An assembly member’s struggle as a mother and her fight to balance her life helped open the first daycare center at the Balochistan Assembly.
Recently, Mahjabeen Sheran, a member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, was asked to leave the assembly session for bringing her son to the Parliament House. She had to face a lot of criticism for bringing her sick baby to the assembly session.
Sheran narrated her story by stating the following:
“I was torn between attending the session and staying [at] home taking care of my son, so I decided to bring my son because I didn’t want to miss the session.”
While talking about that particular incident, she went on to say:
“I felt embarrassed because some men in the session were making jokes and smirking about me bringing my son. At that point, I looked for someone to stand up for me and support me, but no one did.”
Since then, she has tried to acquire support from members of the assembly on this particular issue. She had also requested the Secretary of the assembly to spare a room for a daycare facility for all the working women but the request was dismissed. Yet she still continued the campaign to establish day care facilities in all assemblies and governmental departments.
Finally, Shireen’s campaign led to the opening of the first daycare center at the Balochistan Assembly.
While talking about this new change, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan said, “The daycare center has been launched to facilitate women parliamentarians so they can give equal time to their children and work.”
Other fellow legislators in the assembly have thanked Mahjabeen Sheran for her efforts and have acknowledged that her work can help millions of Pakistani parents, especially mothers, to better balance their work and duties without putting their kid’s future or their own jobs at risk.
Quick fact: Pakistan’s parliament was the first in South Asia to open a day care center on its premises to allow female parliamentarians to continue with their work while having access to facilities where their infants can be looked after.
The center was set up in parliament in collaboration with UNICEF. It was inaugurated by the speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, in 2017. And the one established in Balochistan is the first child care center at the provincial assembly inaugurated by the local government.
This particular step taken by the Balochistan Assembly is commendable and deserves appreciation by all. This initiative will allow women to professionally progress without the fear of not being able to play their other roles in society. A woman is a mother, daughter, a wife – eventually, or she can choose to be whatever else, but with a step like this, there’s more support and flexibility as a parent.
So, what’s your take on the issue? Let us know in the comments below.
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Cover image via aljazeera.com