Konkona Sen Sharma Brings Up The Invisible Motherhood Penalty & Society's Double Standards
The conversation around working mothers, paternity leaves, and excessive working hours has been picking up in the industry lately. Konkona Sen Sharma has chimed in, highlighting the challenges faced by working mothers and how it is in sharp contrast to what the male actors-turned-fathers go through.
There’s a “motherhood penalty” that women face while men get the “fatherhood premium”. I mean, there couldn’t have been a better way to put this across. Hear her out.
In an interview with Firstpost, Konkona shared the setbacks of being a working mother in the industry and the lack of work-life balance. “I genuinely want to say that in today’s day and age, there is a certain motherhood penalty in any industry that happens. It’s called the fatherhood premium and the motherhood penalty.”
She further said, “Because what happens is that fathers, as they have children and they become more and more senior, they earn more and more. But for women with every child, there is a financial setback because you’re not able to kind of participate in the way society expects you to or for that matter what the office work demands.”
“Now what’s going to happen ultimately is that women are not incentivised to have children at all because it’s becoming more and more difficult. You know, to participate in the work life, and to be a good mother at the same time is becoming more and more difficult,” the actor went on, while concluding that the governments need to step in. “So, I feel that this is something that eventually the governments will have to kind of change policies for working mothers. Otherwise, it’s not going to happen,” Konkona said.
The actor, who has a son Haroon with ex-husband Ranvir Shorey, has made us think why having kids is still a bigger financial burden for women because they’re the one expected to move out of the workforce.
Turns out, motherhood is not just physically and emotionally taxing for a woman, but it also has disproportionate financial implications. And you still ask why educated and career-oriented modern women opt out of motherhood…
Konkona’s upcoming film is none other than Anurag Basu's Metro...In Dino wherein she is paired opposite Pankaj Tripathi. The much anticipated film is a spiritual sequel to Life...In a Metro (2007). The sequel also features Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Neena Gupta and Anupam Kher in prominent roles. It is scheduled to release on July 4.