The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chipping in with their share

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Monday, Sep 01, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chipping in with their share

Kannal Achuthan

— Photo: K. Pichumani

SHARING THE load: Shafi chops vegetables while Zulaikha works at the gas stove to prepare their meal.

CHENNAI: Shafi Ibrahim and Zulaikha Shabana enjoy working together in their kitchen to prepare their meals. The couple, living in Anna Nagar West, believe in sharing household chores. “He helps me almost every day in cooking, drying clothes… When I don’t feel enthusiastic about work, he helps me even without my asking,” says Zulaikha. Not all women are so lucky. Many of them handle the bulk of domestic work and caring of children. Forty-year-old English tutor Devika (name changed on request) says her husband gets upset if the food is not served on the table when he comes from work. “At the most, he will brush the dust off a ceiling fan. He thinks that’s a full day’s work.”

However, there is a gradual shift in the pattern, especially among the younger couples. Making decisions, done largely by the man earlier, is becoming a joint activity. Padmalatha Ravi and Vivek Varma have been married for a little over five years, and have decided to “spend time with each other a little more before we add children into the equation.”

Many women also depend on their husbands to help with the family when both have full-time jobs. Vijayalakshmi, who works as an agent for post office and LIC savings, has a great companion in her husband. He takes the time to drop her at work and pick up their two children from a primary school every day. Shafi Ibrahim comes up with some interesting insight: mothers play an important role in bringing up sons who will be supportive husbands. “When I was young, I would help my mother at home… I believe that women should not just be housekeepers. I like to share the work fifty-fifty,” Shafi says.

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