Gender Forum

Gender discrimination in employment:

DOUBLE BURDEN - THE WOMAN’S LOT

Samangie Wettimuny

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Who is a woman? “Woman is my slave name; feminism will give me freedom to seek some other identity altogether”, Ann Snitow states in her “A Gender Diary, Conflicts in Feminism.” According to Friedrich Nietzsche woman was God’s second mistake! “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy,” says Oscar Wilde.

‘Women’s role in society’ has always been an interesting topic among journalists, academics and writers for centuries. Some treat the subject with utmost seriousness. Others may simply view it with scorn, sympathy or humour.

Gender Forum offers you an opportunity to share your views and concerns with us. Email to [email protected] or mail to Gender Forum, c/o Features Editor, Daily News - Editorial, Lake House, Colombo.

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Women have been formally employed for centuries and today more women are entering new fields of employment. In a way these factors make us think that gender discrimination in employment is no longer a serious issue. Since many other social issues have come up, the issue of gender discrimination does not seem to attract much attention as it did earlier. However the issue is alive and well and in certain instances it is even worse than it was before.

According to Senior Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Colombo, Dr Subhangi Herath, though matters such as unemployment and underemployment are common to both men and women, the latter face two additional disadvantages as well. “They could be more underemployed or less employed. So when discussing discrimination against women at the workplace it is important to take the following matters into consideration: 1. Whether females are employed equally in numbers with men. 2. Are females employed in the same capacity as men.”

In traditional societies or in the agricultural set up, the concept of breadwinner did not exist. Both the male and the female had to contribute to the family economy in order to survive. In the hunting and gathering societies, hunting was done by men and gathering was done by women. The division, though mainly based on their physical capacities, was not universal. Anthropological studies had been carried out even in certain tribal communities where women engaged either in hunting or fishing while men were not. “Majority of the societies would have had this division of labour,” noted Dr Herath.

“However in most agricultural societies we see both men and women equally contributing to the family economy. So there was neither a breadwinner nor a dependent. So the situation of economic dependence was not experienced by women in the agricultural set up.

Industrialisation

However, after the advent of Industrialisation a clear division of labour could be seen as the industrial economy made rural men migrate to urban centres in order to work in new industries.

“That left rural households without a male head temporarily. So there was no clear collaboration between men and women within the household. Both men’s work and women’s work that were done within the household and surroundings of the household had to be fulfilled by women.” Thus women were incarcerated in the household for the purpose of taking care of the children and household necessities and this tradition passed on from generation to generation and the type of work got labelled as women’s work. Industrial economy thus marked the end of collaboration between men and women with regard to household work.

Double burden

Initially the industries were not developed enough to make high profits so that they failed to pay high salaries to men who were employed there. As a result women too had to contribute to the family economy. So the whole family had to migrate to urban centres where women too had to engage in industrial work.

But their domestic work remained the same and this marked the beginning of the problem. Since women were totally in charge of the family in the absence of their husbands they were considered as ‘naturally’ responsible to perform these tasks although they were really social and cultural responsibilities that were entrusted on them.

According to Dr Herath women were depicted as naturally responsible to perform these tasks due to their reproductive capacity. “If the woman is giving birth to children it is her responsibility to look after and lactate them. Those too are ‘natural responsibilities’.

As a result, women were expected to fulfill a host of duties and responsibilities related to child bearing, rearing and household work even though men too were capable of performing some of these tasks.”

Dr Herath explained how ‘the double day of work’ which evolved with the advent of the industrialisation remains to this day.

“When women leave the family to work in the industry she is still responsible for work at home. But when the man was doing it, the woman was there at home to take care of the family. When the woman leaves home nobody is there to take that responsibility and it was at this point that one of the major problems related to women’s employment started.”

In the agricultural economy women could work together with men and since the household was in the vicinity she could also get the support of the extended family members.

But the industrial work environment was disadvantageous for women on many grounds. Women had to leave the household to engage in work, but at the same time ‘household’ work was ‘waiting’ at home till she returned. That was how she was ‘doubly burdened’ or rather was entrusted with ‘double day of work’!

Marginal inclusion

Another important issue that had arisen with the industrialisation was the marginal inclusion of women in the field of work. Since men were already in the industry and were responsible in handling machinery (which was identified as strong or men’s work), women were not given any heavy work or huge responsibilities and were identified as weak or feeble.

