DILEMMA OF A

WORKING MOTHER

YOUR NAME
DILEMMA OF A
WORKING MOTHER
THE MOTHER’S DAY ~ J. B. PRIESTLY
BREIF SUMMARY OF
THE PLAY
The eye-opening one
act play by J. B.
Priestly-
The Mother’s Day is
about how two women
swap their personality
with each other in
order to make Mrs.
Anne Pearson (mother,
here) the mistress of
her own house and
have certain authority.
While Mrs. Fitzgerald
her neighbor and also a
tarot reader, helps her
gain that authority.
A working mother handling work and
home
“A Mother is she who can take the place of all others
but whose place no one else can take in this world.”
TALKING ABOUT THE HIGHLIGHTING ISSUE
The main issue that the play raises is that the lady of
the house, who is just like an axis, is never given her
due respect, especially, if she is a simple home-maker.
The family members take her for granted. She works
like an unpaid servant.
Mrs. Anne Pearson is a typical mother. She runs after
her husband and children all the time. She has to stay
home every night, while they go out perhaps enjoying
themselves.
She takes their orders as if she were their servant. The
important issue raised is that a family, specially- sons,
daughters, and husbands should take notice of their
mother and mistress.
A mom has to put in twice the hours and gets no wages
nor thanks for it. Moreover they are exploited a lot.
SOLUTIONS FOR SUCH NEGLIGENCE
 Helping moms with their chores and even office
work, whenever possible
 Taking some of their load away and sharing one’s
responsibilities in the family.
 By always encouraging her, supporting her,
gifting her the best a family can.
 We can pay them by appreciating their efforts for
doing so much for us.
 Showing your unconditioned love.
NOW IN REFERENCE TO THE PLAY WE WILL TALK ABOUT A BRANCH OF SUCH CASE THAT
IS DILEMMA OF A WORKING MOTHER.

WE INTERVIEWED SEVERAL PEOPLE AND ASKED ABOUT THEIR OPINIONS REGARDING

THIS TOPIC.

In our interview we divided the data of mothers into two parts- HOME-MAKERS and WORKING
MOTHERS.

In response to being asked whether your mother works or not we found the data of about 68.9%
home-makers and 31.1% working mothers out of a total 100%.

Commencing with working mothers, the ratio of working and non-working mothers came out to be
approximately 1:2. Out of this ratio, 100% mothers worked full time while giving a null value for part-
time working mothers.

Out of 7 days a week, 14.3%, 64.4%, 21.4% mothers worked from 1-7, 1-6 and 1-5 days a week
respectively. Further asking about work responsiblity on their working mother, 28.6% of them did all
the chores along with office work while 35.7% have appointed maids for assistance in work.
A large proportion also said that the the whole family works together to help her.

From the point of view of working mothers, the family pressure is a lot and most of the time they give
first priority to their family instead of giving attention to their health or taking out some time for self-
care. They miss out a lot of special moments such as their child’s annual gathering or in-laws
anniverseries. Through our interview conducted we also got to know some eye opening answers;
because of improper worklife balance, working moms often do not get enough time to bond with their
families.

Talking about home-makers we achieved a postivie response of 90% people trying to help their
mother in every possible way they could. Although some had mixed reactions against the question
that if their mother felt isolated from her interests and the outside world.

60% of the mothers shared that, now that they have settled with a family, they aspire to work/work
again. Opening their own business, or working under some institute are the two popular answers.

Moreover we also found some mothers, who left their job after marriage due to reasons such as
looking after the kids, child’s education, starting a family and also due to stress of managing work and
home.

Lastly when home-makers and working mothers were both asked on a scale of 1-10 how much
pressure did they feel to take care of their family, majority reply came out to be 8-10, which is pretty
high.

All in all we can somehwere make out that mothers need some rest from her chaotic lifestyle. Upon
that if they feel neglected and under-appreciated because of the family’s unsupportive and concluded
thoughts, she may feel dejected.
OUR MEMBERS INTERVIEWED THEIR MOTHERS TO UNDERTSAND THEIR PERSPECTIVE
BETTER IN DETAIL:-

Following are some of the questions that we had asked our moms-

1) What are the day to day challenges that you face as a home-maker/working mother?
2) Is working as a home-maker harder than doing a job? / Is working in a job, harder than being a
home-maker?

3) While you were planning for your future, is being a home-maker/doing a job, what you aspired for?
And are you satisfies with it?

4) Do you think that your family should support and appreciate you, no matter whether you are a
home-maker or a working mother?

 MOM 1 ANSWERS- 1. Every day we have to run according to the

time, sometimes it becomes difficult to cope
Insert picture below
up with the timetable due to lots of workload.

2. According to me both needs equal

effort .But working in a job is hard because
we need to run according to time.

3. I wanted a stable job but I didn't get it. So,

 KARTIKA’S MOM’S ANSWERS- I am not satisfied.

4. Yes, I do agree with that. Because family

support is must, if they don't support or help
 MOM 2 ANSWERS- in daily chores of house, we'll not be able to
do our respective job on time.
Insert picture below
 MOM 3 ANSWERS- 1. Time & work management are the challenges
faced everyday but I make sure that I put my
Insert picture below 1. Sometimes priorities are questioned.
family as first priority.
- 2. I think that both jobs are equally, we try
2. Yes, working as a homemaker is harder than
to provide the best for our family.
doing a job because a housewife never takes a
3. I had
leave from her planned for being
work whereas a
working women have
some leaves
businesswoman
but life of the
butworking
I am stillwomen
satisfied
canwith
be
what I am
more stressful as doing.
compared to homemaker's.

3. I had4.always
Yes according
plannedto onme
being
the on
family
a path
should
of try
successtoand
support in every
on a great possible.
position in my life as a
working women which I have successfully
achieved. I am very satisfied with the journey and
results of my efforts.

4. ABSOLUTELY YES! Family should be always

supportive for whatever women aspires for as it is
CONCLUSION-

We see that on a daily basis our mothers, no matter whether they working or not, pass through a lot
of pressure, keeping with the expectations of their families as well as the society. So no matter
whether it is The Mother’s Day or not, let us take a moment to appreciate them for bringing us into
this world and spending some quality time them. And as the famous saying going-

“GOD COULD NOT BE EVERYWHERE AND THEREFORE HE MADE MOTHERS”

Government has launched variety of the schemes for women who want to work as listed
in the folliwng:

 Mahila E-haat
 Working Women Hostels
 STEP

And many such. Refer https://www.startupindia.gov.in/ for more.