Five Young Women Share How Their Mothers Empowered Them

Mothers and daughters share a very unique and significant bond. Even though daughters are most often known to be daddy’s girls, as they grow older, mothers become their confidants, not just because of gender but because they share common experiences. A mother is a daughter’s first best friend, first role model, and biggest inspiration. The daughter, right from childhood, views the world through her mother’s eyes.

Society has portrayed mothers as kind, gentle, loving, and nurturing beings. But mothers can also be strong, courageous, determined, ambitious, and independent. Being an inspiration to daughters is a priceless gift mothers can give them! So, it's highly important for mothers to nurture their daughters into strong, resilient, bold, and independent women who take agency over their lives. Mothers need to walk the talk in order to empower their daughters to efficiently battle the challenges the world throws at them.

Moms Inspiring Daughters

With Mother’s Day around the corner, SheThePeople spoke to five young women whose mothers have played a prominent role in inspiring and empowering them.

"My mother was married off early, and life was back-breaking. She couldn’t pursue a career due to her family situation, but she always held onto the belief that women ought to be ">financially independent. So, after I was born, she raised me as a tough child who knew to stand up for herself, speak up when needed, and live life the way she wanted. My mother was subconsciously a feminist and raised me into one without realising it. Thanks to her, I’m a self-sufficient woman today," said Kiruthiga Elumalai, a software professional and the only daughter of her parents.

Subashini Sreeram, an IT professional and mom of a pre-teen, said, "After 38 long years, I have learned to see my mother as a separate person. She has been the major/sole provider for the family. She took care of us in unexplainable ways. It is from her that I learned to be resilient and determined and the importance of financial independence for women. But she had her limitations, which have hurt me in the past. As a mother myself, I can understand that there’s more to a woman than just being someone’s mother. Now I see her as an individual who is entitled to a personal life, and I respect that."

"When I became a mom, I realised how I was taking inspiration from every woman in the family. Strength from my grandmother, patience from my mom, and persistence from my aunt. Ten years down the line, I do realise I have started designing, painting, and digging through my own ways. The passionate ones, the hard ones, the ones that made me as tough as I am today while also giving me the grace I never had! This cycle-breaker woman that I have evolved into today has now been an inspiration to my mom and aunts," said Deepika, an entrepreneur and single mother of two boys.

Prarthana Bekal, an NRI and only daughter, said, "My mother has inspired me to take control of my life and not let others make decisions for me. I have supported my mother throughout, as she was working previously; she was an engineer, and she was ambitious in her field of work, and I have constantly supported her emotionally and made it a point that we aren't the reason for her to step down from work."

"I am not sure if I can ever do justice to what and how my mom did things seamlessly. My mom didn't even pass high school, but that didn't stop her from learning all the new technologies and being up-to-date. My father is a retired headmaster, but she is the one to help him with the entire digital process. She has been the go-to person, even for the extended family, to seek advice. I've always been inspired by how yearning she is for knowledge, even about the simplest things. She’s the first person to help someone in need; she's so generous with food and money, helping the needy all the time," said Nowshin Syed, an MNC professional and mother of twin boys.

Suggested Reading: Road To Scientific Success: Five Inspiring Stories Of Mother-daughter Duos