Women Bear the Burden of Unpaid Labour & Society Is Worse For it
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands” — Ephesians 5:22a
Every Nigerian woman has heard some version of this quoted to them.
It’s said when she decides she wants to keep her last name, instead of taking her husband’s. It’s said when she decides he doesn’t get to say what she can or cannot wear. And sometimes, it just gets said for no reason. As it goes, people just love reminding women to submit.
But perhaps, more than any other time or situation, it gets said when people need women to take on unpaid domestic or care work that they will not get appreciated for or supported with.
In AFẸ́FẸ́, Simi faces the same situation when she’s offered her dream job—head stylist & manager at a major salon in Lekki but must give it up to become the primary carer for her mother-in-law whose health has taken a turn for the worse. She has no say in the matter. After all, her husband’s desires are what matter most. And she must submit.
Written and directed by Dolapo ‘Lowladee’ Adeleke, the film is created by the In Bloom Project, an initiative by the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which aims to amplify voices on gender related issues through engaging and power storytelling. So far, they’ve collaborated with five female filmmakers on five short films they hope will drive conversations around gender inequality.
There exists a world in which women’s dreams, desires, and demands are not treated like an afterthought a world where a woman is fully seen as human, rather than being reduced to the labour she provides to those around her.
Nearly 1 in 2 women, who are outside the labour force worldwide, report leaving because of the burden of unpaid care work—over 708 million women in total.
Each one could’ve been an innovator, an inventor, an artist, a writer, contributing to our cultural knowledge, expressing themselves and their creativity, and moving humanity forward with their ingenuity. Instead their dreams are sidelined, sacrificed at the altar of their family’s needs.
When women bear the burden of unpaid labour, everyone loses. Another world is possible. That world is not here yet. But it could be.
Watch the trailer below:
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Source: Legit.ng
