Y. C. Maikyau: Taking The Lead And Breaking The Bias By Chinaecherem Nwaubani
We had been working together on an assignment for two days, yet I had no idea that she had a little baby. On the first day, she had stayed late and was quite relaxed; fully involved and concentrating on the task at hand – nothing to indicate that she was a new mum. It was on the second day, sometime in the afternoon, that she told me, as she was handing over the papers she had been working on, that she had to go breastfeed her baby.
“Where’s your baby?” I asked
“In my section of the office”
“You bring him to work?”
“Yes”
I couldn’t believe it. Her name is Chika Nwozor and she works in the law firm of Y. C. Maikyau & Co.
Before I left their office that day, I stopped by her section, as I had promised, to see her baby. When I got there, I saw her with her cute, healthy 5 months old baby boy, suckling at her breast without a care in the world. I observed the makeshift crib by a corner in the office. I also observed the peace on the faces of mother and son – the obvious and positive fruit of an uninterrupted bonding process. I felt jealous instantly.
“You don’t know how blessed you are working here” I told her. “Working in an office that is willing to accommodate you and your baby at work!”
I started practice in my child-bearing years, with a 15-month old baby and went on to have 3 more children, making them 4. I know the emotional struggles of having to leave a few weeks old baby at home to resume work. I know the number of times I silently hovered on the brinks of depression while trying to keep up at work. I know the frustration of getting home to an equally frustrated baby – my 3rd child didn’t have the patience of his siblings; he rejected me and my breast milk at 18 weeks!
We can talk about equality all we want, but any equality that does not take into account the peculiarities of women is discrimination. If a woman has to pretend to be a man to advance professionally, then we cannot claim to have a level playing field. One may argue that babies are distractions in the workplace, but I know from experience that a mother will be much more present and effective when her baby is in the next room; when she does not have to wonder what was going on with her infant.
Thank you, Mr. Y. C. Maikyau, for being pro-women and pro-family; thank you for making your law firm a safe place for young mothers. Thank you for walking the talk; for taking the lead, not in words but in action too.
Chinaecherem Nwaubani writes from Enugu
