Thinking about the dilemma faced by every woman regarding prioritizing and balancing her personal and professional life, clarity and transparency in behavior by a woman becomes inevitable. In the constant run of becoming a good mother, good wife, good cook, good daughter along with additional professional responsibilities women tend to lack behind somewhere in proving themselves. Kajal Oza Vaidya profoundly shares her views regarding the clarity to be held by a woman: “I think a woman should rise and be true to her capacity. She tries to endlessly extend her limits and she herself doesn’t know where she lands up. To keep everyone happy and contended is not to be taken upon her.”

Asking about the trade-off regarding a woman’s emotional well-being and her responsibilities, Kajal Oza says that a woman should design and define her limitations and live accordingly. The key lies in having clarity in terms of one’s goals and what and how much you want from your life in accordance with your capacity. A woman should openly convey this clarity to her family and peers.

Women most of the time, are always confused as they try to be best at each of their roles and experience a stress when lacks behind even a bit in the race of being a ‘superwoman’. While talking with Kajal Oza about the stress experienced by women she firmly says that, “Due to the inception of aspirations along with responsibilities, stress arises. There is a gap between what you are and what you are expected to be. So this gap creates a huge void within you. Clarity of role and its implications associated with it should be known by a woman. Everything has its own repercussions and every issue has its own seeds from where this repercussions emerge. There is a price of what I want and there has to be an acceptance of what I am unable to get. You cannot stretch your limits beyond yourself. It is humanly not possible to excel everywhere and at everything.  And when a woman tries to do this, there is always stress.”

Kajal Oza provides solutions to each of the issues being raised and gives a clear picture about how a woman should go about maintaining her physical and emotional well-being. She firmly believes that a woman should be independent emotionally. “Don’t expect or work for anybody’s approval. See in the mirror and decide for yourself whether you have gained weight or you have lost it. Decide for yourself which colour suits you the most. Motivate yourself to look good, not for a man to appreciate.  Further talking about responsibilities she firmly replies, “You can’t be a CEO and expect to give 12 hours to your child. Decide what you want to do and most importantly how much you can do. I think that will immediately make you well emotionally.”

Woman always tend to fulfill others expectations and are in a situation where they are constantly concerned about their family. Immediately responding to this Ms. Oza says “Society at large is an approval. Woman seeks approval from everyone all the time. She should not get into proving and holding up to everyone’s expectations all the time. She has to accept her limitations and cherish her abilities. We see many women in the society comparing themselves with other women in terms of their abilities and capabilities. Beauty, Cooking, creativity, motherhood cannot be competed. Every woman knows in her own way and she lives in her own style. If this is accepted by a woman, she can very well take care of her own emotional well-being.”

Education is most of the time coined as a medium of bringing about any social change in the society. When asked about education as a medium for greater awareness among woman and for woman, Ms Oza says that “Old and conventional mode of academic education will not lead to any improvement in the awareness levels. Behavioural education is to be taken into consideration. Basics have to be taught to the children. Teach your young boy to give her mother a cup of tea when she comes from office that will further lead him to make tea for his wife. Make him a gender sensitive person.”

Recently writing about Ismat Chughtai, when asked about her own professional career and success mantra, bringing up herself as a well-known columnist and writer, Ms Oza honestly replies and says “I do not bluff on my desk. I do not goof up with my bread and butter. I work hard with complete honesty and effort. If people like it then it is an additional benefit.” This is true and motivational for any person seeking towards career excellence.

When asked about a platform like OoWomaniya.com, Kajal Oza says that such platforms must be created and taken upto the grassroot level, to the housewives.

“Womaniya’s stake on designing and defining her limitations.”

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