Daily Times

A notification issued by Punjab’s Higher Education Department in September 2015 regarding the working hours of the teaching staff in all colleges is still applicable. According to the notification, college teaching interns of the morning shift, lecturers, assistant professors and associate professors are bound to mark their attendance at 8 a.m. sharp, and cannot leave the premises of their respective colleges before 2 pm, during which time they are supposed to sit idle on the sofas of staffrooms if they are done with taking their classes.

This injunction is for both the male and female teaching staff, and the possible reasons behind its implementation have supposedly been compliance with western education touchstone, providing adequate ground for paying their salaries, and taking equal amount of work from the teaching staff as is delivered by those siting in offices, such as government secretariats. Given our country’s current scenario, our province’s existing state of affairs, the prevailing social practices, and economic standing of the working class, I have just one question: how big is it a crime to be a working woman in this ‘rotten state’?

The world today advocates feminism. Women belonging to this part of the world are often accused of taking advantage of this movement aimed at earning equal rights for them as well as playing the woman card as is suited according to the issue at hand. Though this doctrine is considered to be an ideal operative system by the flag bearers, not many women here are able to enjoy the prerogative owing to our social structure. Though a fraction of female population enjoys working and spending their salaries according to their will, the majority simply strives to win bread for their families. Though a few women need these jobs merely to prove themselves and gain recognition, the lion’s share is left with no other choice but to work as they are made to realise the worth of their degrees and are encouraged to follow the footsteps of feminists. Though some women get to relish its privileges, many are used at the hands of men of our society who brush their responsibilities off their shoulders in the name of feminism.

Satisfaction is seldom received from being a government servant; those who take employment as a mode of pleasure often choose to find employment in private sector. The reason is simple: the difference in salaries, facilities and working environments offered by both. Within the government sector exists gradation in terms of these parameters. Those working in offices are definitely given higher salaries, many more facilities, including cars and government residences, and better working conditions, which include UPS-powered fans and bulbs. On the contrary, female teaching staff is paid much lesser for their services that they render to students in shabby and sweltering classrooms. Despite all the assurances and reassurances by government officials of providing humane milieu, the reality is clashingly different; usually the principal’s office and the main staffroom are the only two places that are supplied with electricity through UPS or generators during power cuts. The entire teaching staff is not allowed to step in, and clearly cannot fit in the two rooms, in any case).

Be that as it may, our women continue to work in deplorable conditions to fulfil the wishes of their children; yet sometimes they have to rub out a few immediate expenses from the to-do lists. With a lecturer being given an average basic salary of Rs 35,000, and at least 50 percent of the salary being spent in paying off utility bills, these lady breadwinners are left with no choice but to work at more places, such as tuition centres. Well, they are not left with any time and energy to look for other sources of income, thanks to school-like working hours.

One purpose of issuing such a notification may be to put a halt on the tuition culture. The directorate says that the root cause is being targeted; however, little do they realise that this is equivalent to only cutting off the shoots. Teachers see tutoring as the last resort just as doctors take up private practice owing to unpaid postgraduate residencies. Just as the solution to the latter lies in giving better salaries to doctors, the way out for the former problem is increasing the salaries of teachers. If they are expected to work like office staff then they must be paid equally. This would not only satiate their needs but would also relieve them of the tension of working extra, eventually resulting in them paying more attention to students’ attendance and performance.

Another aspect that we forget is of these working women being wives and mothers. When feminism equals their rights to that of men, it also asks men to share the responsibilities of women. But no such thing is witnessed in any household, except for a very few. Housewives take an additional burden of earning in order to help their husbands in making the ends meet, but at the cost of what? Burn a candle from both the ends and see the result; this is the cost that every working woman has to pay. Besides being a homemaker who mops the floors, does laundry, prepares meals, washes dishes and cleans bathrooms, a working woman is a driver who picks and drops her children to school. In the midst of this, she delivers around three-to-four lectures to her students, and ensures her presence in every class. But what harm would it do to the already perplexed, lousy system running on two sets of rules if she utilises the free time to fulfil the rest of her duties instead of wasting it?

Can the chief minister of this province silence their mothers-in-law and husbands who demand from them their houses to be made just as housewives do along with bringing home money? Can the minister of education of this province send his driver to pick every child who has to wait for his or her mother in the school premises till late hours? Have the law enforcement agencies of this province been successful in jailing all abductors and paedophiles so that mothers could trust rickshaw and van drivers with their children? Has the secretary of education signed on a notification that promises to increase salaries of these women so that they could afford meals from McDonald’s for their families in case they do not get time to cook? Has the Punjab food authority succeeded in closing all cheap restaurants so that women could feed their children non-donkey meat and hygienic food? Or can you all simply do one thing? Please arrange stoves and ovens in these colleges so that these women could cook food for their families in their free time there.

Let me assure you that nowhere in the world are teachers and professors treated like schoolchildren in terms of attendance. If you want to serve the people then do it correctly. Otherwise, kindly stop making such unwarranted and unsubstantiated claims. It really hurts being a woman in this society. Do not make it even more difficult to live.

The writer is a student of Biotechnology