WHY THE WOMAN IN THE WORK PLACE IS THE REAL HERO

 Last week I had a conversation with my mentor, she is someone I hold in very high esteem I always look at her as someone who is a reflection of the type of life I want to lead. Since I am career-orientated I find our relationship very interesting because she embodies life, family, and career in such a way that I am left in awe. Our conversation that week made me understand and appreciate the story behind the story and all the sacrifices made to ensure things are properly joggled as expected.

I got to know that she had to resign and take four years off her work to properly heal and take care of her newborn after childbirth. After she had her baby through a caesarian session, she began to have complications that affected her health, she developed a waist pain that won't go away and then after resuming at three months, postpartum decided that the best thing to do is to allow her body the time it needs to heal.

This story just sometimes makes me feel sad, I mean I understand that as women we have a huge role to play when it comes to making sure the human species does not go into extinction and all that. But even this fact doesn't make it easier. I tried to understand what was going on in her mind at the point when he had to leave her career and work for a very extended period.

Now the point is, when you leave nobody expects you to come back and make any excuses, you are expected to do your job as though nothing had happened, you are to behave as normal as everybody else and you better not slack because you'll be shown the way out.

Agnes Onyekwere in a professional development class

When my mentor explained how bad she felt and that she initially didn't want to resign but had to was finally forced to because of her medical condition, I start to imagine what was going on in her mind. Imagine her counterparts who are men having to go through that four years climbing the ladder of their dreams having little to no halts on the way.

She told me how she had to joggle having to deal with her health, a newborn, her husband, and taking courses at home just to stay relevant in her field irrespective of her time off, she literarily had to outdo herself to come back with the fire that everyone saw when she resumed after four years.

Today, like every other day, I celebrate women who have to work their way through the ladder of their careers irrespective of the responsibilities that they had to shoulder. I celebrate the fact that women will prefer to raise up to the challenge than give excuses. I celebrate women who work in environments where the woman and her unique roles and responsibilities are not given any consideration but they still find ways to work and thrive without complaints.

I celebrate the women who have to work throughout their nine months of pregnancy with all the symptoms and all that, covering up when necessary so they're not classified as 'weak' even when those classifying have no idea what it feels like. The mornings when you have morning sickness and have to show up at work, the days when you pretend to look alright so that maybe somehow, things would pan out being alright.

To all the women making waves in the workplace despite everything, I salute!