The New Nation - Internet Edition

Taskina Yeasmin

Hasina Akhter Nainu, 32, a development worker, lives in Dhaka city's Khilgaon area. Her office hours are from 9 am to 5 pm. She has to wake up at 6 in the morning to do domestic works. Nainu is lucky as she gets help from her working husband, but only on holidays. Her husband also extends his helping hands on those days when he returns home early. He even does the cooking on weekends.

MA Hanif of Mirpur also shares household works with her working wife. First thing in the morning Hanif arranges is a rickshaw for the children to go to school. Then, he does some housekeeping. Although he and his wife do the weekly shopping together, Hanif does light shopping everyday. After returning home at night, he teaches the children. Hanif says his wife does 60 percent of the household works and he does the rest.

Most women in Bangladesh spend more time in household works. Conventional thinking is that earning money by men is more important than doing household errands by women. The financial or social worth of the labour exerted by women in domestic works is hardly taken into account.

Take the instance of Ishrat, a housewife of Kalyanpur. Her hubby barely does any household works. She says, "I do all the works from dawn to midnight cleaning his shoes, mopping floors and looking after children. He only does the shopping on his way back home. He can help me in household works if he wants to. But, his mentality is 'I'm a man. Why shall I do the domestic works'?"

Ihsrat goes on: "I work all day long. Despite that my mother-in-law complains that her son is not taken care of well. But she is not at all concerned about me. So, I think, first of all the change of mentality is essential."

In 1993, a United Nation report highlighted the contribution of women. It showed the market price of the products produced and consumed in families is US$ 16 trillion. Of this, women produce products worth US$ 11 trillion. It says 10-65 percent of the total products in the world are produced in domestic works done by women. But, this value is not calculated.

A UN survey in 1990 shows that the national income of a country will be increased by 30 percent if the cost of domestic works done by women is taken into account and included in it. Different studies in western countries on domestic labour show that 80 percent of the household works are done by women. In developing countries, women on average spend 7-9 hours on collecting water and firewood.

Another UN survey shows working women work 8 hours a week for only their husbands while the working husbands hardly work more than half an hour a week for their working wives. Working women have to spend 30 hours a week to look after families while non-working females have to spend 40 hours.

In Bangladesh, the discrimination between men and women in household works is even greater. Seventy-seven percent of women are considered as housewives and they spend 200 days a year in family activities. On the other hand, other members of the family spend only 100 days. The contribution of a female to domestic works is 64 percent while a male's contribution is 36 percent.According to a study by Hunger Project, 46 percent of the poor women work in different organizations, 60-70 percent work as farm labourers, while 80-90 percent garment workers are women. But, it is assumed that only 23 percent of the national income is earned by females.

Dr Gitiara Nasreen, a professor of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, says, "There is no doubt that both indoor and outdoor errands are imposed on women. Doing domestic work is a full-time job. Over the years the participation of women in outdoor activities has increased significantly. But, men have not come up to help their wives in domestic works. The participation of men in household activities is even decreasing."

She blames chauvinism for the discrimination between men and women in doing household works.

Fawzia Khanam, a teacher of Dhaka University's Women Studies, says, "It's actually a matter of social attitude. Our social norms are separating the works of men and women. Children are raised with an impression that boys will only work outside while girls will do the household works. We'll have to get rid of this impression."

She also says, "Then again we are imposing double burden on women in the name of freedom of women. Referring to women's economic freedom they are made to earn in addition to domestic works. To address this problem, we'll have to get out of the conventional male-dominated system. And, males will have to be more conscious in this regard. There should also be changes in legal, political and social systems. Women will have to come out of 'good wife or good wife role model'. If we move forward through understanding change is possible."

"These days men even cook food in some families. And it has been possible due to understanding," Fawzia added.

Shahin Rahman, director, Gender and Development Centre of Steps Towards Development, says, "Apart from being father and mother all works are replaceable. But, the male-dominated social system has created the division in doing household works. Men are not participating in the household works to the extent women are going out and taking part in development activities. As a result, an imbalance is being created. "

He further says, "Time is changing fast and the change in this conventional attitude is inevitable. If men don't come up to address the issue, there will be a conflict in the society. We'll have to free ourselves from this unjust labour sharing. The state can play a bigger role in this regard by creating various opportunities. The whole society should come forward to bring this change."

