Hardships of Working Women

 Hardships of  Working Women

"Today, there is no field where the women have not shown their worth. From holding highest public office in bureaucracy to holding highest political position, the women have shouldered all kinds of responsibilities with grand success. A lot of change has taken place, in their position in this man dominated society. With this gradual transition from household life to working women the sufferings of women have increased manifold.'

During ancient days, women were adored and worshipped as goddesses. Our  country itself is called 'Motherland' in utter contrast to the 'Fatherland' of  some of the Western countries. In ancient times, several women occupied  distinguished positions in society and played very important roles. Maitreyi,  Lilawati, Gargi, Katyayani are some of the unforgettable names which can  neither wither nor become absolete. The women have been adored since time  immemorial as virtues incarnates. 

Saraswati is called the Goddess of Learning,  Parvati, the Goddess of Chastity, Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, Durga Kali,  the Goddess of Power and Energy. Manu, the great scholar said "Where women are worshipped there the deities are pleased". The women were the centre and  foundation of the social and cultural life of the family. Home was the women's  sphere of activity. 'Men make houses and women make homes' is the  traditional belief. The duties of woman were to bring up the children, and to  care for every member of her family with her loving and amiable nature which  she naturally possessed. It was the traditional faith that man is for the field  and woman for the home.  

With the political emancipation of India, the women of free India started  playing new roles. Today women enjoy equality of status and equality of  opportunity with men. She became financially independent, and economically  sound. She became the major decision maker, the policy maker in various new  fields. She ventured into outer fields, but the traditional views about her role  as home maker, about her so called sacred duties of mother, sister, wife, still  continue. Women are divided between their official work and home duties.  

Their duties start from early in the morning with many responsibilities on  their shoulders before going to office, like preparing break fast, lunch, getting  kids ready for school etc. During office hours she has to work equally hard or  say evenmore sincerely than her male counterparts. She has to fulfil her duties  at home even after office. Her pathetic position, working at home as well as at  office, is not admired, even by her husband or mother-in-law or father-in-law.  The support and co-operation if extended by her husband in household work is  at his sole discretion. A husband is seen making excuses for being over  burdened with work, down under pressure of official exigencies, but a wife is  expected to be found fresh and amiable all the time. Many men consider the  household work as the sole responsibility of women. They considers working at  home below their dignity and if they do some thing it is done as per their wish  and convenience.  

The working atmosphere in the offices, particularly, for a woman, is not so  congenial. Many of the male counterparts treat a woman an easy target for  fulfilling their sexual desires. The incidents of intentional touching, double  meaning dialogues, unwarranted comments, her private affairs are some of the  common ways which create a lot of irritation and make a woman unnecessarily  defensive. The incidents of one sided sexual advancement by the boss, staring  at her body parts, alluring her with quick promotion in return, are generally to  be faced by a working woman. With women entering into new fields, they are  more vulnerable to the dangers of eve-teasing, sexual harassment,  transfers, etc. 

 In the present male dominated, patriarchal society, people find it difficult to  accept a woman as an independent personality. In addition to the said  a woman is bound to play the traditional role of child bearing and  I hardships,  f child rearing. She can't desist from her role as a mother and as a wife. So  while performing these natural roles, sometimes she has to be out of office for a  long period which causes adverse effects on her career, though not openly but  in reality. One more peculiar problem, a woman faces is keeping the children  with her, in case her husband is transferred out of town, and she is unable to  Shift being a working woman, as children prefer to stay with the mother. Now  she has to play the role of hoth the parents and her duties are trebled.   

 The problems of a career woman are endless and peculiar and differ from  place to place, office-to-office and person to person. In this fast changing world,  particularly in view of roles being expected and played by a career woman, it is  necessary to find a suitable balance to save a career woman from her ever  increasing hardships.  

It has become irrelevant to talk that the traditional roles played by a  woman, was a better course. A woman with her own personality for becoming  more confident, financially independent, accepting any kind of challenge, she  can no longer remain under the illogical dominance of man.  

The situation demands effective measures to protect the working women in  their official environment from the lust and greed of male bosses and  colleagues. There is an urgent need to make new amendments to provide extra  legal teeth to IPC Section 292 (sale of obscene books), Section 293 (sale of  obscene objects to the young), Section 294 (obscene acts and songs) and to the  Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 sexual harassment  at workplace bill, 2010 and other relevant laws. Educational serials and  programmes must be launched to educate the society through audio and visual  media, so that the women could feel safe in their office and live peacefully with  dignity. Unless man's attitude towards woman changes any kind of law,  however, strict and stringent it may be, cannot change the conditions of  working women in our society. 

 Our society has been a male dominated society and the changes are  gradually taking place. With the changing times and absence of joint families  the financial independence of women is making the males absorb the change  slowly but gradually. The actions initiated by the government against  eve-teasing, sexual harassment of working women, have also brought about a  lot of favourable changes in the lives of working women. In spite of all the  hardships being faced by working women, it must be noted that women have  fought a great battle and are still fighting at their own end against the frights and hardships faced by them and have started getting remarkable success in  every field of life.