A Closer Look.
Written by Nazia Tabasum A
The most valuable assets apart from materialistic things are education and a career. Although education is now widely given much more importance than in previous eras, we still see inequality and double standards in choosing careers, especially for women who want financial independence.
Glad to see there is progress in terms of equal pay and opportunities for women at the workplaces. But often they need an approval to pursue their career ambitions. It can be either from her parents, or her husband and in-laws’ family.
This is an implicit bias, where our patriarchal society is structured from ages to believe that women should seek permission to work, especially after their marriage. But the same is not applicable to men.
But why does a man need approval to work? Because, by default, his duty is to earn, take care of family and manage expenses. This sounds fair. On the contrary, minimal importance is given for a married woman to choose whether if she wants to continue her career, or to stay at home managing domestic responsibilities.
Voicing out this can look unfair. Because women have to hear a lot of comments if she makes her own decisions in her life, as they are always expected to seek permission for everything from others.
Those who say that they allow woman to work, and provide liberty for choosing her career, often praise themselves for being broad-minded. But this is not just merely giving the approvals, rather it is all about understanding an individual’s rights, instead of denying those.
To sum up, implicit bias in work permissions visibly denotes the double standards and partiality that exist for women in our society.
Although this cannot be changed completely, instead of denying or providing approval regarding women’s careers, their choice to be financially independent must be respected.
Did this blog post reasonate with you? I would love to read your opinions! Post a comment to share your thoughts or to contribute to the discussion.