SUBMISSION OF FOURTH SPEAKER

1.0 DEFINITION OF BREADWINNER

How can you say that patriarchy safeguard feminist affair when the number of women
as a breadwinner is increasing from day to day? What is meant by breadwinner is the
member of a family who earns the money to support the others". The earner works
outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits while the non-earner
usually stays at home and takes care of children and the elderly. The man, as head of
the family, is expected to lead, provide for and protect his family. This has been his
God-given role since creation. But with the passing of time, especially in this jet age,
women are expected to contribute financially and in some situations become the
breadwinner. Many women are increasingly becoming the breadwinners in their
families as a number of factors prevent their husbands from playing their main and
most traditional roles as heads of the family.1

2.0 RELIGION VERSUS WOMEN AS THE BREADWINNER

Datuk Mohd Zawawi was interviewed by Malaysian Digest regarding this issue. In
his opinion, the financial contribution gap between men and women to the households
are shrinking and this is the main cause on why women has become the breadwinner
instead. He further added that, Generation Y are getting lazier and choose to stay at
home, however, they tend to do more housework than their fathers generation. But it
is an outright shame for men to take on the role as house husbands or caregivers at
home.2

Even though this act is permissible in some religions that allows the women to work
and support the family, provided that, the husband is unable to support the family as
in very sick and only then, the husbands are excused from working. Increasing
numbers of women entering the labour force has become a challenge for women, as
they now have to balance work and family responsibilities. Being a working mother
has changed how women allocate their time and negotiate their work and family roles.

1 'Women As Breadwinners: A Role Reversal On The Rise?' (Malaysian Digest, 2017)

<http://malaysiandigest.com/features/520568-women-as-breadwinners-a-role-reversal-on-the-
rise.html> accessed 5 February 2017.

2 'The Shifting Of Roles: A Look At The Rising Trend Of House Husbands In The Country'
(Malaysian Digest, 2017) <http://www.malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/282-main-tile/549732-the-
shifting-of-roles-a-look-at-the-rising-trend-of-house-husbands-in-the-country.html> accessed 5
February 2017.
 The trend has also altered the traditional breadwinning patterns of a family. Due to
financial constraints, many women feel that they have to work to support the family.

In Putrajaya, the Malaysian Institute of Islamic Understanding (Ikim), which is the

governments Islamic institution has highlighted its efforts in discouraging women
from dropping out of the workforce to raise children. The wives are not prohibited
from working as stated in the Quran but its the husbands duty to provide enough
sources for the household. As we know, the Quran clearly stated regarding its
prohibition on married men from being the homemaker while the wife work to
support the household and this is as what was mandated to men in the Quran.

Siti Fatimah Abdul Rahman as the leader of consultation and Exercise in Ikims
Centre specialty in economic and social studies stated her opinion regarding this point
in the Local daily New Straits Times. Her quote was saying as follows; Although
there is no prohibition for wives to work and even if the wife earns 10 times more than
the husband, he still has to provide basic sustenance for the family,. Next, we refer
to Quranic verse 34 of Chapter An Nisa that stated clearly, men should not be
managing the household while earning nothing and the wife is out there working and
earning money to support the household. There are still limitation to this as the
women is permissible to support the family provided that the husband is seriously sick
and unable to support.3

3.0 CONSEQUENCES OF THIS TREND

Financial issues among couples and families are a real thing as this problem has the
potential to trigger marital discord leading to separation and divorce in many cases.
Prof Madya Datin Noor Aziah, Chairperson of The Muslim Women Consultative
Council of Malaysia, in giving her opinion, stated that, the financial planning module
in the pre-marriage course needs to be improved and given more priority given its
increasing impact in marriages today. The increasing number of divorces caused by
financial problems was also highlighted in a recent Berita Harian news report that
60% of divorces in Malaysia are related to financial and economic factors.
The reality is with each divorce, another single mother who is the sole breadwinner of
the family is added to the statistics. A woman as the main breadwinner of a family is a
trend that is set to grow if we look at the phenomenon globally. Reports have
3 'Islam Forbids Men From Becoming Homemakers, Says Religious Research Centre'
(Themalaymailonline.com, 2017) <http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/islam-
forbids-men-from-becoming-homemakers-says-religious-research-centre> accessed 5 February 2017.
 emerged in US, Canada and the UK in 2010 to 2013 pointing to the rise in this trend.
In Malaysia, we are also increasingly feeling the impact of this shifting economic
paradigm as more and more women are encouraged to enter the workforce or find
themselves forced to become sole breadwinners of their families due to circumstances
and poverty.4

4.0 WOMEN AS THE BREADWINNER IN OTHER COUNTRIES

In this undeniably feverish and quick paced world, we are seeing an expansive scale
reconfiguration of sexual orientation parts in Malaysia as the idea of house husbands
has developed cosmically, and even in our general public. In view of reports, as of
late, the act of being a house husbands has turned out to be more normal and
sociologically more satisfactory in some Western countries, yet less basic in Asian
nations. Shockingly, with spouses assuming control over the homemaker part, settled
sexual orientation parts turn out to be less noticeable, giving more men the flexibility
of decision and breaking all conventions. As we as a whole know, in Western culture,
there are less limitations on what constitutes a family, giving men the alternative of
having a totally non-sex one-sided way of life, and this is totally acknowledged.

