Two Press notes landed in our email last week and their addressing of diverse roles played by women was a sort of eye-opener.
One talked about women in the GCC increasingly taking charge of their own financial well-being, investing independently and building a varied portfolio of stocks.
The other was from a local telecoms company and welcomed the start of the new school year, announcing that employees would be given flexi-time options to drop off and pick up children from school.
To me, these two news items help to shape the new perception of women and men. While the independent and educated woman of the GCC is stepping into the regional and international stock market, new (admittedly baby steps) moves for both parents to share parenting responsibilities. Those old tropes of mothers rushing from work to pick up kids and ferrying them all over town for various extra-curricular classes is slowly giving way to dads also stepping into the schedule.
Or so I hope. A chat with an HR friend shows that while companies, with good intent, allow their male and female employees to take time off for family duties, the truth is that women still carry the larger share of the familial burdens. If a child takes ill or hurts herself in the school playground, it’s usually the mother who is expected to drop that important corporate appointment and rush to the rescue. In any case, fathers are seen as slightly slow to adapt – I think paternity leave in Bahrain is just one day. That’s hardly enough time for an emergency diaper re-stock!
Meanwhile, women have a new responsibility thrust upon them. It’s nothing new but has to be fitted into the millennial scenario of nuclear families and working couples – the care of the elderly.
Bahrain has yet to figure out how best to accommodate the care of its growing elderly and geriatric population. Without elder care homes, many elderly parents do find that their quality of life is reduced since a full-time carer is expensive and, in any case, not trained to keep the elderly occupied with a proper grid of mentally, emotionally and physically stimulating tasks. This is something the daughter, daughter-in-law or sister is expected to fit into her life schedule.
Still the news of the women investors increasing in activity and number is good – it is a slow shift from the picture of highly capable women often handing over financial decisions, big and small, to their spouses. Like men entering the ring for parenting duties, women seeking financial independence is something we must nurture.
The question lies ahead – where do we go from here?
Are we going to be satisfied with these tiny achievements or are we going to aim for larger improvements?
There is talk among Bahrain’s legislators, for example, to increase the number of days off for fathers from one to three. It barely scratches the surface of the matter of fatherhood.
Like tackling plastics pollution, the clock is ticking in these matters and we need an aggressive game-plan to win this round … for ourselves and for future generations.
meeraresponse@gmail.com
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