Soul HR Consulting conducted an internal survey among its female team members to identify the biggest challenges they face in balancing a professional career and motherhood.

by: Renata Ferreira

Balancing a professional career and motherhood is a complex challenge that many women face every day. Today's society, despite having evolved in terms of gender equality, still imposes a series of barriers that make it hard to harmonize these two essential spheres of a woman's life.

In this article, we explore the main challenges faced by working mothers, highlighting the experiences of the Soul HR Consulting team members who took part in an internal survey on the subject.

Lack of a Support Network

One of the biggest challenges mentioned by Juliana Rodrigues is the absence of a support network. She explains:

"My biggest challenge in balancing career and motherhood is not having a support network. It keeps me from working in distant places, makes career advancement harder and slower, increases physical and mental exhaustion, and makes it hard to balance time between work and leisure, because in my rest hours I have to devote myself to everyday household chores and caring for my child. It is harder to pursue further specialization, since I have babysitting costs and it requires better financial planning."

The lack of family or community support means that many mothers find themselves overloaded, having to play multiple roles without proper rest. This affects both productivity at work and the quality of the time devoted to their children.

Feelings of Guilt

Ana Luisa Almeida Prado Spini highlights guilt as a major challenge:

"My biggest challenge in balancing career and motherhood was guilt. Guilt about being at work while the children were being cared for by other people, and guilt about being at home with my professional experience when I could be working! Always a duality of feelings in which there is no right or wrong!"

This feeling of guilt is widely shared among mothers who work outside the home. The duality between being a present mother and a dedicated professional can create significant internal pressure, affecting mental health and overall well-being.

Setting Priorities

Neusa Rossi Rodriguez points to the need for self-knowledge and setting priorities as one of the biggest challenges:

"It is hard to say which is harder, being a mother or being an excellent professional. Perhaps the biggest challenge is knowing what you actually want to be. I think that is the biggest challenge for all of us: understanding that we do not have to give up anything we like or anyone we love. The secret lies in knowing yourself, understanding your limits and priorities each day, and knowing that whatever your activity, schedule or problem, you will be your best for whoever you are devoting yourself to. That whoever crosses your path will notice your intensity and energy and will be given the gift of your happiness. My biggest challenge: being aware that I am doing my best."

Finding a balance between career and motherhood requires deep personal understanding and effective management of time and expectations. Knowing what matters most at each moment and being sure you are doing the best you can are essential to avoiding burnout.

Travel and Physical Absence

Ana Lucia Vilas Bôas describes the difficulty of balancing frequent travel with motherhood:

"The hardest time was balancing frequent travel, when my daughter was between 3 and 15 years old, spending a lot of time away from home. It was always just a few days, but very often. Because I had a good support network, motherhood never got in the way of my career development, although I often worked at home at night, when my daughter was already asleep!"

Physical absence due to professional commitments, especially travel, can be particularly challenging. Having a support network can mitigate these effects, but it does not eliminate the complexity of being away from your children.

Finding Balance

Partner Renata Filippi Lindquist also shares her perspective on how crucial it is to maintain balance:

"For me, balance is the key to everything in life; you cannot be a mother, executive, wife, daughter and homemaker, keeping so many 'plates spinning', without letting one drop from time to time... The most important thing is to choose what we are going to prioritize at each moment of life and do it wholeheartedly, with the best we have to offer. As life goes by, the phases change and we have to keep adapting to the new realities that arise, seeking the balance and fulfillment that will help us make the right choices."

The challenges of balancing a professional career and motherhood are multifaceted and deeply personal. The lack of a support network, feelings of guilt, the need to set priorities and managing physical absence are some of the main obstacles mothers face.

However, with self-knowledge, support and a balanced approach, it is possible to navigate these difficulties and achieve both a satisfying career and a fulfilling motherhood. The experiences shared by Juliana, Ana Luisa, Neusa, Ana Lucia and Renata are a testament to the many ways in which women are facing and overcoming these challenges.

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