My Domestic Help Gauriamma Is A Mother Too! Why Has Our Feminism Mostly Ignored Her?

Underprivileged moms are also just as much in need of support as other women are, and need to come under the umbrella of feminism too!

It was five in the morning. The cool breeze and change of weather was making her a little lazy. But she had to get up and get ready. She gently put one pillow next to her two-month-old baby and frantically moved to the kitchen. Made one tea to charge her up, tied her hair, took bath and within 15 minutes she was ready to go.

It’s not an easy task for a Mom to leave a two month old baby with her husband for even a few hours. But she had no other options. She knew having a baby changes everything, even your own priorities. She informed her husband, kissed her newborn, fed her before leaving so that she won’t feel hungry for the next two hours and left.

Expenses of a new born are huge and include vaccines, clothes, milk and other basic things that every new mom and baby need.The only way to balance her life with soaring expenses is to leave early for 2-3 hours, work as a cook in one house and come back. Till then, her baby would be taken care of by her husband.

It really takes a village to raise a child but it takes courage for a Mom to work like this. It is the love for the baby that gives the courage and determination to work in every tough situation. It indeed is the special power of GOD, which takes birth, along with the baby. Challenges are accepted easily, just for the sake of the child. A strong will power of a MOM for her baby, which is the same for a rich woman or a poor, an educated or an illiterate one. For a MOM everything changes with a new addition in her life.

There must be many Gauriammas in and around us, who might never have had a healthy diet during their pregnancy, no Lamaze classes, no anti-natal classes, no luxury in delivering, but they are the same as all of us with the same heart of the mother. They equally love their children and try every possible way to give them those things which they had never had in their own life.

When we talk about feminism and women’s liberation, we often miss talking about such ladies. There are many such as domestic helps, cleaners, lady bus conductors, cab drivers, and post-women. They might not have a matriculation degree or any foreign Ph.D., but they have the same grit and wit as ours. They also require a word of appreciation and applaud, just the way we need. And certainly, I feel there is so much to learn from them too.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

Life is not all about your degrees and report cards, there’s much more to it. It’s more about an individual who has the will to make life more beautiful than expected, with a will power to change every thing impossible to possible, fighting against all odds.

Liked this post?

Become a premium user on Women’s Web and get access to exclusive content for women, plus useful Women’s Web events and resources in your city.

Published here earlier.

Image source: flickr

Comments