When will men become self-reliant?
“Does your wife work?” “No, she stays at home.” Such conversations are common in India. Women’s management of the home and household chores is not accorded ‘the status of a job.’ Only if a woman ventures out to work in an office, she is regarded as employed. If she manages her home, raises children, cooks, and manages the household, she is regarded as unemployed.
This has been the perception of our society towards women for a long time. Forget paying for the domestic work of a woman, whose role is significant in laying the foundation for a family, our society has still not grown to provide dignity to a woman who manages the household.
Society terms as self-reliant only those women who work outside in offices or other areas for a salary which is another form of exploitation in India. The employed woman does not get any exception from domestic work. After completing her office work, she has to manage her household work without getting paid for it.
Also, in India, it is inevitable that women take on a major part of the child-rearing responsibility. At the same time, employed women find themselves in a situation where they can spend their earnings only through their husbands. For women, becoming ‘self-reliant’ therefore means working in two places – at the office and at home.
According to a 2019 survey conducted by the National Statistical Organization (NSO), about 91.8 percent of women in the age group of 15 -59 years are engaged in unpaid domestic work. The survey has also shown that only 20.6 percent of men participate in the same kind of unpaid domestic work. Overall, in 2019, about 79.8 percent women over six years of age were engaged in unpaid domestic work. But among men, this is a measly 17.9 percent.
According to the NSO’s Time Use Survey -2019 conducted between January and December 2019, about 51.7 percent of men over six years of age are engaged in income-generating employment activities. Compared to this, only 18.3 women are engaged in income-generating employment activities. This is the first time that such a survey has been conducted in India. The survey was conducted to collect information about how those over six years of age spend their time with their families.
The participation of Indians in unpaid work is about 63.6 percent, and on an average, one person is engaged in unpaid activities for 289 minutes per day.
In rural areas, the participation of women in unpaid domestic work is 85 percent whereas, in urban areas, it is 81.7 percent. In the same range, the participation of men in domestic unpaid work is 47.8 percent in urban areas whereas it is about 17.7 percent in rural areas.
The study has also revealed that where the grown-up children devote a larger proportion of time to studies, their participation in domestic work is reduced. The survey participants in the age group of 6 -14 were engaged in domestic activities for about 430 minutes whereas 29.2 percent of those in the age group of 15 -29 were engaged in domestic work.
Overall, the survey reveals that society has handed over the responsibility of all unpaid domestic and livelihood related work to women and has institutionalized a way of life that men and children need not be part of such domestic activities.
Most importantly, society has decided that being ‘self-reliant’ means being paid for holding jobs outside homes and at offices. It reveals the state of the mind of people who consider earning a salary and engaging in domestic work in two different aspects. The survey has also revealed the contempt of the family towards work that does not generate income. Usually, only girls are taught household chores and boys are assigned the responsibilities of the outside world. Families don’t seem to have understood regardless of gender self-reliance includes cooking, washing, and managing everyday domestic work. That’s the reason why a majority of men depend on others for some of the most important activities.
For example, men are rendered helpless when it comes to carrying out important tasks such as cooking and managing their personal belongings and inevitably depend on women. Therefore, it is important that boys and girls are not differentiated right from childhood, and attempts are made to make them self-reliant. Both boys and girls should be taught to cook, clean vessels, manage their personal belongings, perform different domestic activities, and manage their homes. Only then would they be able to manage their families in their roles as husbands or wives. Men will then develop an attitude to regard and respect women who perform unpaid domestic work. Before women and their self-reliance, men’s life of self-reliance should be discussed. Families become stronger with men becoming self-reliant in domestic work.
After engaging in domestic, unpaid work, women lose opportunities to engage themselves in activities such as reading newspapers, participating in sports, and engaging in social activities due to societal prejudice that only those who earn salaries have the right to engage in such activities. If women work in offices or shops, men should manage at least half of their domestic responsibilities.
Otherwise, it would become another form of exploitation of women. The responsibility of child-rearing is both that of the woman and the man and if a husband and wife are well coordinated in this, life becomes smooth. As the saying, ‘home is the first school’, goes, managing families and children becomes significant and valuable more than earning salary through paid work. If men and women understand and internalize this and manage their life, families and society will be much better off.
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Shivakumar clarifies on Cartier watch, hits back at BJP leader
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday hit back at senior BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy and clarified with records on the expensive Cartier wristwatch he had submitted in the affidavit to Lokayukta.
Claiming that he is a "transparent person", he asked whether he or Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should not have the right to wear a watch of their choice.
His clarification came a day after Narayanaswamy, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, had questioned about the expensive watches.
"Mr Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, please take a moment to review the affidavit I submitted to the Lokayukta," Shivakumar said in a post on 'X', with documents of assets declared with Lokayukta on October 28, which mentions Rolex watch worth Rs 9 lakh and two Cartier watches worth Rs 23,90,246 and Rs 12,06,000 respectively.
The Deputy CM said, "As someone in a position of responsibility, speaking falsehoods for convenience is not only wrong but also undermines your (Narayanaswamy) integrity."
"I am a transparent person and have shared the truth openly. Do I, or even CM Siddaramaiah, not have the right to wear a watch of our choice? I urge you to refrain from making baseless remarks and exercise your constitutional authority wisely and responsibly," he said, adding that all the details are on record, and if the BJP leader wishes, he is welcome to visit the Lokayukta office and verify the affidavit himself.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar reportedly wore similar Cartier watches when the former visited the latter's residence for breakfast on December 2, and the opposition BJP has been critical of the expensive watches and has raised questions about it.
Pointing to reports that both the CM and Deputy CM were wearing expensive watches from the same company, Narayanaswamy on Thursday had accused Shivakuamar of not mentioning about the watches purchase to the Election Commission.
He said that Shivakumar's affidavit submitted to the Election Commission only mentioned a Rolex watch worth Rs 9 lakh and a Hublot watch worth Rs 23,90,246, but does not have any mention of a Cartier watch.
"Where have you (Shivakumar) declared a Cartier watch", the BJP leader had questioned while adding that the watch is currently valued at about Rs 47 lakh, including taxes.
Questioning whether the Cartier watch was stolen or purchased, Narayanaswamy accused Shivakumar of lying to the people by stating that he had purchased it using his credit card, and had demanded him to release the documents about the purchase.
The opposition leader, citing that the CM is a "watch lover", pointed out that Siddaramaiah, during his earlier tenure as CM, was embroiled in a controversy over a Hublot watch, which he had subsequently handed over to the Assembly secretariat, declaring it as state property.
Reacting to Shivakumar's post, Narayanaswamy on Friday, while stating that it is a well-known fact that the Deputy CM has the ability to buy and wear watches worth lakhs of rupees, asked him, "As you (Shivakumar), yourself have said, you have a Cartier watch that you bought 7 years ago, why did you not declare it in your 2018 and 2023 election affidavits?"
In a post on 'X', he said he has only put a legitimate question before Shivakumar to seek clarification. "It is up to you (Shivakumar) to answer in the right way or ignore it," he added.
Hitting back at Narayanaswamy, Shivakumar, speaking to reporters, said, anyone could check his Lokayukta affidavit and that he was ready to resign if he had lied. He also challenged the opposition leader whether he was ready to resign if proven wrong.
"Narayanaswamy lacks experience, I have filed (declaration of assets) before Lokayukta and wherever I have to. I have my watch with me. If I'm lying I'm ready to resign today itself. Is he ready? One should have basic common sense and should not speak just for publicity. I behave more responsibly than him. He should learn to work with responsibility. Let him go and see the Lokayukta affidavit that I have filed this year," he said.
