Her-mony – The Woman who puts family before herself….

Her-mony – The Woman who puts family before herself….

We were in Goa. We had gone for the awards ceremony of the star performers of the Company. After the party a small group of us decided to relax on the beach. It was a cloudy, hot sultry night and pitch dark. Stretching out, we were all very happy and chatting.

I found myself sitting next to one of the awardees. In the dark we struck up a conversation. The mood and ambience was such (we couldn’t even see each other in the dark) that we just opened up and talked. I told her a little about my life and she started to speak a little about hers. She was from a simple middle class Indian family from a small town in UP. She had come to Bombay to work and enjoyed every bit of what she did. The secret of her success was her passion towards what she did. She definitely deserved the award.

Yet, she didn’t seem completely happy. As we chatted along, she told me that she was newly married and that her husband was in the merchant navy and therefore travelled a lot. She was learning to cope with the institution of marriage and the expectations that it brings along with it (In India it still does). Her mother in law lived with her and had different expectations from the son and different ones from the daughter in law.

Even when she came back tired from work, the expectation was that her daughter in law would take on the responsibilities at home, while her son, who was on leave, was not expected to help. There was added emotional pressure about having a child.

She was seriously considering quitting her job to make space for all the new people in her life.

While, this girl did hang on to her job and start a family, many women put their relationships before their careers and lose their financial independence. At her-mony, we help women take ownership of their financial lives, whether single or in a relationship.