Rise of the triple burden
At the end of the 20th century, the issue of women's empowerment and development was finally thrust into the limelight. Scholars identified lack of "economic power" as the primary cause of women's suffering and including women in the outside world by educating them and opening up the job market for them was thought to be a universal panacea. The accepted doctrine was that when women have economic power like men do, they can be independent and raise their voice in every sphere of society.
On January 1, 1976, the United Nations declared the following decade as the United Nations Decade for Women to promote equal rights and opportunities for women around the world. The measurement of equal rights and opportunities is reflected in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index. Bangladesh ranked 47 among 144 countries in the index in 2017 whereas India's position was 108. In 1970 only 23 percent of working-age women participated in the labour force in Bangladesh whereas it increased to 33 percent in 2017 which is considered a good thing. But unfortunately, there are scant statistics on the female educated labour force who are leaving the job market and those who are not interested in the job market at all.
For example, only 58 percent of all working-age women in America were either looking for work or currently in work in 2010 and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is expecting the rate to fall further down by 2020. According to statistics, the rest of the 40 percent of working-age women who are not looking for any work will most likely be married. In India, nearly 20 million women left the job market from 2005 to 2010.
So now, the question arises: Why are so many women disinterested to work and why do they end up leaving the workplace, going against the doctrine which says that economic empowerment is the key to women's empowerment?
The problem is that women are not free of burden, unlike men. In fact staying in the labour force is another burden on women alongside the burden of reproduction (i.e. childbearing and caring) and community management (e.g. domestic work, caring for ill family members). These three sectors are together known as the "triple burden" which women have to bear due to the modern gender-biased social framework though it is not considered a burden in different cases (e.g. women who enjoy their job). Women have been engaged in the reproductive and community management sector for centuries and this crucial role of women is now taken for granted in our society; and some think that advocates of women's empowerment do not consider these activities as work. In recent years, however, scholars have been paying more attention to these issues; for example, a study done by Unnayan Onneshan in 2013 says that women's unpaid work in Bangladesh accounts for more than 10 percent of the country's GDP though it is not included. So reproductive and community activities should also be seen as work which takes up a sufficient amount of time and energy like the productive sector and therefore, the contribution of these sectors to society cannot be overlooked.
To what extent are women in our society empowered? The answer is a subjective one but unfortunately, for me, the answer is disappointing—even in the cases of some women who hold PhD degrees and work in prestigious institutions. For example, research done by a university in the US shows that among the respondents, 60 percent of women had been victims of domestic violence (physical or psychological or both) by their intimate partner whereas 30 percent of women faced violence in the household where the man is the sole breadwinner. These kinds of research studies shed doubt on the claim that economic power alone equates women's empowerment.
In modern times, families employ housemaids for doing household chores but women in our society have been doing these chores for ages and the thought that domestic work can actually have a specific value never crossed our minds. To ease the triple burden on women, isn't it time we paid them for their contribution within the household?
Md Rakib Hossain is a student of development studies at Dhaka University.
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