Treatment of Women at Work - Are We Moving Forward or Backward as Society

Many years ago, the idea of women working outside the house was considered an alien concept. From the moment a girl was born, she was raised purely for the sake of maintaining a functional family unit. While marriage has always been a beautiful concept, for a girl, it became a burden from the moment she reached puberty.

Initially, the very purpose of a woman’s existence was tied simply to child-bearing purposes and nothing more. Today, things have significantly changed for women all over the world, including in Pakistan. Or have they? Here’s what you need to know about whether we, as a society, have actually moved forward or backward in terms of equality.

Women & Their Conjugal Roles

There’s nothing wrong with women choosing to stay at home and raise a family. In fact, there is immense pride to be taken in raising the future generation as a 24/7 job without getting any form of compensation for it.

But ask anyone and you’d know that the idea of a fully functional family involves a working woman saying no to any career advancement opportunities. Is it the same for fathers parenting a child? We can’t say.

Have you ever wondered why that’s the case? Perhaps because for the longest time, women were associated with the four walls of the house. But now that things have changed, there is another problem that has emerged. Women who choose to stay at home and raise a family are considered inadequate because they’re not earning alongside it.?

The Double Standards

The role of a father is vital to a stable family life. Children who come from dysfunctional family setups always face the brunt of it, whether it’s immediately or later on in life. It negatively affects their personality, psychological wellbeing, confidence, self-esteem, functioning and much more.

You may have noticed that when a man becomes a father and he comes across a better job opportunity or is promoted at his job, he isn’t expected to give up that opportunity simply because of his now-growing family. Mainly because the expectation that his wife will take care of the child and the household is already in place. ?

Have We Really Progressed?

Conversations revolving around women’s rights have long been taking place. Undoubtedly, it’s a step up from the time when discussing these issues was not even considered important. But what’s the ground reality like? ?

We tend to assume that everything is equal in the workplace. But the moment a woman bears a child, she’s told that a promotion isn’t for her as she has a family to run. Many women have also stated that their managers deliberately refused to promote them despite having exceeded their expectations, simply because they were in family way.

All in all, there is still a lot of work to be done with regards to understanding that men should also be encouraged to “take one for the team” rather than expecting the women to always be there.