The 'Women In Labour' Podcast: Twitter India's Mahima Kaul on maternity leave, work after pregnancy

Since 2005, the percentage of Indian women in paid work has dropped from 35 per cent to less than 24 per cent come, but no one is talking about why. Till we did, and Women in Labour was born (pun intended).

A comedic take on a serious issue, the Women In Labour podcast explores a veritable feast of topics related to women, work, family, power, and everything in between. Why do Indian women do the most unpaid work in the world? What’s stopping us from finding our inner boss? Why do we preface our work emails with “I was just wondering…”? And the big one — what’s keeping us away from India’s workplaces?

We — Aditi Mittal and Christina MacGillivray — converse with a roster of amazing guests on our podcast in an attempt to answer these questions.

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Episode 3 | ‘Work after labour’

What does it feel like to have a very public pregnancy?

Twitter’s India and South Asia Director of Public Policy, and new mom, Mahima Kaul did just that. And then lived to tell the tale. With a great sense of humour and incredible insight, Mahima discusses what questions to-be moms should be asking about maternity leave, and how to take on leadership roles post-pregnancy

Mahima Kaul is Twitter’s Director, Public Policy for India & South Asia, where she engages on the internet public policy issues with government, regulators, academia, and civil society.

She also manages the #TwitterForGood program, which works with NGOs and charities, focusing on issues of internet freedom, online safety, crisis and emergency, women in tech, and access. Prior to this role, she ran the cyber initiative at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and continues to be Co-Chair of their cyber platform, CyFy. She has written on internet governance and digital inclusion for the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Index on Censorship, Global Policy Journal, among other publications.

Listen to the episode here.