Stop discriminating home makers, SIS and DAP
Dr Fatimah Zaharah Rosli, Malay Mail Online
It is interesting how short-sighted Dyana Sofia is. But I don’t blame her. She is still very young. However her statement just proves how she has yet to gain more experience in order to lead people of different levels and age groups with different needs.
I am a wife first, then a mother, then a daughter, and then a doctor. I take pride in every single thing that I do. I understand the need for me to work, as we need more female doctors to cater for the needs of female patients.
However, being who I am, having studied a gruesome 6 years of medicine did not make me forget the fact that I am able to be who I am because of a woman called mom. She raised me up well, fed me with the best quality food, bought me thousands worth of books, supported me in every single thing that I do, and allowed me to go overseas to study.
I am not alone, I assure you. The progress our nation is currently experiencing is due to the productive work force we have, thanks to the mothers who worked hard to ensure their children grow up to become useful people. These mothers, mostly are home makers.
This “job” as a mom, raising up kids, is not MERELY raising up kids.
Au contraire, by properly raising up kids, a woman contributes to the manpower in the country on a long term basis. Rome was not built in one day. And neither are all of the countries we see in this world.
When we discuss about being a developed country, it is not just for a short unsustainable period, but for scores of years to come.
I remember Marina Mahathir questioning the ability of our male population to be able to fill in high income posts as they make up only 30 per cent of out university undergrads. I would love to ask this question to Marina Mahathir, “where do you think the boys have gone?”
I work in a suburb clinic. We see patients who take methadone therapy to overcome their drug addiction. These patients are mostly males. We go to Pusat Serenti or rehab centres in Malaysia, and we find them filled with males. In a university setting, while girls go to libraries to study, boys are busy hanging out, and flunking exams. Having problematics males in the country is counterproductive, even if the whole women population is able to do work and fill in all the posts.
The big question which should be addressed is why is this happening to the males?
On the other hand, although our females seem so well off, it is actually not quite the reality. Still many of our girls had to delay their education because they got into a sexual relationship with their boyfriends at very young age and accidentally got pregnant.
Many of them are stuck in rehab centres, married off at young age and some even got themselves into the sex trade for joining the wrong crowd in the first place.
All this because of lack of education on values at home.
A mother’s role at home with her kids is vital. More vital than her role outside. She is the one who instills values which are guide the child as he or she grows up. The child will either grow up protected by this umbrella of values or rather grow up without knowing the wrong from the right and ending up wasted.
I am very sure it was the upbringing by Madamme Yammy and Tun Siti Hasmah which made the two women who they are today.
As the world evolves, we see some trending changes happening all over the world. Women are more empowered outside, they play less role in the house. They work in various fields and they succeed.
We also see a growing trend of house husbands, and men becoming more and more domesticated.
At the very same time, we also notice that youngsters are becoming more troublesome, and the rate for boys much faster than that of girls. Is there a correlation between the former and the latter?
There might or might not be, due to many other factors involved.
However, a known fact still remains that a good upbringing at home where children feel appreciated will be able to bring out the best in the child.
Even though the article written by Dr Nur Farrah Nadia of ISMA was well manipulated by Malay Mail Online, making her sound rather extreme, in wanting women to become housewives instead of career women, what she had truly meant was that a woman, playing her main role as the caregiver of her children apart from having a career IS the way forward for us to become a high income nations.
Simply because children who are well taken care of grow up to become human beings rather than those who are not productive and end up eating up from social welfare.
I cannot comprehend why Dyana, SIS and its allies are all out in undermining women who are committed housewives who work to build the nation from home. They should be appreciated just as well as those lawyers, engineers and doctors out there. Many women choose to become housewives to be able to fully cater for the needs of their growing up children and it is their choice.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with that and it would only be hypocritical for SIS to condemn the rights of women to choose to be home makers.
My religion motivates me to work as a doctor, as Allah says in the Holy Quran “Whoever saves a life, is like saving the whole humankind altogether.”
And knowing that this profession deals with life and death, I am certain that being an excellent trustworthy doctor will insyaAllah get me to heaven.
A working woman plays a vital role in contributing towards the nation’s development, whichever field she decides to work in.
But of utmost importance is her understanding towards her role as family member and the job she’s assigned to in the family, simply because she is made for it.
She has got the hormones, the DNA, the emotions. Why don’t we just let these women do what they are naturally good at without looking down on them?
I would like to remind those who are adamant on their feminists theories and what nots, being a mother is not merely about raising children, it is nation building altogether and needed to be done right.
You might just have forgotten the powerful Malay proverb Tangan yang menghayun buaian akan menggoncang dunia (the hands which rocks the cradle will rock the world).
Dr Fatimah Zaharah Rosli, Wanita Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia Activist
