A teacher in Mianwali brought her child to school. She got suspended for that. This news has sparked fury on the internet. People are creating parallels with how, when police officers or politicians bring their infant children, the public supports them, but when a teacher does it, she gets suspended.
Suspending the teacher
The suspension letter read:
Ms. Ishrat Sattar was found playing with her child … during the visit of the departmental authority. The above-said teacher was found guilty of the inefficacy of misconduct.
Teachers are also human beings. Treat them with kindness and respect. @DrMuradPTI @SchoolEduPunjab @aasiyakagha#FemaleTeacherSuspension pic.twitter.com/hCGvlkvXOM
— Punjab Educators (@Punjab_Educato) September 28, 2020
The masses compared her to the prime minister of New Zealand. Twitter was screaming about how the Prime Minister took her child to the General Assembly. It leads us to wonder that when we live in a society where child-rearing responsibility is conveniently gifted to women, why is it so unthinkable that a woman brought her child to her workplace.
The gender roles and responsibilities due to the societal norms can also ask the very same society why these workplaces do not have daycare options for a woman when she comes to work. If this notion is rampant that only women will raise their children, then, by default, we should ensure the according to the workplace environment.
But also why is it that we expect only the woman to be responsible for child-rearing. Men have an equal share in procreating, so men should be equally held accountable.
Update: For the teacher in Mianwali
After the matter was taken to the public, and the masses came forward to support the teacher, the authorities were in the spotlight. Hence, they decided to remove the suspension. The new letter now read, “The order regarding the suspension of Ms. Ishrat Sattar is at this moment withdrawn with immediate effect.”
Exploring the Why
But doesn’t the issue still stand? I mean, the suspension order started with a woman bringing her child to work and playing with him/her. That, according to the authorities, compromised the teacher’s work responsibilities. This is understandable. No supervisor would endorse compromised work. But then what about the context which leads to such a situation occurs?
Are they, as part of the society, not responsible for this scenario where no one else is ready to take care of the child while the woman goes out to earn?
Such a scenario develops when we do not expect the men to bring their children with them. They leave their kids with the women at home. Were they to start getting their kids to their workplace, too, the situation with the teacher in Mianwali would never have happened.
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