Women’s Day : 2017 – 8th
March
Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50
From being a demand for equal
rights of women factory workers to aspiring for an equal planet, International
Women’s Day has come a long way. Even though the day comes today with
commercial packages like discount on hair treatment to buy one get one free
offers, the day remains as a quest for a world free of discrimination.
International Women’s Day is
an opportunity when we share stories of discrimination, stories of achievement,
stories of movements across the globe with one single objective – to look
forward to a world that celebrates womanhood.
Building on the theme of
Planet 50-50, the UN theme this year is ‘Women in the Changing World of Work’.
It is a very significant theme
as it covers all the aspects that rule a society today – it talks about
economic, social and political rights of Women. It talks about the need to
recognise the contribution of women to the work force across the world. It
recognises the need to acknowledge the economic significance of women. For a
change, it sees women beyond the role of domestic responsibilities.
Yes, it is a changing world of
work. It is world where young girls are being sent for education with the hope
that they would choose a career for themselves. It is world where women can
aspire to lead their organisation. It is a world where a woman can choose to
have a bank account to save her hard earned income.
But is this significant enough
to believe that the world has become nearly equal ?
A report mentioned in Wall
Street Journal states that ‘Women are still underrepresented at every corporate
level and hold less than 30% of roles in senior management.’ Which means that
the world is ready to accept women as workers in corporate sectors but not
ready enough to accept women in the position
of a leader.
And obviously, this
discrimination is not just rampant in the urban corporate sector. A study by
FAO has pointed out that women comprise an average 43 percent of the agricultural
labour force of developing countries. The female share of the agricultural
labour force ranges from about 20 percent in the Americas to almost 50 percent
in East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, irrespective of the
immense contribution that women provide towards land and land based activities
their right over land, land produce, land ownership, land tenure,
decision-making is extremely limited. Another study titled “Gender and Land
Statistics” by FAO gave an introduction to the Gender and Land Rights Database
(GLRD) looking at the distribution of agricultural holders by sex. It was
revealed that in India, the percentage of land holding by female ranges between
10-19%. Also, it was observed that in case of Joint or Solo ownership in South
Asian countries the ratio of male to female land ownership is at 27:10 and
52.2:8.5 in India and Bangladesh, respectively.
Which again points out to the
fact that women seldom have a right over the land that they nurture. The world
is ready to take in their sweat, their soiled fingers, their bent backs but is
never ready to accept their role as land owners.
A major reason behind such
discrimination is the politics of economy. A share in productivity and
prosperity would immediately attach a social significance. With right and
control comes power and the world is not ready to accept that! The history of
mankind points out to the fact that with power comes the right to subjugate and
hence the reluctance to handover women that power. The moment a woman assumes
the power to lead men under her, the power to sell her own produce, the power
to decide on her income, she weakens the forces that keep her suppressed. Then
she goes against the social norms of an unequal world.
The society at large is ready
to give women some rights – bit by bit – but not every right. Yes, you can go
to office but you must remember to make the dishes when you are back home. Yes,
ofcourse you can earn as an agricultural labourer but then you must be ready to
hand over your income to your husband for his drinking and gambling – he is a
man and he needs his share of ‘stressbusters’. And if you are a mother, it is
you who has to tie the child to your back and work in the field – even though
it may be physically challenging for you!
And if you dare violate, there
are tools available to put you ‘back in track’. They would mock you, share
obscene jokes in your presence and let out sexual remarks till you give up your
job! If you dare ask for your share of land or property, they would not hesitate
to brand you as a ‘witch’ and socially ostracise you! And they know that
inspite of all this you would certainly hide the blue-black marks on your body
and report to your work the next day! You would still choose to ignore the
uncomfortable touch of your boss for the sake of your children back home!
An equal world is the one
which, inspite and despite social norms and customs, offers women the equal
chance to flourish – to sign land related documents, to decide on the price of
agricultural produce, to come home late due to work pressure (and not be
compelled to follow it up with yet another round of domestic chores). An equal
world guarantees that a woman construction labourer would not be dragged by her
supervisor to raped and re-raped in lieu of yet another day’s wages and the
safety to a woman call centre worker to be back home safe in the middle of the
night – without being afraid of beastly predators. That day the world would
certainly be equal when the world would perceive the rape of a sex worker as a
crime and not overlook sexual advances by a male colleague as ‘just a small,
friendly banter’.
And
that day we really do not need to designate and observe a separate day for
women, when the world would perceive ‘Equality’ as a need and not a choice.
Till then – long live Women’s Day and the quest for an equal world….
SWADHINA,
34 C Bondel Road, Kolkata-700019, India
No comments:
Post a Comment