In Bangladesh, the collective mind-set of the people has been through numerous progressive changes. Today, generally a working man prefers a working woman, and recognises a marriage that stands strong on the contribution of both the partners. Women have more decision-making power, more individuality, and a sense of self-actualisation. Yet, various problems still persist which, instead of empowering women, hinder their chance to explore their full potential.
For the younger, more aware generation, the idea of marriage has evolved. They embrace a marriage that shares responsibility, both emotionally and financially. A lot of these “young people” marriages consist of both partners contributing to the workforce and focusing on their respective careers.
Our society has embraced the concept of shared financial responsibility to some extent. Yet, the patriarchal hold persists, preventing men from helping with household tasks or caring for children. While women are single-handedly expected to care for the household responsibilities, men undergo extreme pressure to provide financial security. With gender roles strictly defined, our society is still reluctant to open its mind when it comes to the equal sharing of perceived gender-specific responsibilities.
Marriage still, largely, defines the role of a woman in our society. And, due to a lack of mental and physical support, many women with promising careers resign from work, unable to cope with family and work-life simultaneously. As a result, the work-force ends up with a scarcity of women in leading positions.
In a typical family where both the parents are working, the day will end with the mother taking care of the household tasks, preparing the next day’s meals, and caring for the children after arriving from work. Evidently, while we understand the importance of women’s empowerment, we seem to have overlooked how to actually implement it.
Similarly, men are expected to be the sole bread-earners. The lack of sharing of responsibilities in the different spheres of life is what births and enhances power struggles and dominance between the sexes. If men are expected to take charge of the household tasks, women must also share the financial burdens. One must simply facilitate the other.
Our society has come a long way and it still has a long way to go. We have realised the benefits of a progressive marriage that is defined by each partner’s independence, decision-making power, and shared responsibility. Yet, we fail to see it in practice, the sharing of responsibilities designated to only certain aspects of a marriage.
It is high time that our mind-set broadened to allow a marriage that shares the emotional aspects, financial responsibilities, and the duties that come with family life. This enables the division of work in a marriage, be it emotional, financial, or simply taking care of the household chores or the children.
A commendable fraction of the workplace is represented by women. Over the last decade, development work, better HR policies, change in societal mind-set, and awareness programs have all worked together to bring forth this change. The fraction of the change, however, is still a meager one and we must strive to include more women in the workforce, participating and taking on responsibilities.
Marriage is a relationship that should not restrict or constrain but should, through the partner’s support, facilitate an easier life. For this to work, we need more men willing and enthused enough to participate in perceived female-specific responsibilities, and we need more working women who share the financial burden. This will without doubt enable a rise in independent women contributing to the workforce and a society that does not emphasise on gender-specific roles, allowing its participants to live as they wish, independent and strong.