Even in today’s context women are marginally included in the field of work except in garment industry. According to Dr Herath although top fashion designers and tailors are men, women are in high demand as sewing machine operators. “There’s nothing wrong in recruiting them for that job. But what I am worried about is dividing work on the basis of gender.

Sewing is accepted as ‘woman’s work’ and in traditional Sri Lankan families no matter whether a girl can sew or not a sewing machine was given to her as a part of her dowry! This custom is still there to a certain extent.”

Women may work in men’s spheres of employment but are still expected to perform certain tasks which are labelled as ‘women’s work’.

“Who makes tea in an office if the person in charge of it is absent? Either a female officer will volunteer to do it or male officers would expect her to do it.” noted Dr Herath.

Sri Lankan situation

Even though gender inequality still prevails in the employment sector (except more women are entering the employment field), Sri Lanka has already achieved gender equality in education.

As the historic records reveal Sri Lanka has had educational institutes for women even during the Anuradhapura period which were later destroyed due to various internal conflicts.

Also during the Colonial period women were given an opportunity to study formally. However it was the Free Education Policy which was introduced in the 1940s that allowed everyone irrespective of their gender, religion or ethnicity to enjoy equal educational opportunities.

Even though there are no barriers policy wise, there are a lot of practical obstacles.

“Today more and more women enter the field of education and at certain points women even exceeded men in higher education in streams such as arts, humanities and social sciences.

A higher number of women enter secondary education. However the percentage of female students is less in fields such as engineering, mathematics and vocational training. Even if they want to go for vocational education they’ll choose fields that are traditionally accepted for women such as Motessori and secretary courses.”

Non acceptance

There have been attempts to include women in non-traditional areas such as masonry, carpentry and bicycle repairing. “The results of some of the studies we conducted with the NGOs proved that women were either equal or more capable than men.

Though they have necessary talents, the social non-acceptance and employees’ reluctance to offer them jobs keep women from opting for such jobs,” she noted.

Though the situation is more or less the same across the world according to Dr Herath, in certain countries women are accepted in job areas such as women conductors or women bus (or trishaw) drivers which are considered non-traditional in Sri Lanka.

(Next Week: Women at work: achievements and drawbacks)

End of men?

Aditha Dissanayake

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End of Men? I hope not, even though most facts say otherwise. Think about it. When did you last see an athletically built, “Me Tarzan you Jane” Rambo look alike, since Sylvester Stallone retired from the silver screen? When did you last read about men like Jane Austen’s Mr.Darcy; men who suffer in silence because they fail to reveal their innermost feelings to the women they love?

On the contrary, the roles of men have changed so much that in the much acclaimed Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon,scholar and professor of religious symbology at Harvard University confesses he does not know how to operate a manual car and is driven around France by the brilliant cryptographer of the French Police, Sophie Neveu. No other man, however, says it best as Edmund in Eugene O Neil’s play, Long Day’s Journey into Night. “It was a great mistake my being born a man. I would have been much more successful as a sea gull or a fish.”

Things are not that different in the real world either. It is increasingly evident that in today’s society men are falling by the wayside when it comes to earning a living. Dr. Siegfried Meryn in The British Journal of Medicine, answering his own question “Are men in danger of extinction?” writes “Although there is still a long way to go, in most societies around the world, it is clear that women can perform (and on most occasions outperform) pretty much all the tasks traditionally reserved for men.”

Dr. Meryn’s argument is proved by legal analyst turned writer Dan Abrams who, in his book “Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers... and Just About Everything Else, states on the first page of the book, “”In nearly every field, statistics and studies show that women are better collaborators, are more cautious and more adept at navigating treacherous terrain.”

Recognizing that a total reversal of fortunes is underway in relationships between men and women, anthropologist Helen Fisher suggests that based on a great deal of scientific evidence that shows that the sexes are quite different in everything from brain function to the ways hormones influence behavior, it is likely that women will dominate in significant areas of life, in the 21st century. She argues in her book “The First Sex”, women will apply their natural aptitudes in many sectors of society and dramatically influence twenty-first century business, sex, and family life. In some important parts of the economy, they will even predominate, becoming the first sex.

Perhaps taking the cue from Fisher, perhaps not, Hanna Rosin in her article in The Atlantic last year, boldly states the end of man has come and that women now have total power. Proving that the pendulum has begun to swing, that men might soon be called the “second sex” Marilyn French the author of the much publicized novel, The Women’s Room” in an interview with the New York Times, says “I think men would be much happier if they behaved like women. I think

they would get much more out of life and would have much more easier selves if they were like women.”

