ARGENTINA:
Inequality for Women
Begins at Home
By
Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES,
(IPS) - For the first
time, a woman is the
favourite to win
presidential elections
in Argentina, but gender
equity in the home is
lagging way behind. A
government study
indicates that seven out
of 10 men do not help
with the housework.
"In every country, even
Scandinavian ones, the
core at the heart of
gender inequality is
responsibility for
domestic work, and
Argentina is no
exception," sociologist
Eleonor Faur, consultant
on women’s issues for
the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP),
told IPS.
"The difference is that
more developed countries
have strong, specific
state policies to
gradually change gender
stereotypes," she said.
For example, they have
generous maternity and
paternity leave for
mothers and fathers,
public daycare provision
and all-day schooling.
However, in Argentina
"the model of the man
being the breadwinner
and the woman being in
charge of the home is
solidly rooted in
tradition, and is fed by
social, economic,
political and cultural
structures," Faur said.
And unless there are
changes at the public
policy level, it will be
difficult to make
progress in the private
sphere, she said.
One of the main
instruments for
transferring state
resources to vulnerable
sectors is the Family
Programme for Social
Inclusion, which
provides for mothers of
young children who are
unable to work outside
the home. "This tends to
reinforce inequality in
the distribution of
responsibilities," the
expert said.
According to the
household survey carried
out by the National
Statistics and Census
Institute (INDEC), seven
out of 10 men living in
Buenos Aires admit that
they do not participate
in domestic work --
cleaning the house,
preparing food and in
some cases caring for
children or the elderly.
Men’s lack of commitment
to these
responsibilities
contrasts with the
widespread public image
of Argentina in recent
weeks, showing Senator
Cristina Fernández,
President Néstor
Kirchner’s wife, way
ahead in the voting
intention polls for the
October elections, and
on tour in Spain and
Mexico.
Statistics on how
household work is
distributed were
gathered for the first
time in the household
survey for 2006, and
were included in the
Argentine chapter of the
International Labour
Organisation (ILO)’s
Global Report 2007:
Equality at Work. But
this information has not
reached a wide audience
because the information
is only available by
subscription.
Faur said she did not
know why INDEC had
included the question
about domestic work in
their questionnaire, but
she said it was an
important decision
because it gives
visibility to the unpaid
work women do in the
home.
"It’s a step forward, at
least conceptually,
because the fact that
women are more active in
the labour force doesn’t
mean that the burden of
responsibility for
household tasks is
shared more equally,"
the sociologist said.
In Faur’s view, women
have been able to arrive
at positions of
political power partly
because a quota law
forced political parties
to put women candidates
forward for elected
posts. "But without
proactive policies aimed
at changing things
within the home, it is
unlikely that matters
will progress under
their own steam," she
said.
Argentine women’s
participation in the
labour market has
increased sharply,
although not always for
the best reasons. In
some cases this was due
to access to higher
levels of education, but
in others, women went to
work because of the
economic crises, and had
to take informal or
precarious jobs.
In 1980, the employment
rate for women over 14
years old was 32
percent. By 2001, the
last year for which
INDEC has figures, it
had climbed to 42
percent. However,
studies show that women
spend an average of two
hours a day more than
men on housekeeping
tasks, even though they
are going out to work as
well as the men.
"Reproductive work" --
the repetitive household
tasks necessary for
survival -- is not
included in national
accounting systems.
However, the Equis
polling firm estimated
that if women who wash
clothes, iron, cook and
carry out the rest of
the household tasks were
paid, they would
contribute 16 percent of
the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP).
In addition, nearly 15
percent of wage-earning
women work as domestics,
especially in households
where the woman is
employed outside the
home.
Lawmaker Marcela
Rodríguez of the
centre-left Alternative
for a Republic of Equals
(ARI), which is also
fielding a female
candidate in the
presidential elections,
proposed a reform to the
civil code in late 2006:
that the marriage law
should include a
commitment to shared
responsibility for
household duties.
But not only did the
draft law not succeed,
it triggered a flood of
mockery, prejudice and
criticism from the
media, interviewers as
well as interviewees.
Distinguished journalist
Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú,
well-known for her
career in radio, called
on Deputy Rodríguez to
leave such "nonsense"
aside, and legislate on
"important issues."
"What progress is there
to speak of? I don’t see
any progress," Ana von
Rebeur, writer and
cartoonist, told IPS.
She is the author of "Superpoderosas:
Madres, esposas y
laburantes" (Superwomen:
Mothers, Wives and
Workers) among many
other books in which she
addresses with irony and
humour the travails of
women who choose to be
mothers while continuing
to develop other aspects
of their lives.
"Women who work all day
depend on the slavery of
another woman who does
the housework for them,
so I don’t see where
progress comes into it,"
she said. In von
Rebeur’s view, domestic
chores are thankless
tasks. "They’re unpaid,
they don’t give you the
chance to shine
socially, they’re not a
topic of conversation,
and as soon as they’re
over, they’re ruined
(and you start again)."
It is hard to break the
stereotype, and even
harder if it is socially
endorsed, she said.
"It’s branded on our
collective imagination.
Look at a toy store,
where there are
miniature pink irons,
stoves, and vacuum
cleaners," she said, or
look at the
advertisements of women
surrounded by detergents
and washing powders.
Many women who work
outside the home say
that the men they
appreciate most in
relation to family life
are those who "share"
domestic work, or who
"help out" with the
children, but such a
vague way of referring
to examples of men
taking on more domestic
responsibilities is not
sufficient for experts.
The idea of the "new
man" who lovingly
changes nappies "is a
new gender myth. It
happens only with some
men, in some families,
and not all the time or
everywhere," said Faur
in a report on gender
and human rights she
co-authored with Natalia
Gherardi.
"Men subtly put over the
idea that domestic
chores are women’s work
with that dreadful
phrase: ‘I help out at
home.’ What would happen
if a woman said: ‘I help
out at home?’" said von
Rebeur. "People would
say, ‘Poor husband!’ or
‘How terrible, what a
state her house or her
kids must be in!’" she
said, answering her own
question. |
