We speak of gender equality in every sphere of state and social life. The constitution also instructs not to discriminate between men and women. But if women are discriminated in almost every level of the state and society, even in the family, how can there be equality?
The picture of women's invisible or unpaid work in a keynote address presented on Saturday in a webinar hosted by the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) and the Manusher Jonno Foundation is disappointing. According to the data, women work three times more than men.
Where women between the ages of 15 and 29 work 5.93 hours a day unpaid in the household, men work 1.49 hours. On the other hand, women in the age group of 30-60 years do invisible unpaid work for an average of 5.87 hours and men do 1.87 hours. According to economists, women's participation in the labour market is reduced by 1.8 per cent due to spending time on unpaid work.
What is the remedy? The remedy is to ensure the wages of men and women who work indoors or outdoors. No matter where a woman performs her duty, her wages have to be determined. Household chores, child rearing, cooking, etc. cannot be considered as work of no value. In fact, women who work outside the home have to work harder than men at home. Many women are forced to stay at home due to lack of day care centre for children.
In order to increase the wage-based work time of women, family responsibilities such as child rearing, cooking and shopping should also be shared. In many families, male guardians end their responsibilities with providing with some money. They don't even keep track of which school or class the child is studying in. If men also share the housework, it will be more convenient for women to work outside and they will not have to remain as unpaid 'housewifes'.
Women's education has undoubtedly advanced in Bangladesh. Even in many primary and secondary level educational institutions there are more female students than male students. But women's participation in the workplace is much lower than that. As a result, women are not able to use their education even after educating and developing themselves as qualified and skilled human resources.
In this case, we have to overcome social, family, cultural and psychological barriers. The stereotype in the society about women working outside the home should be stopped. Safety must be ensured in the workplace and on public transport for women working outside.
In addition to determining the financial value of all work in and out of the house, special incentives may be given to women in households who work outside. We have to increase the participation of women in our national income.