A Salute To Our Grandmothers And Mothers

We, the current generation women, it may be working moms, homemakers, SAHM or single moms are doing a great job and are proud of ourselves.Working moms manage work, kids and home efficiently. Homemakers turns a house into home. SAHM looks after home and children by sacrificing their career or by taking a break from the career or by doing WFH jobs. Single Moms single handedly manages everything being both mother and father to their kids.
Often we see Facebook posts which show the plight of a multitasking mom like this one below. But we are doing the multitasking for our happiness, for the happiness of our children, partner and for our home then why such posts? Aren't such multitasking women not getting any support from their partner, parents or in-laws?

  


May be through such posts we expect people to notice or understand the hard work we are doing. But, have we ever understood or noticed our grandmothers and mothers who did all these work silently all these years without taking any credit?
Our Grandmothers ( or the generation even before them)

• During the time of our grandmothers or even before that, the men were not at all supportive(I'm taking about the majority. Of course there were exceptions). The man of the house was meant only to earn money. Some were not even doing that. Women were born to get married, bear kids, look after home, etc., Forget jobs, girls were deprived of education.
• In villages, women's work horizon would expand from the kitchen to the cattle shed, to paddy fields and much more. They never knew they were actually "working moms".
• The kitchen didn't have any modern appliances like the mixer, grinder, oven or not even a gas stove. There was no option of ready to cook or availability of readymade ingredients for cooking. From flour to batter to different powders, everything was prepared at home.
• Their routine never changed even when they were not well.
• The women had to deliver babies one after the other with not much age gap between the kids. Many times there were miscarriages, death of baby or the mother during delivery with reasons unknown, but men were least bothered. The children were completely the responsibility of women. 
• There were single moms as well. Either because the husband stayed away the entire year for work and women had to manage all alone or husband had left to marry or to be with another woman. These single moms had to struggle without the support of anyone, not even their parents.

I remember my grandmother managing everything all alone. Her day would start at 4 in the morning, first she would feed cattles, extract milk from cows, she would then rush to the kitchen, finish off cooking not only for the family but also for the workers who would come to help her in farming. She would then go to the farm, join the workers. She was a hardworker and would do some or the other work from dawn to dusk. She was a "working mom", who did farming and earned money for living. With not much support from my grandfather for anything, she was almost a "single mom" too, who took all the responsibility of home, was both father and mother to her children. She was also a "SAHM" and a "home maker".  She never self-praised or complained about anything.
Our Mothers
Their condition was better than the generation before them.

• But still the men were only meant for earning money (definitely exceptions were there). A very few women got a chance to be a "working mom" and rest of them were a "housewife".
• The responsibility of the children was completely left to women.
• Though the kitchen had most of the modern appliances, they believed in preparing everything at home. So, were busy most of the time.
• Their routine never changed even when they were unwell.
• The plight of the women in villages was similar to the earlier generation.
• Single moms were hardly getting any support from their parents.

The Current Generation
I personally feel our generation women are lucky.

• The men today are very supportive. They believe in equality(yes, there are exceptions too). They don't have any problem if the wife is working.
• They take the responsibility equally. They don't hesitate to change diapers of their babies, sing a lullaby, help the kids in their studies, manage them when the wife is busy, etc.,
• They help in all the household chores from cleaning to cooking to washing.
• We get help from our parents and in-laws.
• We have a option of going to a hotel, ordering online during busy days or when we are not feeling like cooking or not well.
• We have option of taking extra help like having a cook, a maid, a daycare for the baby, etc.,
• The single moms of this generation get support from their parents and siblings which was not the case a few years back.

Women of each generation have their own challenges, and they are always good at multitasking. May be we, the current generation realised it once we started doing it.

Let's salute our grandmothers and mothers for their silent sacrifices.