MEN MUST SHARE HOUSEHOLD WORK

Women from all over India meeting in Kerala in April 1984 asserted that: "We need to redefine the roles of men and women within the family. We need to emphasize the role of father in addition to the role of mother. The entire burden of childcare and household work should not fall on women alone. The involvement of men in sharing household work and bringing up children will give them an opportunity to be tender, creative, and more human... We want men to be like women rather than the other way round." This statement is part of the summary of the Workshop on Women, Work and Employment at the Second National Women's Studies Conference on the theme of Gender Justice. More than five hundred women researchers and activists participated in the Conference. A few men from groups such as Men Against Violence Against Women were also present. Caste, class, and the attitude to women's work were major issues discussed in the workshop. Considerable debate revolved around the fact that both society's perception of women's work and women's own internalization of those norms is conditioned by sex-biased educational material and its reinforcement by the media.

Many studies were presented on rural women and their work in agriculture and in the home. Industry and technology were also discussed. The need to integrate problems of women workers such as occupational hazards, transport, shift timings, creche facilities and sexual harassment was emphasized. Many speakers gave instances of trade union apathy to women's problems.

Women's rights organizations and class organizations working at grass roots level are a must for achievement of economic demands, was the consensus of the workshop. At the same time these organizations cannot ignore issues like wife beating, alcoholism, dowry-bride price, and sexual harassment at the work place. Our view of economic issues should not be too narrow. "We also need to look at phenomena such as the media which creates an ideology in society, which perpetuates stereotypes about women and thus influences politics."

The women affirmed the need for "a harmonious marriage between research and action. There should not be exploitative relations between the researcher and action group. Researchers must provide feedback and must be concerned in the development of action groups. This only, will help to prevent subject-object relationships between the two." This was the general feeling not only of the participants of this workshop but of all the participants at the Conference, which included, in addition to the more than 500 Indian women, a few participants from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh and observers from a number of international organizations including Isis International.

The Conference which was organized by the Indian Association for Women-'s Studies (lAWS) and held at the University of Kerala in Trivandrum in the south of India was an impressive demonstration of the strength and vitality of the women's movement in India today.

For more information on lAWS contact Dr. Vina Mazumdar, lAWS, c/o Centre for Women's Development Studies, B43, Panchsheel Enclave, New Delhi 100 017, India.

Report by Isis International, represented at the Conference by Marilee Karl.