IIT Kharagpur’s ‘Campus Mothers’ Initiative Misses the Point Entirely
Disha Bijolia | 15 July 2025 | Homegrown
More and more women are stepping back from the idea of motherhood today. Having seen their mothers and grandmothers growing up, who diminished in their homes in the service of others, they are unwilling to inherit a role that has historically demanded self-erasure in the name of love.
What sociologists call 'emotional labour' is not simply about nurturing, but being constantly available to manage the emotional demands of others, while suppressing one’s own. Society has painted it as instinct rather than effort, in a very successful attempt to offload this responsibility onto women. And yet, even as many women manage to opt out of this, the world finds new ways to place it back in their hands….