Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 10. May 22, 1974

A woman's job?

A woman's job?

This means firstly, a recognition by the male sector of our society that the raising of children is not solely a woman's responsibility. The raising of and fulltime caring for small children must be seen as a community responsibility where the men must participate equally with the woman. The biological function of women is to give birth to and suckle a child. But it has never been clear as to why many believe that it is also a woman's biological function to raise that child, almost entirely by herself, for the next fifteen years. In fact it should be realised that raising a child beyond the small infant stage is not a women's biological function. It is rather a social tradition that is conveniently encouraged by an economic system whose profit motives supercede any concern for the well being of the community at large. It is ironic that as this present time of labour shortage in New Zealand there exists a mass of housebound women who could participate in the work force if they so desired. But this rejected source of labour cannot become a part of this paid male-dominated work force while there is no adequate provision of child care centres. In time if the labour shortage becomes more acute, capitalist firms may attempt to set up their own creches in order to attract the housewife and mother. But the woman's position is not alleviated. She is, often, still the unpaid housewife and baby minder after hours. Futher more, she is taking on a dual responsibility...that of taking part in the means of production as well as continuing to take the responsibility for finding care for her children while she works. It is a decadent economic structure which can only alleviate human needs within its own greedy definitions, and it is a decadent government that does not even seem interested in the alleviation of the child-care need, for all its possible economic advantages.