PETALING JAYA: At the professional level, a housewife can be referred to as a domestic engineer.
She is the cook, nurse, cleaner, teacher, laundry person and many more rolled into one.
If a value is ascribed to her services, she will probably earn more than the average person. Unfortunately, she does not receive a salary, there is no pension scheme for her nor is she entitled to health benefits, travel allowance or annual leave, making her the most under-appreciated professional.
Despite the lack of recognition for her worth, rights groups and economists now agree that a housewife actually contributes as much to economic growth as her peer who paces the factory floor or sits in a swanky office.
As a matter of fact, the United Nation had, in 2015, urged member states to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals 5.4, also known as the Global Goals, that recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work.
“This can be achieved by the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection as well as by promoting shared responsibility within the household and family,” according to founder and managing director of Engender Consultancy Omna Sreeni-Ong.
Engender Consultancy is a social enterprise that, among other things, advances gender equality.
Even if she has a paying job outside the home, a woman’s work is never done. Back home there are responsibilities that she also has to shoulder, such as seeing to the needs of the children.
“This doubles the burden on women.
“Unfortunately, this is a strongly entrenched culture that renders home care as the prerogative of women,” Sreeni-Ong said.
Ironically, this lack of recognition has not stopped many young women from quitting formal employment to devote time and energy to the children or to care for an infirm parent.
If the family cannot afford to go without her financial contribution, she is likely to opt for a flexible work arrangement that will enable her to juggle family responsibilities with professional demands, Sreeni-Ong said.
On the bright side, recognition for unpaid work as a critical contributor to the economy has begun to take root.
However, Sreeni-Ong said, to give it form, it would require a transformation that would challenge social norms, gender division of labour and women’s subordination to men in society.
“These gender responsive measures, if implemented holistically, can have a catalytic effect in addressing gender inequalities and enabling women’s full participation in the economy,” she said.
Independent economist Dr Baayah Baba believes that women engage in unpaid work at home for the sake of the children and the spouse.
While she agrees that a monetary value should be attached to such work, Malaysia does not seem ready for that quantum leap yet.
“We still do not have a way to value it, but perhaps it can be considered in the near future,” she told theSun.
Baayah agreed that attaching a value to housework would elevate the status of women. “These domestic engineers work just as hard as their peers in any formal sector so they should be recognised for their contribution to the family and, indirectly, the nation.”
One way to start is to look at how much it costs now to hire someone to take care of the children or do the household chores.
