Wednesday, February 4, 2009

From Japan to Nigeria

Chapter eight of our text book (Family Policy Matters 2nd edition, by Bogenschneider 2006) gives an overview of policies and proposals which are changing the political landscape for families. All of the issues raised are sure to be around with us for a while, and although the government is making efforts to combat the situation, I am particularly concerned about the approaches being used.

Since we are in a recession, the issue of a family’s economic status is “particularly” appropriate for an analysis of the impact of government policies. It is no longer news that many more mothers seek or are financially compelled to work outside the home, and/or pursue education or training. It therefore comes as no surprise that Bogenschneider cites the greatest concern of most parents as – the conflict between work and family. As the working hours of the average American continues to increase overtime, with the longest hours being recorded for families raising children, an obvious question comes to mind. How much time is left for family commitments? Particularly, how much time are parents spending with their children under these circumstances?

Now the American family system is relatively new to me, so I would first like to share with you about the latest culture which I had the opportunity of peeking into. What culture? Japanese! Yes Japanese, I have been in the U.S. for 5 months now and my first roommate for 4 months was Japanese. Her name is Nanako and she is also a new international student. We had a lot of conversations about each others’ cultures, especially since I often helped her with her English essay assignments. One particular conversation we had as we worked on one of her essays titled, The roles of men and women in Japan, was particularly revealing.

As the essay developed, Nanako spoke about the deep-rooted beliefs in Japan, where women are expected to take on the sole responsibility of homemaking. Hence women are not encouraged by society to work outside the home. Furthermore with society frowning at those who “choose” career over family, it is often commonplace to see women resigning from their jobs upon getting married or as childbearing begins. This occurs even though there is an existing Maternity Leave Law.

I found these revelations on the work versus family situation in Japan quite interesting, because there are some similarities present, when compared with the Nigerian situation. For a long time the notion that formally educating a female child in Nigeria was a waste of resources, was wide spread. It was generally believed that she would sooner or later be confined to the domestic affairs of childrearing and homemaking, and there are a substantial amount of people who still hold on to this belief. On the larger scale however, this notion has gradually changed overtime. As a result of government interventions more girls are going to school, and due to economic demands more men are agreeing to letting their wives work outside the home. The outcome? The work and family conflict. How is this conflict managed? To start with under the Nigerian Law, besides the annual paid leave for all employees, a pregnant woman is entitled to a paid maternity leave of at least 6 weeks before the delivery of her child and 6 weeks after the delivery of the child. Beyond this period of the newborn, families usually employ one of three options in managing the work versus family conflict.

Usually the first option is to involve extended family members, like aunts or grandmothers. Here, these individuals live with the family and help with the domestic and child rearing tasks. The second option is to employ live-in or visiting nannies. While the last option usually is to employ the services of day care centers and or after-school programs.

So the problem of working families in Nigeria is not far from the problem of working families in the U.S. The only major difference is the common situation of male-domination in the Nigerian system. It is important to note that even when the mother is working outside the home, she is still first and foremost, expected to perform or sufficiently arrange for “her” domestic tasks to be well carried out, with or without the support of her husband.

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