130 Parents Corner
“For working mothers, the challenge isn’t just about managing time. It’s about navigating systems that weren’t built with caregiving in mind.”
The Quiet Tension Behind Visible Success For many working mothers, success looks impressive from the outside. Careers are progressing, and opportunities finally align with long-held ambitions. Yet beneath this lies a quieter reality. The tension many women experience is internal and systemic. It is about identity, purpose, and the societal expectations placed on women at home and at work. A Regional Shift from Access to Sustainability Across the Gulf Cooperation Council, this tension is increasingly visible. Women’s workforce participation has grown over the past decade, with more stepping into leadership across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the wider region. As a result, the conversation is shifting from access to opportunity toward sustainability, longevity, and what fulfilment looks like once ambition becomes reality rather than future aspiration. Listening to Patterns Across Systems and Lives Riem Elfar, an HR executive, leadership coach, and mother of three, has spent her career working at the intersection of people, culture, and systems, building inclusive workplaces by addressing bias, strengthening policies, and modelling healthier leadership. Her coaching supports mothers lead through pressures and choices. “Most working mothers say they are managing today’s demands, yet they In her research, recurring themes emerge: capability alongside fatigue, gratitude alongside unspoken guilt, and ambition that remains alive but reshaped by motherhood. What the Research Reveals While writing Strategic Surrender, Riem surveyed 150+ women, mostly in the GCC. Many felt proud of professional progress, are concerned about the future for working mothers”
yet overwhelmed balancing work and family. Support systems are fragmented and employers moderately supportive. Most notably, many women voiced concern for the future of working mothers, highlighting anxiety about both present pressures and long-term sustainability. Strategic Surrender as a Lens for Alignment Moderating a conference on women’s advancement, Riem noted unease when a speaker celebrated a mother joining a work call a day after giving birth as a model of dedication. This reinforced the need for a
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