Working at half-time
The debate over women's recently sanctioned right to request less work for less pay has begun.Reem Leila reports
Although stipulated among the articles of a law that has been on the books for years, women employees' right to work half-time for half-pay has never really been applied. Last week, however, the government announced that the scheme had been officially adopted as a panacea for working women's problems. The new policy, it was said, would help women balance out their work obligations and domestic duties.
Article 72 of Law 47 -- passed in 1978 -- states that women have the right to work half-time for half- salary, and receive half of their normal annual holiday allotment (other than official holidays). The 1981 amendment to the law also gave women the right to set their work schedules on weekly, monthly, or yearly bases. Although the law is nearly 25 years old, few governmental departments were applying it.
Recently, though, the cabinet issued decree 187 for the year 2000, which confirms that all public sector and government institutions are obliged to implement Law 47. According to Fahmi El-Bayoumi of the Ministry of State for Administrative Development, the decree is in accordance with the goals of the National Council for Women (NCW), which aims to improve women's welfare. "This law recognises women's role as care- givers for their families. The government is keen to reduce the burdens on working women should they opt to provide more time to care for their families," Bayoumi said.
Over the years, countless complaints have been submitted to concerned bodies by women who said the law was not being implemented by their superiors. Sonia Mounir Selim, an administrative employee at Ain Shams Specialised Hospital, was one of the women who had presented just such a complaint to the NCW. Today, she is ecstatic: "I have been trying for over a year to convince my bosses that I have the right to work half the time for half the payment, but nobody was even listening to me. Now, at last, I'll be exercising my rights, something I desperately need to do, since both my son and daughter are seriously ill, and I have to take care of them."
Not everybody is as happy, especially those who argue that women's work should be viewed more in terms of productivity and its contribution to both social development and modernisation. According to Iman Baibars of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW), "the government seems to think that women civil servants are unproductive. [This decision] seems to have been prompted by the government's desire to cut back on the cost of labour."
Baibars argued that "instead of dismissing employees, the state has concocted other measures: early retirement; leave without pay; and now, half-time work for half-pay for women. The government should realise that only by overhauling administration and management will women's work be productive, foster development, and promote modernisation."
According to the latest figures, families with women as the primary breadwinners constitute 22 per cent of all Egyptian households. "It was really wrong to issue this type of law in the first place," said Baibars. "How will these households survive on half the income? Who will go for it? Secretaries at private sector firms, or women operating machines in factories?"
Government officials are quick to emphasise that women are not being forced to work half-time for half-pay. "Benefiting from the law is optional and not obligatory," assured Bayoumi. "Women who don't want to apply for this type of work arrangement are free to do as they please. But those women who need to work half-time for half-pay also need to have a legal backing."
The same option is definitely not available for men, however. According to Bayoumi, this is because "most men would apply for half-time for half-pay so they could go and run their own private businesses, which would disturb the equilibrium of work. Women will only apply if they really need it."
