15 to 49 years.
It is thus very important to turn the focus on women and girl’s health rather than eulogising motherhood which often comes as a result of conforming to stringent social norms for many women and girls in this country.
This mothers’ day, I tease my mother for not being able to raise a grandchild, but instead having to put up with an unruly daughter who insists on her calcium dose, so that she is able to trek the mountain in her mid-seventies.