Corporate Corset- it is time to take it off

Have you seen the movie Titanic? Do you remember Rose played by Kate Middleton gasping for breath as her mother tightened and fastened her corset coercing her to impress a potential rich groom! Well if you couldn’t picture it I don’t blame you but let me explain what corsets were. These were laced bodice that were worn by women in the 1800s to keep their waists slim and petite. A lot of historians will argue that this was an oppressive practice that kept women encaged in tight and uncomfortable clothing at the whims of patriarchal freedom and hence today’s fashion has done away with it.

Coming back to the title; corporate corset definitely has something to do with the way gender bias affects women at work. Work from home as a woman did boil down to a similar experience for many. A few instances not all; forced me to question belief systems. The COVID-19 pandemic era witnessed numerous working women who had to juggle home responsibilities and work simultaneously.

In a research journal “Home, sweet home? The impact of working from home on the division of unpaid work during the COVID-19 lockdown- written by Judith Derndorfer ,Franziska Disslbacher ,Vanessa Lechinger ,Katharina Mader ,Eva Six published on November 8 2021” surprising but obvious results came out.

The chores were rarely shared equally and it were mostly women who stepped in to childcare at home while working from home. These results show results from countries like Austria and Germany, however immediate experiences in India also narrate a similar story.

A casual conversation during an extended meeting during dinner time took an interesting turn. One was asked who cooks the dinner on most days. Another answered “Oh it must be your mother or wife obviously!” . Well why was it so obvious that a woman cooks while one works the late night hours? Any extra corporate profit at the cost of unpaid work by another woman or man cannot be justified. If there exists a mutual understanding and respect in a family and anything is done out of love ; it may not be viewed from this lens. However can’t we always make some room for change?

I might sound like a ferocious feminist here; but this is the general norm. What about the shared responsibility at home; where is the request to spend some more time with one’s family and cut a call shorter! If you are someone who genuinely helps out your family in household chores; well I am not here to praise you but tell you that you are doing the right thing.

Who would disagree with me that work from home tossed work life balance up into the oblivion. If you are acing it almost 2 years into the pandemic ; kudos to you!

There is no escape from stress and long hours of working . Impact on the health of employees is evident. Usually a work life balance is ensured only if the kids are taken care of and food is served on time. If these two factors work themselves out work can go on uninterrupted. The only funny part is none of it works itself out; there is always someone bending their back to make sure a home is taken care of. As Hillary Clinton rightly mentioned in 2015 that World economy is running on the basis of unpaid labor of women at home.

I wish to wake up on the other side of this disparity where a man cooking for his family is not special but just as normal as it is for a mother to change a child’s diaper and delegate corporate work in today’s world.

We do talk about women’s rights and there is always a special praise for women balancing both their career and personal life.

Only if Rose had made space for Jack on the log; he wouldn’t be frozen under the ice cold water. Men can also come forward. Men and women have to be in this together. It isn’t about feminism but equality. I know that things are changing; but we all need to talk about it more. Let us normalize this conversation. Let us believe that this corset is indeed making us breathless ;with or without this pandemic unless we act equally; none of us can breathe free.