Obligations, disguised as rights

[aquila_black]

I was reading an interesting article a couple of days ago in Arab News, the less tendentious of two English language newspapers in Riyadh. Here's the crux of it:

"With Saudi Arabia's changing economic environment, higher costs of living, inflation, and a population of over 25 million -- over 50 percent of whom are women -- women's participation in the workforce is no longer a social issue; it is an economic one. Single income families can no longer afford to accommodate the needs and wants of an average-sized family."

Hmm.

Comments

[rubyprism]

Oh, what fun. So they can be expected to take care of their family and be good housekeepers and all those other domestic things, and have to work.

...I wonder how the "needs and wants" balance, whether it's really need or whether it's excessive want. It's amazing how hugely one's idea of what is fair and reasonable to materially want can shift depending on one's economic circumstances. Perhaps if the family didn't expect to keep up with X class of fancy stuff, they would be better able to accommodate it. I don't know the first thing about Saudi Arabia's economy, but I know about drastically changing personal economic expectations.

[kyanve_te_shirhan]

Ironically, IIRC, this sort of thing was a contributing factor to the women's suffrage movement around WWII in the US - a lot of the men were overseas, women ended up taking up jobs to support the family/help out, and when the war was over, they didn't really care for the idea of going back to just staying in the home.

[aquila_black]

Paid work is recognized by society at large as something valuable, in sharp contrast to, say, making food or raising kids. So being able to do jobs that defined men as worthwhile and important was probably validating, in the short term. What really isn't, though, is going from being discoraged from getting paid work ... to being unable to support a family without a second income. That actually sets women back, because they're still disproportionately expected to keep the relationships / home life / etc. in working order. They're just looked down upon, now, if they don't also make money.