Many women in India, who choose to become housewives or caregivers or nurturer of the family, are often disrespected for making that choice. It is heartbreaking how we tend to shut our eyes to the quantum of unpaid work that our housewives indulge themselves in.
Though they are overburdened with household work, it is saddening how often they are either mistreated by society or taken for granted by their own family members. And, hence, tired of being mistreated, many women desperately want to join back their careers.
This struggle is so common that Neena Gupta also recently spoke about it.
In one of her recent IANS interviews, Neena Gupta opened up about her struggle of exploring the life of a housewife. She spoke about how she felt she was taken for granted by people, including her husband and her daughter. Sharing the details about that time, Neena Gupta added,
“At that time when I got married, I had worked like a dog, especially in television, which was tough for me. Looking after a baby alone and work was very tough for me. So, I said, now I’m married, I will live a comfortable life, I’ll go to the parlour, I’ll go for a massage, which I never did for many many years, I will cook — I like cooking — I will look after (daughter) Masaba, I will give her more time.
So this was my thing that ‘I want to do that housewife thing’. I was already doing the housewife thing but without the husband. Now I would do the housewife with the husband.
So that was my mindset, and I was very happy to start with. Slowly, I realised that it was not going to work because people, including my husband and my daughter, started taking me for granted.”
ALSO READ: Neena Gupta’s 14 Badass Quotes For Every Strong Woman Living Life On Her Own Terms
After a lot of internal discussions with herself, Neena Gupta arrived at a decision to resume her career all over again.
Talking about the same, she said,
“Something was lacking, some respect was lacking. One day something happened, which I don’t want to talk about, and I said ‘this is what I have become’, and I said now I am going to work.”
But as we all know it wasn’t easy for her to make a comeback after a break from the industry. She explained,
“But it never worked out, and I was very frustrated, and I wrote a post (where she asked for work). Initially, when I decided not to work, it was very nice, to begin with, but then I realised kaam ke bina kisi ki koi izzat nahi hai duniya mein.”
ALSO READ: 5 Inspiring Life Lessons That Neena & Masaba Gupta’s Show “Masaba Masaba” Will Leave You With
Here’s the inspiring post that she wrote to seek work:
View this post on InstagramI live in mubai and working am a good actor looking fr good parts to play
At IFORHER, we are inspired by Neenaji and how she fought her life circumstances with so much courage and determination. We hope she keeps inspiring millions of us with her inspiring journey.
ALSO READ: Unafraid Of Log Kya Kahengey, How Neena Gupta’s Father Helped Her Raise Masaba As Single Mom
P.S.: At IFORHER, we do believe that women should be encouraged to be financially independent but we also believe that as a society, we need to respect women’s choice of raising a family. We should stop shaming women or taking them for granted for choosing a path that may not have a monetary value attached to it.