Women, babies and all that jazz...

Sibongile Mpofu (Zimbabwe)

When Mary (the lady from the Amish community in Sugarcreek, who addressed us) spoke to us about the role of women in the Amish community, she spoke with passion on how the Amish were a closely knit community and how women treasured and are proud of taking care of the household, raising children. This got me thinking. While family in modern day world is very important and remains our top priority as women, demands of our work and professions, very often detects to us whether we have time for our families or not. More often than not, most of our times are devoted to the profession and career development. We spend three quarters of our adult life at work and more so, if you are a woman, this very often means reducing the number of children one plans to have, or totally abdicating from these duties. Motherhood indeed suffers as women seek professional development.

So, as Mary narrated the role of women in an Amish community, I could see a lot of passion in her eyes. Women in this community regard motherhood highly. While a few women will work outside their home following marriage, the majority stays at home and takes care of domestic responsibilities particularly raising children.

Women in the Amish community are praised for their hard work, their delicious cooking, the orderliness of their households, and their ability to raise hard-working and respectful children.

While, unlike the Amish that have opted to live a simple life, (making motherhood quite enjoyable), some of us have embraced civilization and its pressures. But despite these career pressures, family life is still an embodiment of our day- to- day lives. I have met with seven strong women attending this year’s SUSI programme. They are mothers, wives and career women, who have managed to balance motherhood, family and career pressures. Just like the Amish women, they are proud and endear motherhood. 

It’s been interesting how baby talk has been one of the major topics of discussions with most women that I have engaged talks with.

There are a couple of babies being planned… and at the same time, career development for a whole lot of us. So, I want to say:

Hands up to all the strong women who have managed to enjoy motherhood, and balance family and professional life. We all made sacrifices and continue to make them, with our children in mind. All in the hope of trying to build a better future for them.

And ladies, let us keep those conversations going: babies, men, fashion and shopping! These conversations have helped us know one another, share our sorrows, celebrate our triumphs and brought us together as SUSI family.