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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Half time, half pay
By Amina Shafiq *
A new scheme that will enable women to work half time for half pay has been adopted by the government as the panacea for working women's problems. The new policy, it is said, will help women manage both their domestic chores and their work obligations. Women's work, however, must be viewed in terms of productivity and its contribution to social development and modernisation. The majority of poor urban and rural women start working at an early age, putting aside money they will use to set up house. Once married, they quit work and devote themselves to their family. Then some mishap catapults them back onto the market: a husband's death, divorce or abandonment. Under such conditions, women will need a full-time job at full wages.
The government has only to refer to its own statistics, based on the most recent census figures, to discover that 22 per cent of Egyptian households are headed by women bread-winners. How will these households survive on half the income? Who will accept the new scheme: secretaries in private-sector firms, or the women operating machines in factories?
The government seems to have been prompted by its desire to cut back on staff and spending, and by its belief that women civil servants are unproductive. Instead of dismissing some employees, both men and women, the state has concocted other measures: early retirement, leave without pay, and now half time for half pay. The government should realise that, if administration and management are overhauled, women's work will be productive, foster development and promote modernisation. Instead of training civil servants to optimise their productive capabilities, it has taken a measure to perpetuate their idleness.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a senior writer at Al-Ahram.
