Despite hurdles, women are making their mark

Aditi Mittal

There is a new podcast called Women in Labour where the name is a pun, since it's about female representation in the workforce - about how women actually aren't in labour. Comedian Aditi Mittal and filmmaker Christina MacGillivray spearhead it, and the format is such that they invite an expert on each episode to discuss one aspect of why the ratio of men to women workers is so skewed in this country. The first episode was launched last Sunday, on Women's Day. There are more shows lined up, and are expected to released every few days. In a telephonic interview, Mittal shares more on the subject.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

What are some of the things you learnt during the show that shocked you?

The thing that shocked me the most were the statistics about unpaid labour, the work that women do at home in terms of taking care of children or elderly parents. That burden is almost entirely borne by them. One statistic I read is that in India, women do 6.5 hours of unpaid labour per day, while men do 45 minutes of it. That difference is huge. And according to Ritu Dewan, an economist we spoke to for one of the episodes, one of the biggest reasons that is keeping women away from the workforce is not being helped at home by men. Another thing that dazzled me is that despite all the hurdles presented before them, women are still making their mark and doing their thing.

What do you feel can be done to rectify the situation?

One, you should listen to the podcast. Two, men should share the load. Both men and women have to examine the way we are living in the world and how we are affecting each other. In fact, at the end of every episode we have a section called, 'Do one thing', where we talk about doing one thing about the subject discussed. For example, my favourite one was about looking for spaces that invite women to work again after they have taken a break after childbirth. It broke my heart when I couldn't find any. Returning mothers into the workforce is such a huge market, and yet there is nothing to facilitate it at an accessible level.

How did you meet Christina?

Christina MacGillivray

I met Christina in my Facebook 'Others' folder, which is not the likeliest place to start a friendship, but hey, here we are. One of the wonderful things about her is that she is so welcoming. She's a firm and gentle steerer of our ship. She's such an incredible leader in terms of helming the show. If you enter the studio as someone who's not her friend, you'll leave it as one for sure.

Being a stand-up comedian, how was the overall experience of hosting a podcast?

I want to do a million more of these if I can. It was awesome to work in an all-women team. My last few projects have been really lucky in that sense. I think that when women face conflict, we have a more expansive way of talking about it. So my vocabulary extended to use a lot more words about conflict resolution, where we were kinder to each other and explained to each other what we were seeing [as our open points of view]. That was incredibly heartening and has changed me as a working professional. The second thing is that when you're working in a team of only women, nobody really interrupts anybody. Do you know how weird it feels [to be able to] speak a full sentence?

Log on to womeninlabour.com

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