Gender Issues
In general, when considering third world
countries, most would say that they have
some very similar characteristics.
Third world countries are often thought of as
places that are impoverished,
have significantly high birthrates, are
economically dependent on advanced
countries, and have not evolved socially in
regards to equal rights issues.
Although many of these characteristics do apply
to Sri Lanka, the latter has
definitely evoked some discussion on the topic of
gender issues in
underdeveloped countries. Issues such as decision making in the
household,
educated women and their role in society, and attitudes towards women
in
employment will be discussed. As stated earlier, most would agree that from
a
distant perspective Sri Lanka would seem to be socially underdeveloped
in
regards to equal rights. One way that this misconception is debunked is
by
looking at the roles of male and female in the household. There are
many
variables to take into consideration when looking at roles of family
members and
who has the balance of power; for instance, if the wife is
working or not could
be considered at both ends of the scale. If she is
working than her husband may
feel that because she is making a financial
contribution she has more of a right
to make important economic decisions
that may effect the family. On the other
hand he may feel as though her being
away from the children is a detriment to
their upbringing, and in turn is
placing a burden upon the family leaving the
wife with few domestic
decisions. Another variable that has to be considered is
if the residence is
with the husband's family or if it is with the wife's
family. In this case
one would assume that whichever house was being resided in
would have the
balance of the say towards family decisions. The last variable
that will be
considered is that of marital duration. Does a longer marriage
necessarily
mean that the financial and domestic decisions of the household will
become
split evenly between the husband and wife? The answers to these
questions
were the focus of a study conducted by Anju Malhotra and Mark
Mather in 1992.
The study showed that when the wives were working,
regardless of whether or not
they shared their wages or kept them, they had
an increase say on financial
matters. However, the domestic decisions were
not nearly as great, especially if
the wages earned by the wife were kept for
herself (Malhotra et al. 1997: 620).
When looking at the balance of power
in regards to household arrangement, the
study found that the wife had almost
no say on financial matters when living at
the husband's parents house but
did have some say on domestic issues. The
opposite it true for when the
family resided at the wife's parents house. The
wife typically had a
significant say on financial and domestic matters with the
latter outweighing
the two (Malhotra et al. 1997: 620). As far as marital
duration is concerned,
it seems as though as the family grows together there is
somewhat of a role
reversal. The husband becomes more concerned with domestic
matters and the
wife takes some responsibility for the financial decisions (Malhotra
et al.
1997:620). These findings led my research group to believe that the
people of
Sri Lanka are generally very similar to those of western societies in
regards
to household decisions. Education is not something we think about
when
speaking about developing countries, many assume that it is just not an
option
for underprivileged people. Although that is the unfortunate truth
that effects
many third world countries, it does seem that Sri Lanka is on
its way to
recovering itself For many years the gender gap between male
and female
scholars needed to be decreased. In the early 1980's the
percentage of the total
amount of people with university degrees that were
women was barely above 40%. A
more alarming fact might be that the percentage
with post-graduate degrees was
barely above 25% (Ahooja-Patel K. 1979: 217).
The majority of women pursuing a
degree usually did so in the fine arts
category or the education and teacher
training fields, many staying away from
disciplines such as business or
engineering. Although these numbers may seem
staggering Sri Lanka has shown some
promise in terms of social welfare.
Programs are now in place to encourage
female education and to decrease the
inequalities women face today. In the early
1990's the gender gap between
literate males and females was only a 5%
difference (Malhotra et al. 1997:
602). Many believe that the more westernized
Sri Lanka becomes the more
independent the thoughts and wills of women will
expand, creating a country
of little inequality. Women in the work force today
in western society face
many barriers; this is after years of trying to refine
the social economic
status of women. In Sri Lanka, because of its poor economy,
employers may
have actual complaints that may affect the profitability of their
business.
In general in Sri Lanka, men are usually preferred over women as
employees.
Some employers complain that because of the possibility of the need
for time
off to bear children that it may disrupt the flow of the work force.
Many
men could feel as though women were being treated with undeserved
favoritism,
which could cause conflict. Others feel that the financial burden of
having
to install proper facilities to accommodate women could create too much
of a
loss that they would not be able to overcome it. The topic of
most
discussions seems to revolve around the Maternity Amendment Act of 1978,
which
states that women workers are entitled to six weeks maternity leave
with pay. It
also states that they are allowed two nursing breaks of one hour
each or two
breaks of one half hour each when a day care center is available
(Ahooja-Patel
K. 1979: 219). Women cannot, under the law, be fired for
any reason that stems
from them being pregnant. An unfortunate fact that is
slowly being eradicated is
that many women are just not qualified for the
jobs that are available in Sri
Lanka. Because of the gender gap in
education and training that has plagued Sri
Lanka for years this trend
will surely continue until the inequality has
subsided. In many ways Sri
Lanka has come very far in terms of gender equality
when discussing kinship
and education. However, women's economic situation has
shown to be less
favourable. The people of Sri Lanka acknowledge that women have
a place in
the work force but financially cannot accommodate them. Until the
economic
growth of Sri Lanka can develop further, people will continue to have
the
'survival of the fittest' kind of attitude, which will continue to
alienate
and repress the women or Sri Lanka.
Bibliography
1.
Ahooja-Patel, Krishna. 1995. Employment of Women in Sri Lanka:
the
Situation in Colombo. p. 213-233. 2. Baker, Victoria, J. 1998. A
Sinhalese
Village in Sri Lanka: Coping with Uncertainty. 3. Cisneros,
Susana, P. 1995.
Supporting Women in the Informal Sector: A Peruvian
Experience. p. 159-186. 4.
Malhotra, Anju., M. Mather. 1997. Do Schooling
and Work Empower Women in
Developing Countries? Gender and Domestic
Decisions in Sri Lanka. p. 599-627. 5.
Perera, Lakshmi. 1995. Women in
Micro- and Small-Scale Enterprise Development in
Sri Lanka. p.
101-116.