'It's become a social responsibility for organisations to support new moms' mental health'

At the recently held e4m PR and Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit in Delhi NCR, Dr Mahima Bakshi, Founder of Birthing Naturally delivered the keynote address. In her address, she mentioned that in today’s time when we want women to be empowered to pursue their dreams and education and be financially independent. We need more men to be equally supportive.

She further said that organizations need to be more cognizant, sensitive and active in making the workplace better for women and added, “When we talk about women in the workplace, I still feel that there are certain organizations that don’t give women the rights that they deserve. In terms of government policies, we have progressed a lot in the last 10 years but if we look at the implementation in some private companies.”

Being a maternal-child wellness consultant talking about delayed pregnancies, Bakshi feels that although everyone wants women to plan their children and pregnancies at the right age, there are a lot of challenges that women face in the workplace. She explained, “If women are confident that their workplace will be fully supportive of their motherhood, it will become much easier for them to plan pregnancies at a sooner age.” She urges organizations to be more flexible to pregnant women and their better halves during pregnancy in terms of leaves, in and out times, working from home, substitute resources early on, longer maternity and paternity leaves and a healthy and cheerful work environment.

Bakshi advises organisations to be sensitive to women post maternity leave as well in terms of having feeding, pumping room and creche facilities for lactating moms. She emphasises how these small steps can help new moms overcome mom guilt and post-partum depression. “More and more organisations can practice this to make it easier for women to manage their work life and parenthood. It also becomes a social responsibility to support their mental health as well with constant encouragement.”

Talking about single parents, she iterates how it is even more challenging for women especially to be able to take care of it all and raise a child. Bakshi said, “The environment at work that can give continuous support and special policies for women can make it better for them and help them plan their motherhood better.”