Woman, worker, mother

How many roles can a woman play? everyone who submits!

There maternity it’s unpredictable, you learn as you go, and it presents challenges as you go.

This is the experience with my three children, born in the last ten years, while I exercised my public vocation in different areas of the management of the government of the city of Buenos Aires.

I found out that my eight month old baby Benjamin had Down syndrome in the ninth week of pregnancy and that, while that doesn’t define it, made me fill up with questions and prepare myself in a way different from her sisters, Felicitas (10) and Bernadette (8). All of us in the family informed each other and learned to wait for him with love and the desire to meet him.

The arrival of a child is always a revolution, and with Benjamin I realized that solid support was a base from which I had to start again, a new start in all areas, family, professional, maternal and marital. .

I have been fortunate to experience this in my own work team and in the relationships we have built over the years, sharing knowledge, resilience and trust. The support of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and the entire government team has been fundamental, and although in these roles you never stop working because it is our public duty and for me it is a vocation, I have been able give my baby the love and attention it needs.

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You can’t talk about motherhood and work without talking about maternity and paternity leave. In Denmark Both parents can choose to share up to 52 weeks of childbirth leave between them. In Spainin January 2021, leave for birth and care of the newborn was equalized for the first time for both parents: they have 16 weeks of leave each.

In Argentina, according to the law, the leave is 90 calendar days and compulsory, extendable to 180, but in this case without pay. The goal is to grow in the future. This is an issue that should be on this country’s agenda at all times to listen to and respond to just and deserved demands. It is essential to allow and take care of this privileged moment when a family gets to know each other.

women who are mothers they can be professionals and grow in their chosen field or practice as they wish. They can occupy management positions and even become independent from the time of their motherhood. But it is vital to accompany them so that they do not have to choose between one or the other, favoring their autonomy and even their health, both physical and mental.

For this, we mothers need a supporting system, a network. To be available, to put on the body, to breastfeed, if we choose to do so. And that involves the State, employers and society as a whole, as we know, behind the care tasks there is almost always a woman. This is why we also need men to be part of it, true equals, inside and outside the home.

When I took office as minister, I decided to surround myself with as many women as possible, capitalizing on the richness of diversity in a ministry that is involved in public works and in charge of maintenance. public space and hygiene in the City. A ministry in which historically the males. For a long time I was the only woman in almost every meeting, but I continued, I did not hide and competed for positions of high responsibility even though I was young, breaking the ceiling of glass.

The terrain to conquer, the places of power from which we can improve the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of people, is complex and difficult. In September 2022, there were 30 women Heads of State or government in the world. At this rate, gender equality at the highest levels of decision-making will not be achieved for another 130 years. At the ministerial level, overall, the annual increase in parity is barely 0.52%. The conclusion is that it will not be reached before 2077.

Today, more than 60% of the CEOs who work with me are women, as well as more than half of the people who work in the ministry. Talent and ability were in the teams, my responsibility was to give them visibility, empower them and support them in their leadership process.

During these months I valued more than ever each of the women who accompany me, their empathy and their enormous capacity for sustainability; and I was also delighted that men approached and were encouraged to talk about these issues that are universal but that we women usually bring to the table.

In the lectures I give on environmental protection and the enjoyment of public space, I always say something that I am convinced of: the future will be sustainable or it will not be. But I am convinced of something else: the future will be sustainable and diversified or it will not be; be inclusive, sensitive and supportive or not.

The author is Minister of Public Space and Urban Hygiene of the City of Buenos Aires

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