It takes a village to raise a child. The phare is originated from an African proverb, basically saying that it takes many people for children to be able to flourish in a safe and healthy environment. When I was single, I couldn’t understand it at all, thinking that in the modern world, most young couples are loners who raise their kids even without the help of their ‘grandparents’.
For these ‘loners’, the scenarios are limited: One parent becomes a stay-at-home carer, or a childcare assistant is needed if both parents will continue working. For couples who work, other than the community around them, their biggest next ‘village’ would be the company.
Now, that’s where it goes a bit tricky.
In Asian culture (at least based on my previous experience), it was common to hear sentences like: ‘Will you stop working after you give birth?’, ‘Who will take care of the baby?’, ‘This is why companies prefer to hire males.’. True, as a woman, certain experiences cannot be replaced by my partner. Physically, after giving birth, I do need time to recover. BUT THEN, raising the child isn’t supposed to be a woman’s responsibility.
Now, we go and relate it to the area that I’m most interested in: sustainability. It’s not just about profit anymore but also about the planet and yes, people. Short gain isn’t enough anymore. To survive, something feasible becomes a necessity.
In the Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 6 (Gender Equality) and Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) are very much in line with this writing. I always mentioned that companies are a big part of society that need to take action for better development because they get profit from using the planet and people as resources. An opportunity to work should be equal and it’s something that a company could do.
I realised that it’s almost impossible to raise my kid while working without all of the support from my ‘village’. I need a company that can accommodate all of these ‘natural inconveniences’ (from the company’s perspective). Maternity leave and even flexible working arrangements work well for me. A step further, the raising of paternity leave or carer leave will balance the scale of the burden of raising a child, pushing society to recognise that males are also could be upscaling their game in contributing towards their family more than just bringing the bread.
So, at this stage, I concluded that it’s more laughable to hear when a woman is asked to choose a family or career. Since it means the society or the village, or in this context, the company is unable to provide a sustainable solution towards balancing the resources and the output.
Now, you might think, why does a company need to do all of these just for my own (or let’s face it, every worker who wants to have a child) benefit?
Well, the answer is that in the whole picture, the benefit is shared with the company too. When a company is unable to provide a sustainable environment for its workers, the company will also fall into missing out on talents. If companies think that they could employ males only to avoid the ‘problems’ of females giving birth, then it’s missing out literally half of the talent pool just based on gender (and let’s be honest, I think being pregnant, giving birth and raising kids actually improving my soft skills by lots, try to bargain with the little terrorist for drinking milk and sleep). If a company think of just replacing the pregnant woman with a single one up until they decided to procreate, then the turnover cost would be massive (remember the training headache?). In the end, you can’t deny that happy people bring better results too.
Simply put, if the company mandates that working should be the only and highest priority in human life, then it’s just about time to see the pattern. Your company would probably get a talent which only uses it as a jumping ground before settling down at the better sustainable company.
Is your company a good village?
I’m glad I have mine, but I hope the practice of a good village isn’t just a perk but would be a norm. We all after all need it, live in one or make one.
