Let the cradle gently sway

Pakistan`s captain Bismah Maroof (2nd L) celebrates the dismissal of South Africa`s Mignon du Preez with teammates during the 2022 Women`s Cricket World Cup match between Pakistan and South Africa at Bay Oval in Tauranga. Pic/AFP

Irrespective of who wins the coveted championship, this columnist believes that some of the most endearing and equally powerful images from the ongoing Women's Cricket World Cup have been around an infant. Frames of Pakistan team captain Bismah Maroof's six-month-old baby Fatima being the centre of attraction when some of India's cricketers dropped by the dressing room after the win against their arch rivals, warmed the heart. She was already a mini celebrity when the cameras spotted her with her mum as they entered the venue before the encounter against India. In that post-match bonding session, members from the Indian team were seen playing with and posing for selfies with the little cutie.

A few days later, when Maroof scored a half-century in their next encounter, she did a cradle gesture to celebrate the milestone - her first post-motherhood fifty. Now, we're used to seeing male footballers make this gesture on the field after scoring goals, and even cricketers including Virat Kohli, who did the same after he reached a fifty in South Africa, but this one with Maroof made for a visually defining moment. Period.

In fact, Indian star opener Smriti Mandhana, who was part of the group that interacted with baby Fatima, said that it was inspirational on the Pakistani captain's part since she set an example for all sportswomen by returning to play six months after childbirth. It drove home a strong message that should ideally be picked up by cricketing bodies, to make it easier for women players to return to the game with minimum stress. According to reports in various sections of the press, her home cricket board's policy allowed her to bring along a caregiver of her choice [it was her mother] to accompany her and the baby to New Zealand, where travel and accommodation costs were split between the player and the board. In fact, New Zealand cricketing couple, captain Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu tour with their baby, Grace Marie, who is an integral part of the dressing room. Satterthwaite was supported by the board to take time away from her professional duties of leading the team and focus on her newborn. Today, her confidence on field while captaining a top-rate White Ferns team in the ongoing World Cup cannot be ignored, and must go down to the backroom support to juggle both roles without fear of compromising one for the other.

This is about cricket and sport. But the point of sharing these anecdotes about women cricketers is to drive home the need to ensure that this kind of support and comfort for women is offered across the board, especially in today's cutthroat professional world. The intent is to normalise the idea of a mother and her infant being a part of the working system, and that the mother is no less competent to deliver the goods post childbirth. The backing of management is critical when she chooses to pursue both roles. Why is it that frames of women parliamentarians breastfeeding their children during a session in the assembly or at their offices still makes news?

Over the years, while observing and documenting lives of people as part of my job - both famous and the lesser-known, I've often come across women who've had to step back and make huge sacrifices in the prime of their career when motherhood came calling. These ferociously ambitious women have had to make serious compromises on their return to their own organisations, or worse, have had to ‘settle' for less demanding roles. Often, they've eventually had to quit out of fatigue, lack of support from their seniors, or of loosely framed policies, leading to eventual disillusionment of being unable to balance work and domesticity. In fact, from a personal scenario, I still believe that a few of my batch mates from journalism school are arguably some of the finest writers and hard-nosed reporters I've ever known; it's a shame that they've fallen off the grid due to less-than-supportive newsrooms.

Indian professional set-ups ought to be more amiable and welcoming to the mother-child duo in the workplace. A friend, a professional who runs a public relations company, has been taking her little daughter to meetings ever since she felt confident enough that she could accompany her. Refreshingly, her clients have been cool about the tiny member at these corporate sessions. It proves that change can sometimes be at the source itself. Mothers ought to try it, perhaps, and who knows, awareness and acceptance could follow suit.

We can only hope that those powerful visuals of baby Fatima somehow start a dialogue at least, and thus pave the way for policy change, thereby enabling women cricketers to feel secure on and off the field. And outside sporting arenas, support ought to be all-encompassing for career women so they can feel confident about life choices that don't act as disruptors to their growth.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana

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