Women who wear multiple hats learn to prioritize and manage their daily routines with astuteness. A woman with a child knows always to use the back-burners. A married woman knows when there is conflict on the horizon before an argument erupts. A woman employee learns to give way to her boss’ commands and perform her responsibilities with care. I do not mean that only women care and have excellent time management skills. The point is, these become innate to their performance as they are habituated to them.
Perhaps we can look back at our mothers who were family caregivers and were never employed. Was a meal missed? Was a breakfast late? Were collars frayed? Were buttons broken? Perhaps we can look to those mothers who were family caregivers and were employed. Did they not do what their home-bound sisters did? We can look at single women, divorcees, widows who continue to charge on with any resources available to them. For that is wo(humanity). We seem to have missed out on the “wo” in human. For it seems to be all (hu)man. Or so (his)tory the chronicler of wars will tell you.
And on this Mother’s Day midst a raging pandemic, I remember my mother, Past Inner Wheel District Chairman Madhuben Desai, who was a family caregiver par excellence and, in my opinion, a philanthropist second only to my father, Past Rotary District Governor, D. m. Desai.