Could it be that what we are looking at and arguing so much about, is all simply centered around the meaning of the words man, manhood and masculinity? Could it be that, what is really going on is that the traditional definitions are growing less and less important, that women are becoming more like traditional ‘men,’ and men, more like “women?”

Take a look around you. Physically, more and more men with their shoulder length hair tied in a ponytail, ears dazzling with earrings, necklaces,bracelets and tight fitting clothes look more and more like women. And, if, as social anthropologists believe, women are becoming the dominant sex in every sphere in society, it is inevitable that men should take on the “girlish jobs” i.e stay at home and change diapers. I know most men would sigh with relief at this prognosis. Who would not want to hand-over the role of the breadwinner to someone else and have the freedom of deciding to work only if you feel like it? “To work for a while, stay at home when the kids ‘happen’ and return to work when the kids are ready for school. Bliss” says my partner. He feels he would thoroughly enjoy being “the sex-of-lower-expectations”.

The bottom line? Keep your fingers crossed. Even if the “manly man” (Clint Eastwood with his golden stubble and squinting eyes, Darcy with his warm, throbbing heart cloaked by a cold demeanor) is no more, life without men would mean the end, or literally, living in the dark (who would change the light bulbs?).

Remember that joke among feminists? “A woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle”. Caution. Don’t over do it. You might get what you ask for.

[email protected]

Today is International Nurses Day:

Nightingale’s eternal lamp of love

Today, May 12 is named as the International Nurses Day to honour the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of the modern nursing professions. The invaluable service rendered by her to nursing and her dedication to uplift the standards of the nursing profession systematically and scientifically is celebrated throughout the world on the International Nurses day.

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, to well-to-do parents at their temporary residence in Florence, Italy. Named after her birthplace, she grew up in Derbyshire, Hampshire and London where her birth family maintain temporary homes. Nightingale was educated largely by her father, William Edward and mother Frances Smith. After her parents refused her request to study nursing at a hospital, Nightingale was persuaded to study parliamentary reports.

However, in three years she became an expert on public health hospitals. Over her parent’s objections she visited hospitals in England and Continental Europe. In 1846 a friend sent her the Year Book of the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth, Germany. Four years later Nightingale entered the same institution and was trained as a nurse. In 1853 she was appointed superintendent of the Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen, in London.

On March 24, 1854, with the support of Britain and France, Turkey declared war against Russia who invaded Crimea. During this period war, a series of articles appeared in newspapers including London Times which revealed the dreadful conditions in Crimea, especially the lack of care for the wounded and the sick. There were not enough surgeons and nurses, not enough linen to make bandages, and in some cases the wounded had no care at all for several weeks. Nightingale was shocked when she read the article appeared in London Times.

Florence Nightingale at once set about getting official permission to take a band of nurses to Crimea. Her plan was sent to Sidney Herbert who had become secretary of war. But a strange coincidence, he wrote to her at the same time, asking for her help and their letters crossed in the mail. She was appointed as the head nurse in the military hospitals in Scutari, Turkey. In November 1854 she arrived Constantinople (Now Istanbul) in Turkey, with 38 other volunteers.

When she arrived more men were dying from fever and infection than from the battle wounds. She found the hospitals crowded, filthy and badly managed. Without paying any attention to the objections raised by the military commanders, she introduced new rules of cleanliness and hygiene, organized food supplies and ensured that the wounded were properly cared for.

Almost immediately the number of soldiers who died in hospital was greatly reduced, and she worked 20 hours everyday without break. At night she used to carry a lantern while visiting the patients at the hospitals. She became known to them as “the Lady with the Lamp.”

News of her success reached England, and on her return she raised money to found a proper nurses’ school. In 1860 she established the Nightingale school for Nurses at St Thomas’s Hospital, London and Community Health Nursing Service in Liverpool. Her ‘Notes on Nursing’ was published in the same year. In 1907 Florence Nightingale became the first women to be appointed to the Order of Merit.

She continued to write a vast quantities of letters and notes until she was almost eighty years old. On August 13, 1910 this grand old lady fell asleep and did not wake up again.

International Nurses Council established in 1899 has taken action to name May 12 as the International Nurses Day as a mark of honour to Florence Nightingale.