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LinkedIn has added “stay-at-home mom” and other role titles to its public resume function in a move to better reflect high numbers of people – particularly women – who have left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Options added this week also include “stay-at-home dad” and “stay-at-home parent,” and the Microsoft-owned platform has also removed the requirement that resume entries be linked to a specific employer.

The move comes following a post on Medium’s ‘Better Marketing’ website that criticized LinkedIn’s lack of flexibility on its language as biased against women who have left the workforce.

Jobs data shows that the pandemic has hit women much harder than men.

As part of its larger profile redesign, the company on Tuesday also unveiled several other changes, including a dedicated, formal field for LinkedIn users to add their gender pronouns to their profiles. Such a pronoun entry has also been long requested by many LinkedIn users, who until now have found informal workarounds (like adding their pronouns to the end of their names).

“Pronouns are a core part of our identity, and how we want to present ourselves—and within the jobs marketplace, we believe that clarity about someone’s gender pronouns is very, very important,” Ayenew says.

He adds that making all of these changes to LinkedIn’s profiles “has taken more time than we would like” because of the degree of technology redesign it has required. “The profile is very, very core and foundational to our entire ecosystem—so we have to be very careful and deliberate about the changes we make,” he says. “We are finally getting to it—and we’re excited to be rolling it out.”

I picked fault with everything my husband did that pertained to money. If he dropped money on the table for me when going out because I was asleep, I would attribute it to the fact that it was because I wasn’t making money. If I asked for money for XYZ and he didn’t have (genuinely), I would find a way and reason to vex, and even phone a friend to discuss the matter, trade stories and vex even more.

I was out with my husband at our weekend date night, and because I am blessed with the spiritual gift of talking, I didn’t stop catching him up on my whole life. I also wanted to know if, were it an option, he would choose to be at home, get paid for it, and then spend all that time with his family. He said, No. He would rather have shorter work hours, instead of staying home full time.

Spoken like most men, I would say.

Flip it to a recent meeting I had with domestic queens. The speaker mentioned that the reason a lot of us were sad about being stay-at-home moms was money. If someone decided to pay us to stay home and care for the kids, most of us would jump at that offer.

I know I would, but I’m also aware that some women wouldn’t. This is not for those women, and, in fact, I am not oblivious to the fact that, beyond money, you also want to make a difference in the world, which would most likely require you leave your home.

Permit me to filter my audience today to that stay-at-home mom who may have sacrificed a career, or didn’t even get an opportunity to have one, as a result of marriage and pregnancy. The stay-at-home mum who is not making any money due to reasons beyond her control.

A mum like my friend O, who left her job to be with her husband and three kids in a foreign land where any kind of help costs an arm, a leg, and a uterus.

A domestic queen like my neighbor L, whose husband works in a different town. With twins to care for and limited cash, there is barely time for anything else.

Oh, or that stay-at-home mom I met recently, with her four kids and inability to keep any domestic help longer than two months, making it virtually impossible to even process the thought of engaging in any conventional money-making venture.

Yes, you want to make your own money and possibly make an impact, too, no matter how small, but the odds are heavily stacked against you.

How do you navigate this season, where you are absolutely dependent on your husband for everything, right down to your sanitary towel?

If only you had your own money, this staying at home gig would be easier and happier.

I hear you, mum. I really do.

However, here are two things that helped me. Yes, I run a couple of thriving businesses from home, but there was a season – and I can never forget that season – when all I needed had to come directly from Bolaji Olojo.

Oh, at first, I hated that season. I picked fault with everything my husband did that pertained to money. If he dropped money on the table for me when going out because I was asleep, I would attribute it to the fact that it was because I wasn’t making money. If I asked for money for XYZ and he didn’t have (genuinely), I would find a way and reason to vex, and even phone a friend to discuss the matter, trade stories and vex even more.

And that is the first thing I would ask that you don’t do: Stop discussing your offenses with people who would only make you feel worse, who don’t help the situation. It is useless. I had to completely stop it.

I also had to sit down and have a conversation with myself. I wanted to go back to work and make my own money, but the way my life and home was set up, I couldn’t afford it. This was my whole life and reality in this season, so instead of wishing it away and wasting precious time, how about I found ways to maximize the season and keep my joy?

Let me tell you, sis, the state of your mind is so powerful. If your mind is unsettled and constantly coveting the next season, you will see no good at all in what you have now. But when you put your eyes down, like my mother would say, you will find fruit in what you hitherto thought was a dry place

I don’t know what ‘fruit’ looks like to you and your season, but one of mine was my writing gift. I was faithful to my blog eziaha.com and shared what I knew with the world from my home. I still cannot forget the day one of my readers who constantly was inspired by my writing sent me 30,000. I was blown away. This from someone I had never met. Then another friend sent me money for my data for five months, as she said she wanted to make sure nothing hindered me from blogging on a regular basis.

Today, I am still writing on my blog and on several platforms, and am now making regular income—gifts aside—from my writing gigs.

Oh, but I didn’t just sell you a formula. No, ma, there are really no formulas or rules. However, one thing I know for sure is this: Dear Domestic Queen, there is fruit everywhere around us, but first, embrace your season and portion.

 

About Eziaha

Eziaha Bolaji-Olojo (CoachE’) is a Food and Fitness Coach and CEO at CoachE’Squad Ltd, a thriving home-based business where she serves Jesus and Fitness to the world. Asides helping women live optimized lives through a healthy food and fitness routine, she runs a personal Faith-based blog www.eziaha.com where she chronicles her Christian walk, and holds regular meetings called POWWOW with E’ for Stay at home moms.She is a First-Class Graduate of Sociology, holds a UK degree in Personal Nutrition and a Pre-natal and Postnatal Fitness Specialist Certification endorsed by the American Fitness Professionals Association (AFPA). She is also an Alumnus of Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA). Above all these, she is a proud wife and mom to two boys and takes that assignment very seriously. She is a product of many teachers and mentors, constantly going for knowledge, regularly pours into mentoring younger folks, loves stir-fry eggs and home-made zobo, and is a proud member of Daystar Christian Centre.Eziaha can be found on Instagram @stayhomemoms.ng and on Twitter as @eziahaa, and you can email her on eziaha@eziaha.com