Pencil9 Founder Dr Trisheetaa Tej on Realities of Working From Home for Women

“She needs to have an identity for herself. She is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a sister-in-law, she has a lot of relationships but she needs to have her own identity.”

From being a rebel, nurturer, leader to a homemaker, women play a multitude of roles in one lifetime, but sometimes at the cost of their own future and well-being. Dr Trisheetaa Tej, Founder of Pencil9, insists that women need to have an identity of her own. She says an independent, financially secure and employed woman can weather any storm. Pencil9 provides women with a flexible and versatile work from home opportunity which allows them to find their professional identity without forsaking their familial or social responsibilities.

Trisheetaa profoundly shares incidents from her life stating, “I have seen gold medalists sitting at home because they aren’t allowed to go out and work. I have seen university toppers, some really good people who don’t get the opportunity to go out and work.” Seeing brilliant, talented and gifted women not realize their potential and work because either their families or responsibilities hold them back.

“Since this is a work from home, she obviously needs a laptop, an internet connection, and that becomes an additional burden to the husband. I have writers who actually work with me but they are able to work only when their husband is done with their work.” 

New normal of the pandemic rendered many households into work from home stations but people who had limited access to amenities such as internet connection, space, laptops etc, dissuaded women from continuing their work because they could only use the laptop after their husbands finished work or their kids’ school work ended. This was a leading cause which discouraged many women from working.

“I want to talk to the men, I want to tell them – the uncles, the father, the father-in-laws, the brothers, brother-in-laws, all of these people to understand that sharing responsibilities, sharing workload at home is very, very important.” 

Sharing responsibilities and workload at home as well as the professional sphere is important for both men and women. We can raise young girls to be fearless, fierce and aggressive at work but our double standard expects them to do it all at their homes too. With no help from the men of the house, a woman cannot win it all. Trisheeta emphasizes that “You gotta start teaching your own brother that you have to share your sister’s workload. It needs to start from your house and then it can move ahead.”

Watch the interview to know more!