Spicy Rasam

I have been working full time for the past 10 years. I’ve been an editor, a writer, technical writer, content strategist, and a research analyst. I’ve tried full-time working and freelancing. And I am going to talk about whether working form home is the best option for women with lots of responsibilities.

Women do a lot of work. (don’t we?) I do not mean just physical work. We do a lot of management work. We plan, plan, plan, and plan more. We make people execute the plan. We execute them ourselves. We do it all. The mental involvement in any space of family life is more when it comes to a woman. It’s a fact.

We carry over the same mentality to our work. We plan, remember stuff, work, rework, and pay a hell lot of attention to details. I accept that all women do not function the same and their capabilities differ. And the least that anyone can do to help out is give women a choice of whether to work from home or come to office.

I am talking about a choice because it has to be a choice. Not all women can get work done at home. Some prefer to come to office. And many women work best from home. Like me! My company gives me work form home option once a day in a week. And this has helped me sort my things wonderfully. I work, I mentally manage the home (I literally remember where they key, bat, hand sanitizer, ID card, shaving brush, football, cello tape and glasses are; sometimes I wonder if I should download my conscious into a machine and be these guys’ Alexa).

It helps me be in two places at once. A good friend once told me that multi-tasking is bad and we should consciously try not to do it. But my mom told me when I was 13, “Girl! Multi-task. We never have time. So, the only way is to multi-task the hell out of time.” (I am still conflicted. But! Yeah… I do multi-task like hell! Can’t help it. I cook, read, clean and prepare veggies for dinner at the same time. Sigh…).

But, my friend said that on a purely professional perspective. “Do not make egg-plant curry and take a work call woman!”, these were his words. But working from home and mentally managing my home does not feel like multi-tasking. It feels like productivity 100%. At home, I can work without the interference of my phone that I use to manage my home. I have observed that when I work from home, I work more hours (no travel time, not planning the exit, no chit-chats, no banter).

What do you think? Should all companies give the choice to work form home for women? should the choice be given to all? Men and women?

Let me know in the comments.