NewsNetwork

The world as an umbrella turned inside out by a powerful storm, while gripped by a dark almost diabolic-looking figure is the winning art work for the 16th International Children's' Painting Competition on the Environment it was announced today.

The work, by 12 year-old Charlie Sullivan of the United Kingdom, echoes to this year's theme of climate change under the slogan Melting Ice-A Hot Topic?

Miss Sullivan will be joined by the joint second prize winners - 12 year-old Ekaterina Nishchuk of Russia and 13 year-old Petkova Polina Zdravkova of Bulgaria - at the main World Environment Day (WED) celebrations hosted closed to the Arctic circle in the Tromso, Norway.

Miss Nishchuk was chosen for her witty image of a polar bear - the animal is seen standing under a hot sun, peeling off its white fur down to its trunks while atop a perilously small, wasted ice-berg.

Miss Zdravkova's painting is of a melting world, apparently dripping tears into the black abyss of space.

The global winners will be joined by Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and the competition's six regional winners at the Tromso Museum on 3 June.

The regional winners, also announced today, are:-

Asia and the Pacific, Angie Chan (China), 11 years old.

Africa, Guy Nindorera (Burundi), 12.

Europe, Maria Mykolaivna Oliynyk (Ukraine), 12.

Latin America and the Caribbean, Arvind Paragsingh (Suriname), 11.

North America, Juliana Wu (United States of America), 12.

West Asia. Ebtihal Ali Al-Shaikh Mohamed Mansoor (Bahrain), 13.

Miss Sullivan of Godalming Surrey, a keen recycler of household waste who has also ridden her pony to school to save emissions from the family car, said: "I would like to express by my painting the need for everyone to act as if climate change is happening now. My wish on our planet is that everyone would take global warming seriously and think how their actions could destroy our planet and its very fragile eco system".

The 16th International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment organized in cooperation with the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer AG and the Nikon Corporation, invited children to express their views about threats and solutions for Climate Change.

The Competition has been held annually since 1990 and in that time has received over 180,000 entries from children in over 100 countries. This year's competition was the biggest ever with 14,000 entries from 104 countries.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP's Executive Director, said: "Climate change is underway and will impact every corner and community of the planet. This generation is witnessing the early stirrings of extreme weather events, melting ice and other climatic manifestations. But it is the children who will witness in their lifetimes the largest impacts if the world does not move to address this challenge".

"The costs of acting now will be far less than the costs of delay. I would urge political leaders to see the world through the brush, pen strokes and paintings of these gifted children to ensure that these young peoples' fears are not realized and their hopes fulfilled," he added.

Tomoko Yano, Secretary General, Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), said:" The Earth Summit in Rio was held in 1992, when we held the first exhibition of the children's painting competition on the environment at the U.N. Headquarters in New York. The Summit's message was that nothing less than a transformation of our attitudes and behaviors would bring about the necessary changes".

"However, in these 15 years after the summit, the forests have still been reducing and the emission of the carbon dioxide has been increasing causing serious influences on the global climate. Now we sincerely hope that the children's impressive paintings will re-inspire people around the world and encourage them to get together to live out our common dream: Save Our Precious Planet".

While visiting Tromso, the children will learn more about the issues of climate change with experts in the field from the museum, Tromso University and the Norwegian Polar Institute.

The nine-winning paintings will also be exhibited at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo in addition to various venues in Japan, Germany, Norway, and other United Nations countries, as well as on the websites of the competition's organizers.

"The children's pictures are giving one common message to all other people: safeguard our planet Earth", said Werner Wenning, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG, and continues "We are very happy about the great popularity of the painting competition which is one of the important projects of Bayer's partnership with UNEP. Sustainable development is an integral element of Bayer's corporate policy and with our social commitment we strive to contribute to a good future for ourselves, our children and the coming generations."

Mamoru Kajiwara, Managing Director, Member of the Board and Senior Executive Officer at Nikon said: "Last year was the first year for us to support this competition. I still remember feeling awed by the magnificent paintings. Participant applications this year have drastically increased compared to last year. Perhaps this is because the children feel that climate change is something that closely affects them. The wonderful works of art at this competition will help urge people around the world to protect the global environment."

(Source:Unep)