Mother's Day is celebrated worldwide, including in Indonesia, which celebrates it on Dec. 22 each year.

In celebrating Mother's Day, The Jakarta Post presents these stories related to women and mothers. Initially, the celebration of Mother's Day in Indonesia was related to the Indonesian women's spirit and struggle to advance and improve the condition of the nation. Today, however, Mother's Day is celebrated as in other countries, expressing love for mothers in a more special way.

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Studies have shown that working mothers can be as productive as non-mother employees are and, therefore, employers need to recognize the leading role of working mothers during the current revolution in flexible work.

Between bathing and feeding, dropping off and picking up their children at pre-school, not to mention taking them to the doctor, time management is a major issue for most working mothers.

In a country where telecommuting or work-from-home is still considered an abstract concept, more than a few women, despite their high education and extensive work experience, have had to succumb to office inflexibility. Some may afford to hire nannies or have the luxury of having a grandmother figure to help with raising their children, but for many others, being a mother and pursuing a career is as difficult as it gets.

What working mothers in Indonesia really need, says one woman, is acknowledgment and understanding by senior management of their situation.

'It shouldn't be about reducing working hours. It should be about allowing room for flexibility, for us to keep being productive and meeting goals just the way non-mother employees do,' said the government employee and mother of two, who preferred to remain anonymous.

In the United States, where major companies are competing for top positions as the best companies for working mothers, flexibility seems to be the new buzzword.

Chicago-based managing consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which was named by workingmothers.com as the best company for working mothers in 2014, allows its employees to adjust their schedules, telecommute and work remotely, and also provides flexible individual arrangements.

Abbott, a healthcare company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, runs an extensive child-care center that has been recognized as one of the best in the US, and provides discounts at other day-care facilities. Mothers also get an extensive employee-assistance program and a host of other activities related to their health and wellbeing.

As studies show, the role of the institution cannot be over-estimated in setting a supportive environment for working mothers.

One of the most recent pieces of research, published this month by Harvard Business Review, urges companies to move past the discriminative assumption that family responsibilities lead mothers to care less about their careers.

The survey of more than 25,000 Harvard Business School graduates, found that women in general are less satisfied with their careers and their work-and-family combinations. However, it's the lack of opportunities, not family, that tends to prompt women to leave their jobs.

'Our survey data and other research suggest that when high-achieving, highly educated professional women leave their jobs after becoming mothers, only a small number do so because they prefer to devote themselves exclusively to motherhood; the vast majority leaves reluctantly and as a last resort, because they find themselves in unfulfilling roles with dim prospects for advancement.'

The message that they are no longer considered 'players' is communicated in various, sometimes subtle ways: They may have been stigmatized for taking advantage of flex options or reduced schedules, passed over for high-profile assignments, or removed from projects they once led,' says the report.

For many working mothers, workplace incivility is a reality they have to cope with.

A Cornell University study on motherhood penalties, published in the American Journal of Sociology in 2007, found the practice widely spread over geographical and time differences.

'We found that evaluators rated mothers as less competent and committed to paid work than non-mothers, and consequently, discriminated against mothers when making hiring and salary decisions. Consistent with our predictions, fathers experienced no such discrimination,' wrote the study authors, Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard and In Paik.

The good news is, according to psychologists, mothers make strong women. Research shows that holding multiple roles can promote greater life satisfaction and better relationships and reduce depression.

However, considering the stress of multiple children, there is no denying that workplace problems can be quite overwhelming. To protect themselves emotionally, the experts at psychologytoday.com suggest working mothers 'draw on the emotional resources that come from caring for children to protect themselves from the stress they often experience.'

For employers, providing just treatment for working mothers can be seen as the first step toward having good ethics and business sense. The next step is to recognize the leading role of working mothers in this current revolution in flexible work. In the end, flexibility is not just for working mothers, as noted by the president of Working Mother Media Carol Evans on Huffingtonpost.com.

'Many groups of employees are marching right beside us in our quest for flex: employees caring for elderly parents, millennials, sports enthusiasts, adult students, differently abled employees, people involved in their communities. You name it and they want it. Flex is the answer for nearly every work life need found in today's high tech, highly committed workforce,' she writes.

For now, let working mothers pave the way. (Sondang Grace Sirait)

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