Completely different to my fathers upbringing – my mother grew up in a ‘traditional’ family in the country of Australia. It was never her intention to be the bread-winner of the family.

My mother nursing me when I was a few weeks old.

Due to the unusual family situation that my mother found herself in, she had no other choice but to work full-time for financial reasons. With a degree in Medical Science, she works in Pathology with the government and has had a steady job her entire life. With my father not working, the burden was on her to provide for the family. For example, I was a premature baby born on Saturday 8th February 1997 and mother was still working on the 7th February. Furthermore, she returned to work full-time work after a mere six weeks of rest. She barely had the opportunity to spend time with her newborn child like so many other mothers get to do.

“Yes, I would’ve liked to have been there with you, I would’ve preferred that, but we just couldn’t have it that way at that time. But I was okay with that.” – Catherine Bautista

Spending rare time with my mother on the weekend

She would have obviously preferred to have spent more time at home both to recover from giving birth and to spend time with me but she has also never allowed gender or societal norms to dictate her life.

“I don’t mind what other people think, you’ve got to do what works best for you.” – Catherine Bautista

Different to many other women, my mother does not value her career as much as others. Although she was always working, I never felt like she wasn’t there for me whatsoever. She works full-time, but in the end family has always been her priority, and always will be.

“…I would rather be with you. You sacrifice more missing out on things with the kids because of working. I don’t consider missing anything at work a sacrifice, I’m not the corporate ladder type – I don’t want to be at the top.” – Catherine Bautista

 

Mum and I during a Freshman Fall hockey game

For my mother, there is no greater honor than raising children to become good citizens of society and achieve success in their own lives. My mother has expressed several times that if given the situation, she would have loved to be a stay-at-home mother. From a sociological perspective, this was particularly interesting given how the situation is normally reversed. While a lot of talented women are silently forced into being stay-at-home moms and putting their careers second, this is actually what my mother desired, and ironically, couldn’t have.