How unprofessional creches and untrained nannies are forcing working mothers to quit their jobs
One of the biggest nightmares for working mothers in India is to choose between a nanny and a daycare after their precious maternity leave comes to an end.
With the rise of the urban poor, most nannies in India are poor migrant women. These urban migrant women charge between Rs30, 000 and Rs50, 000 and their only qualification for the job is that they themselves are mothers. These nannies usually come through placement agencies and they draw up a full contract between the client and the employee. Often, one of the clauses of these contracts are that the client cannot claim for any refund in case of dissatisfaction of service.
Given their lack of training, some of the nannies often rough handle the infants and create anxiety for the working mothers.
The other alternative which working mothers avail of are that of daycares or crèches. However, most of the organisations do not have their own crèches and the infant has to be dropped off at a daycare centre. Most of these centres, are understaffed and the infants hardly receive proper attention. Due to the lack of options available, women are forced to leave their careers to look after their babies. A recent survey by Bagaria, a Bangalore-based portal found that 38 per cent of working mothers quit their jobs due to lack of proper daycares. This number is quite alarming, and the government should take note of this.
Traditionally, the joint family system acted as a major support system for working mothers. However, with the disintegration of joint family system and the rise of nuclear families, it has become very difficult for women to resume their careers after having a baby.
This is a sad state of affairs because the burden of parenting rests on the mother. India needs to take a leaf from the Nordic countries and improve overall parenting norms. For instance, in Finland, fathers are granted eight weeks of paid leave and after the child turns three, both parents can take partial care leave and split their time between home and work. In Norway, fathers can take zero to 10 weeks of leave depending upon their wives' income.
Additionally, both parents can receive an additional 46 weeks leave at full pay or 56 weeks leave at 80 per cent income. Iceland gives a total of nine months leave to the new parents. Three months each to the new mother and three months each to the new father and the remaining three months can be divided among the couple as per their convenience. In Sweden, both parents are entitled to 480 days of leave at 80 per cent of their income.
Alternatively, the government needs to mandate that every public, private and academic institution needs to have their own daycare centre or crèche facility. Recently, a large number of startups have come up which provide daycare facilities to their employees. However, such initiatives are few and far between and are not available across the country. In fact, the government should also intervene and regulate the nanny placement agencies to monitor the backgrounds of the nannies. Given the exorbitant prices charged by these agencies, it is important that the centres provide trained personnel.
Hence, to retain the female workforce, it is important that India implements post-maternity leave policies as well.