This letter was published in the Straits Times Forum on September 11, 2012. It was titled by the Forum editor.
I
am a mother who had, over the last decade, taken on part-time managerial work and various pro bono corporate work while
raising my three children.
Now
that they are older, I have started looking
for meaningful fulltime work compatible with my interest, aptitude and
experience.
While
I have found possible positions to which I could contribute productively, I am
beginning to question employers’ openness to take in local, higher-value mature professionals, managers and executives
(PMEs) who want to come back to work.
Faced with employers who favour a resume of continuous employment,
a woman’s decision to stay home with the children becomes an impediment for her
return to work when she wants to.
Yet
for every mature PME considering her return to the workforce after the children
are grown, there could be a younger one thinking of taking time off to be a
stay-at-home mother.
As mothers, we want to enjoy spending time with our children as
much as we do having them. To do so, we need the recognition and support of employers
for the successful transition from the workplace to home and back to the
workplace.
Such
validation goes a long way in helping women have more children to meet the
replacement rate of a population with a growing number of unmarried adults and
ageing citizens.
Mature
PMS who transit from home to the workplace form a valuable pool of human resource to
complement younger mothers who now have to juggle raising a family and building
their careers.
We do not need to take maternity or childcare leave as we are now free of childbearing and childcare issues
to focus on rebuilding our careers which had been sacrificed for our families.
Our successful transition
will be an enormous encouragement to younger mothers.