Careers Under Judgment

Parents pass down trauma as advice. Employers exploit it. Young workers feel trapped between cultural expectation and career ambition. What message does this send to the next generation?

- Sidrat Ul Muntha

“My son works in a private company,” she says, almost as if she is admitting a mistake.

Such words hit like a jolt in this government-job-obsessed region, erasing degrees, effort, and earnings in an instant.

It is a bright afternoon in Srinagar’s Fateh Kadal. Fareeda Begum is standing with her neighbours when one woman announces that her daughter has secured a government teaching post.

Smiles spread, congratulations flow easily, and pride fills the lane.

Fareeda listens, then looks down. “My son works in a private company,” she says, lowering her voice.

Her son Tanveer has a master’s degree in commerce. He earns 25,000 a month as a senior accountant, helps run the household, and does his work well. But none of that counts in this moment.

Here, it comes down to one harsh rule: where you work outweighs what you accomplish.

A government job is a status symbol in Kashmir. It decides how a child is introduced, a family is seen, and a future marriage is discussed.

Matrimonial ads often say it without shame. “Seeking alliance for beautiful homely girl, preferably government employee.”

Parents start dreaming of it the day their children learn to write their names. It is the answer that brings smiles instead of silence.

Slowly, we have split our working world in two: those who are settled and those who are “still trying.” In other words, those to be praised and those to be explained.

This did not grow from vanity. It grew from fear.