WHAT ABOUT EQUITY?

I love the school holidays, especially the summer holidays.

You are probably wondering if I am back in school as a student. Actually, the reason why I like school holidays is because I can also take a break from the additional school routine. The Christmas holidays will soon be here and I am looking forward to that too.

As I was typing, I remembered watching a social media video of a mother saying goodbye to her kids, on the first day of school, as they got onto the school bus.The minute the bus pulled away, the mother ran back into the house to turn up the volume of her favourite song and she didn't stop dancing energetically. It was a very funny video especially since the mother also had a broad smile on her face.

In that case the mother was happy the kids were back in school which was slightly different from my sentiments when schools re-open.

That actually dovetails into what I have been thinking about, which is the lack of equity.

The United Nations held the 4th World Women's conference in Beijing in 1975.The conference was held for Equality, Development and Peace. One of the results of that conference was that women were supposed to gain equal rights to men.

Prior to this conference, the United Nations also held three conferences on Women.The first was in Mexico City in 1975, the second in Copenhagen in 1980 and the third was held in Nairobi in 1985.

As I was growing up, I began to appreciate the numerous roles of women and the amount of work they actually carry out in their homes.

I saw a Mother's Day greeting card which had an endless list of roles/jobs of women, including doctor, teacher, nurse, seamstress, plumber etc. That card definitely buttresses my observation of the numerous roles which women 'endure.'

Let me add at this point that, I am not saying that men do not also carry out the same roles as women, but it would appear that a lot of women tend to do more than men in the home.

The point I want to make is that, I am inclined to believe that the outcome of the Beijing conference probably hasn't favoured a lot of women. This is because it appears that women took on additional work loads in the quest for equality.

It is true that women can do all the things which men can do as a result of 'equal rights.' However, our roles especially in the home, did not reduce proportionately to the amount of additional work we can now engage in.

What we have actually done is to add another ball to our 'juggling act.' For example if 'pre-Beijing conference' we were juggling three balls, now 'post-Beijing conference' we are juggling four or even five balls.

On the other hand, if there could possibly have been a redistribution of the workload between the genders 'post-Beijing conference,' then I think there would probably be equity in the workloads of women and men.

However, currently I do not think the Beijing conference has helped us in the way it should have in relation to equity in the overall workload.

Even though I am a woman, I am not writing this because I am a feminist. I always say we are human beings first before we are segregated based on gender. Therefore, I am sure I would make the same comments, if 'the shoe was on the other foot' and men found themselves in the same situation.

Equity is also necessary after addressing equality.

Therefore, hopefully there will be another milestone conference to find a way to address the 'additional weight' which is constantly tilting the scales and not favouring women.

(Graphic Design Copyright 2019 Sophia Asmah)