Friday 19 / April / 2024
Times of Oman is celebrating the role of motherhood featuring two Omani women who are balancing the roles of mothers and career building at the same time.
Many Omani women juggle between professional careers and the important role of being a mother and the two tasks are never easy when they have to satisfy pressing demands at work and home.
For most of them, it is a seesaw of children and career trying to create a delicate balance between childcare and a successful professional life.
But it is never easy to be in two places in the space of twenty four hours.
To mark the occasion of Omani Mother’s Day, Times of Oman met with two Omani women who talked about the ‘magic reality’ of motherhood as they try to get it right for their children as the ‘perfect’ mothers and an ‘obedient’ professionals in their workplaces.
Sumaiya Suleiman Al-Busaidi is Head of Inflight Entertainment System and Connectivity at Oman Air, who has 11-year old son and 8-eight year old daughter.
She says ‘time management’ is the essence of motherhood and this quality cannot be compromised to raise successful children.
“Being a working woman means being a master of time management. It is about finding a way to balance the demands of work and family responsibilities, without sacrificing one for the other. It's also about blending them in a way that works for you and your family,” Sumaiya told Times of Oman with a tone of voice that is laced with strength and conviction.
But Sumaiya said that her inspiration is not just in her character but stems from her own experience with family members and friends as well.
“My grandmothers, my mother and aunts were all an inspiration to me in the way they raised their children. Together with my friends, they gave me and still do, their unwavering love and support that inspire me every day as a mother,” Sumaiya said.
For Lubna Ahmed Al-Riyami, a Senior Resource Planning Specialist at Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC), strength and resilience are the two qualities that a mother needs to carry on to raise a successful family while at the same battling with a demanding career.
“When children were shouting the word ‘mother’ while I was growing up, I never really understood it until now that I have two of my own children. I would say a mother is not just a simple mother but a warrior because years of raising children is never easy,” Lubna, the mother of two sons, a 10-year old and a 7-year old, told Times of Oman.
But what about time juggling between home and the world of deadlines and office pressure at work?
“I believe if you could manage your time well between work and home, you could do more than the famous quote “do the needful and the rest will be easy.”
Both Sumaiya and Lubna now know what being a mother means, like so many mothers before them and many more in the future. They take nothing for granted. They have learned to tame the conflict within themselves to compromise their busy working schedules and their important roles as mothers.
