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It is no secret that working mothers are some of the most hardworking and dedicated employees out there. They manage so many responsibilities at home, and show up to work. However, despite all the the dedication and hard work, discrimination and unfairness in the workplace is one thing they often contend with daily.

Wambui Kuria strongly believes that if a working mum is engaged, productive and meeting set targets, her three days off to cater for her sick child, for example, shouldn’t be a problem. She, however shares that it working mums are perceived as a burden to employers whose main employee’s performance metric is work attendance.

Wambui, just like many other women, had to quit her job after suffering miscarriages.

“My journey to motherhood was a roller coaster since it was coupled with infertility, high-risk pregnancies, and miscarriages. But I am now grateful for my two children. I used to work as a quality assurance analyst in the manufacturing industry, and the long working hours were a contributing factor to my miscarriages. So, I was forced to choose family over work,” explains Wambui.

“I took time off after losing one of my pregnancies, but wasn’t paid because I wasn’t past the probation period. To navigate these challenges, I decided to first focus on my family and quit my job. I have been a work-from-home mum for more than three years now. My biggest support came from my husband and my family during my bed rest and with a work-from-home set up, I could effectively balance work and family,” she adds. During her five plus years in the manufacturing sector, Wambui saw pregnant women struggle to work during the night shift, long-standing hours, and in extremely high temperatures. It is these experiences that compelled the mother of two, wife, content writer and virtual assistant to start OnWork254 Mompreneurs, a freelancing platform for work-from-home mums that provides digital services.

 “The dilemma of many women trying to balance bills to pay and take care of their children compelled me to start the 254Mompreneur’s Club to equip women with digital skills allowing them to work from home and earn a living, both for local and international clients. We share our traumas in motherhood and career,” she says.

Wambui believes that with the right support system, women can attain success on all fronts — work and family.  

She opines: “More and more women are joining the workforce in their desire for financial independence critical in today’s society. However, this often means having to choose between a career and family. This decision is a result of the limited support systems available to manage the demands of both.  How about putting in place parental friendly work policies? Look at Michelle Obama, the former First Lady of the United States, a successful lawyer, author, advocate, and public speaker; she balances her career with her role as a wife and mother of two daughters. This shows it’s possible to have both career and family.”

She calls upon employers to take responsibility of providing a supportive and flexible work environment that takes into consideration the challenges women face such as caring for children or managing family-related illnesses. 

“I understand there are companies whose nature of work cannot accommodate remote or hybrid work arrangements. For such special cases, the employer should understand that personal circumstances can sometimes impact work attendance and should not be used as sole metric for evaluating an employee’s performance. It is important for companies to recognise that taking a few days off due to a sick child or lack of a caretaker should not be viewed as underperformance, as long as the employee is meeting their set targets,” Wambui says.

She adds, “I know of colleagues who never missed a day at work, but would spend company hours scrolling through social media. There was also this colleague who would effectively use the company hours and deliver on set targets, but would always have one or two days off due to her sick baby. Hence the focus should be on measurable and relevant outcomes, such as productivity, quality of work, problem-solving skills, teamwork, and meeting goals and deadlines. This way employee performance can be accurately assessed using a well-rounded performance evaluation system.” 

Here are a number of women who share the challenges they faced at the workplace and have teamed up with Wambui to advocate for parental friendly work policies for women.