LD FEB UI Researcher Offers Tips for Career Women for Dealing with WFH Dilemma
Hana Fajria –FEB UI Public Relations Officer
DEPOK – news.detik.com on Wednesday (26/8/2020) published an article about the research conducted by Demography Institute, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LD FEB UI) researcher Rihlah Romdoniah. Below is the complete article.
Academician Offers Tips for Career Women for Dealing with WFH Dilemma
The large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) have been extended in the capital city, affecting workers as the work from home (WFH) policy was tightened after COVID-19 clusters were detected in offices.
It’s possible that working from home has become run-of-the-mill for some workers. With time, remote working is considered nothing more than just shifting the workplace from office to home. However, it turned out that WFH has a different meaning for career women who are married and have children.
LD FEB UI researcher Rihlah Romdoniah said that for married women with children, working from home means “performing the main role of women and doing office work simultaneously”.
This is worsened by the fact that schools and child and baby daycare centers are closed and family gatherings are banned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So far, societal attitudes toward women, particularly in Indonesia, are based on a traditional division of genders. People still believe that women’s given role is as wife and mother,” she said in a written statement from the National Population and Family Planning Agency (Badan Kependudukan dan Keluarga Berencana Nasiona, BKKBN) , Thursday (17/9/2020).
Rihlah said that a working woman is expected to play a dual role as woman and worker.
Rihlah cited a study conducted by Diahhadi Setyonaluri of LD FEB UI, which showed that women workers in Jabodetabek, particularly in Jakarta, feel burdened by their dual role as worker and mother.
“Working mothers do not have the freedom to choose and quite a few end up giving up their jobs for the sake of their family,” she said.
According to Rihlah, data from the 2019 National Labor Force Survey showed that the participation rate of Indonesian women aged 15 years and older in the job market was 55.5%. This means most Indonesian women aged 15 years and older are economically active.
“Thus, the traditional division of genders is no longer relevant,” she added.
Rihlah said that playing the dual role of wife and mother is a burden to women. The WFH policy has only increased their burden as it means they have to multitask.
“The condition means working mothers cannot perform their office tasks optimally,” she said.
Rihlah quoted Becker (1965), who said in his classic study A Theory of the Allocation of Time that every individual allocates time for work or other activities. A decision to work is basically a decision about how to spend one’s time.
“Every individual spends whatever time left for leisure activities, such as social and cultural activities, dealing with household matters, taking care of the children or going on holiday while pursuing their hobby. The theory has been proven empirically in various studies that show that support from family members is important in increasing women’s participation in the job market,” she said.
According to Rihlah, the theory is still relevant in today’s condition, with many women still working remotely. The fact that schools and child and baby daycare centers are closed, and family gatherings are banned, can increase their daily domestic responsibilities.
“This has taken up the time working mothers dedicate to their office work because they have to perform domestic tasks and take care of their children who would otherwise have been engaged in activities outside the home,” she said.
Ideally, extra work is compensted with extra time for working mothers. However, Rihlah said such a thing is impossible bcause there are only 24 hours in a day.
“This means working mothers need extra time contributed by family members who help them perform their dual role as mother and wife,” she said.
Rihlah cited as an example husbands who spend their leisure time taking care of the children, allowing their wives to do their office work optimally. This will be even more effective and benefit the family because despite the limited time, both the husband and wife could still perform their office tasks.
Thus, family income is maintained because everybody get to keep their working hours.
“Gender equity can be defined as equal employment opportunity for men and women and equal rights as human beings to participate in all fields of activity. Gender equality is more than just equality in status and position beteween women and men but is also equality in the role of men and women,” she said.
Rihlah also admitted that in Indonesia, gender equality is still limited to women’s right to education. Gender equality does not necessarily mean that women and men are equal.
The concept means that the rights, responsibilities and opportunities for women and men will not depend on whether they are born male or female.
“Unfortunately, not all aspects of life such as division of domestic responsibilities are equal for men and women. The division of role is still done based on the traditional division of gender roles with women expected to perform all domestic chores and taking care of the children,” she said.
Women’s role in family is often seen as part of their nature, a given. This is a misconception because the role of women is limited to childbearing, birthing and breastfeeding.
“Those are natural tasks because they cannot be transferred to men,” she said.
Rihlah revealed that during the current work-from-home period, every male member of a family can see women’s heavy workload. Working mothers must do domestic chores and office work simultaneously.
In fact, gender equality means that women and men share domestic responsibilites equally between them.
“Husbands should not feel uncomfortable taking over the washing or ironing and other chores,” she added.
Rihlah expected remote working could create a momentum for society to reflect on whether equal division of domestic work has been achieved. Working remotely from home while doing house chores is not easy.
“There should be a general agreement between working mothers/wives and husbands/fathers or other family members on the division of domestic responsibilities. This is the only way to ensure women perform their office work optimally while doing their domestic responsibilities,” she concluded. (hjtp)
Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5177297/dilema-wfh-bagi-perempuan-karier-ini-saran-akademisi
(lem)