Women and their right to work [Archives:2007/1071/Opinion]

By: Dr. Samia Al-Aghbari
These days, there is a lot of talk about woman's work outside her home, plus different viewpoints about the significance and futility of women's joining the labor market, as well as the nature and type of works that fit women and their social traditions and culture. The most important thing is to see whether women's work is permitted or banned by any religious legislation.

Several symposiums, conferences, social functions, and cultural activities were staged with the aim of setting layouts and theories in support of women's right to join the labor market in all or specific fields. But, these functions lost their credibility and significance because their recommendations and outcomes have not been utilized by the concerned agencies.

Before we discuss women's work, which is a right, a grant or a gift from the community, we should refer to some facts and scores that explain the size and the level of women's participation in the labor market in the developing countries in general and the Arab world in particular. World Bank scores indicate that women's participation in the labor market has increased from below 23 percent in 1970 to 32 percent in 2000.

Releasing a report on the occasion of International Women's Day in March 2004, the World Labor Organization confirmed that large numbers of women join the labor market. Despite this, they suffer higher unemployment rates than men. They are underpaid and constitute 60 percent of the poor employees around the world, who number up to 55 million.

The report argued that the gap between the numbers of women and men joining the labor market or those having no jobs decreased. The number of women to men working in transitional economies and East Asia comes at the ratio 83 – 91 to 100 while in the Middle East and North Africa the ratio is 40 women to 100 men. According to the WLO's report, women are usually paid less than men even in the jobs and careers that are more suitable for females.

It has been made apparent that woman's work in real-life situation is increasing, in addition to the works exercised by women inside their houses or in the field, but neither men, community, nor the government acknowledge the role played by women.

The international, regional, and national agreements and conventions declared that women's right to work is one of the basic human rights. These agreements and conventions granted woman new rights considering her nature as a mother and a homemaker exercising roles that are not less significant than her role outside the house. This is aimed at facilitating women's social participation in the labor market.

Despite the various gains obtained by women after a long time of suffering and discrimination between them and men, women are still suffering the consequences of joining the labor market. This suffering forced many women to abandon their legal right to work outside the house.

We should not express curiosity about the findings reached by several scientific field studies, which confirm that the majority of women, particularly in the Arab World, prefer to stay home. This is attributed to the fact that the Arab countries shun women through their official institutions like the education and media ones. The Arab media depict women of career as ignorant of their children and husbands, claiming that working women are only concerned about their success in work outside their home and the material gains. The Arab media also depict women of careers as not taking care of their appearance and that their feminism is exploited by the private sector.

The official and non-official media and educational institutions exercise a negative role toward embodying the traditional task of a woman as a mother and a housewife and consider this the primary role to be played by women. These institutions work on marginalizing women and edging out the social role of working women, as well as reducing the significance of women's participation in the labor market. This leads one to say that the sectors of media in the Arab world constitute a great barrier hindering women's participation in the labor market.

The issue of women's work outside their home and the nature of careers suitable for women remain unresolved although the Arab life has overcome all the contradictory and controversial viewpoints on women's work. When a woman-related issue is presented for discussion, the viewpoints vary without any reference to the real-life situation or the scientific field researches that continuously affirm that working women are more aware and interested in their homes, husbands and children. Children of working women often outperform others at schools and their acquisition is better than that of other kids. Women careers are often said to contribute to the success of their spouses.

In addition, working women are more interested in their health and fitness than housewives, who turn fat, suffer diseases and remain idle inside their homes. It is strange that some people are insisting that working women must return women and not to behave like ladies of the western communities. Home is the suitable place for women to work while the man is responsible for sustaining her and other family members, be he a husband, a brother or a father. After marriage, husbands shoulder the responsibility of sustaining their wives, who in return care for their husbands, children, and do other domestic works. If the husband dies while his children are still at their early ages, the wives resort to their brothers or brother-in-laws to provide them with livelihood.

Those who think this way have to bear in mind that their narrow viewpoints are impossible to be achieved in the present time because the majority of men are unable to sustain their families alone. The majority of men turn out to prefer working women as spouses for them in order to share with them the cost of daily living. Some people haven't yet understood that women's participation in the labor market has become one of the prerequisites of the contemporary life.

The primary problem doesn't originate from controversy over women's right to work outside their homes because this right has become an indispensable fact supported by the state and its official and non-official institutions. Various laws and charters stressed women's right to work, taking into consideration their nature and the dual role they play in and outside their homes. The problem is associated with commitment of the concerned organizations to pass or reinforce the labor laws, as well as all the regional and international agreements, which Yemen approved. These agreements and laws cover numerous terms stipulating that all the forms of discrimination between males and females have to be eradicated, particularly in worksites. In another article, God willing, I will attempt to shed light on any women-related laws and international agreements, which Yemen approved and promised to abide by.

Source: Al-Thawra State-run Daily
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