Overcoming the maternity stage, a major challenge for women to get back into the workforce
One of the major challenges a woman undergoes in her lifetime is overcoming the maternity stage and moving back into the workforce as aspired to. While it being considered as a major challenge, providing the best child care after she gives birth lies within the frame of decision whether to continue her career as a professional women in management or take the responsibility of a fulltime mother.
It is important for the husband and wife in a family to work together as one unit to provide the best child care while not just allowing the wife take the total responsibility to sacrifice her lifetime career path which she had been working hard for ages.
In this context, the Business Times had a discussion with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Amena Arif on the sidelines of a media briefing held at the Jetwing Hotel in Colombo on Tuesday to announce the ninth professional and career women awards.
She emphasised, the maternity stage of a woman plays a major role when it comes to the women workforce in senior level management. There are lots of women in entry level management and a lot less in middle or senior level management after their maternity stage. This is not just seen in Sri Lanka but world-wide.
IFC has done global research in tackling child care because only reliable child care can enable a mother to return to work. Not everyone is lucky enough with an extended family to provide the required child care, she added.
“The gender parity in Sri Lanka doesn’t match up. In the Sri Lankan context 25 per cent of households are headed by women which is a very large number. Sri Lanka also has an aging population. When you combine all of this, there are less people in the workforce. When women in the households are yet not joining the workforce, how are we going to grow the economy of this country?” stressed Ms. Arif.
She noted, the professional and career women awards must bring out the angle of sustainability growth which is much more important than just growth. Growth at any cost is not what the country needs. Women need to be sustainable, inclusive and not restricted to a part of the population or geography.
During the media briefing, the Founder and Chairperson of Women in Management for Sri Lanka, Maldives and Canada, Sulochana Segera pointed out that Sri Lanka has seen enough men in leadership in the entire nation and it’s time that women take over the leadership. “Women need to be empowered for sustainable growth. Only 20 per cent of women in the entire population wants to change the leadership of the country. We need to find more women coming into top positions and in every nook and corner of the workforce. Women need to be recognised not for themselves but to empower other women in the country.” The awards are for all women in the country irrespective of race or religion, she added.