In view of a National Statistics report in the United Kingdom, in 2013, female work
rate achieved a topping 67.2 percent, demonstrating that more ladies are free and
vocation driven. In the interim in Malaysia, measurements issued by the Malaysian
Statistics Department uncovered that ladies dwarfed men in the expert representatives'
classification, with 55 percent of ladies as opposed to 45 percent of men, obviously
demonstrating that the ascent of ladies in the workforce is radically moving here.
Presently we should delay for a speedy history lesson. Examines demonstrate that
dispositions about the parts of men and ladies in the work environment and at home
have turned out to be more libertarian. Individuals have developed more OK with
relational unions in which ladies worked and earned cash. Quick forward to the mid-
90s that advance hit the divider yet the way that the rate of ladies in the workforce
multiplied, and more individuals trusted that men ought to be the provider of the
family. Be that as it may, it has been contended that these seismic changes betoken the
finish of the common request, prompting to statistic changes in an average family
unit, and with the overall monetary subsidence as one of its principle elements, men

4 Jiping Zuo and Shengming Tang, 'Breadwinner Status And Gender Ideologies Of Men And Women
Regarding Family Roles' (2000) 43 Sociological Perspectives.
 have been excessively dislodged from their employments and incidentally thrusted
into another and unwelcomed part - the house husbands.

5.0 ONGOING TREND IN MALAYSIA

Nowadays in Malaysia, more wives are now working and contributing to support their
households. Women as a breadwinner is due to the fact that the husbands are
neglecting their duty to support their wives and families. This changing dynamics in
family households has also been highlighted in several news such as Harian Metro
and Malaysian Digest. Women participating in various economic sectors are
increasing day by day as womens involvement in the workforce and contributing to
the nations economy and development is set to increase even further in the future.
UNICEFs finding on the statistic of working women has increased from 44.7% to
47.3% in 2004. In 2007, the total number of working women in Malaysia, according
to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, is 3.79 million.

Prior social research on ladies' parts tended to concentrate on the parts of women as
wife, mother of youthful kids and employee. As per Anita Shreve, who composed and
wrote an article entitled Career and the Draw of Motherhood for New York Times
Magazine in 1982, ladies in today's work showcase must have the capacity to juggle
the parts of being wife, mother of youthful kids and employee. Contemporary ladies
need to juggle various parts all the while without the support of their more distant
families. The parts of wife, mother of youthful kids and employee are the essential
and regular parts that contemporary ladies play. What's more, women now should get
the weight of care-providing for elderly parents also. As the assistance of developed
family is not accessible, modern women need to juggle the requests that emerge from
the family space and the work environment with the extra requests of nurturing their
elderly guardians.

The part juggling that comes to pass for the contemporary lady is in opposition to the
conventional parts played by women decades back. Despite the fact that 'conventional
ladies' juggled various parts of wife, mother of youthful kids and employee, either in
the paddy field, elastic domain or other customary town working environment, they
didn't understanding a similar level of weight that contemporary ladies today do. This
is on account of they lived inside the more distant family framework. These
conditions made it simpler and less confounded for customary ladies to do their
occupation, as they were not compelled to disregard their duties towards their
 families. By and large, there are four sorts of parts played by contemporary Malaysian
ladies.5

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. 'Women As Breadwinners: A Role Reversal On The Rise?' (Malaysian Digest, 2017)

<http://malaysiandigest.com/features/520568-women-as-breadwinners-a-role-
reversal-on-the-rise.html> accessed 5 February 2017

5 'Malaysian Women And Their Role As The Sandwiched Generation' (SOCIAL SCIENCES &
HUMANITIES, 2017) <http://psasir.upm.edu.my/28249/1/13%20Page%20147-162.pdf> accessed 5
February 2017.
2. 'The Shifting Of Roles: A Look At The Rising Trend Of House Husbands In The
Country' (Malaysian Digest, 2017) <http://www.malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/282-
main-tile/549732-the-shifting-of-roles-a-look-at-the-rising-trend-of-house-husbands-
in-the-country.html> accessed 5 February 2017

3. Zuo J and Tang S, 'Breadwinner Status And Gender Ideologies Of Men And Women
Regarding Family Roles' (2000) 43 Sociological Perspectives.

4. 'Islam Forbids Men From Becoming Homemakers, Says Religious Research Centre'
(Themalaymailonline.com, 2017)
<http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/islam-forbids-men-from-
becoming-homemakers-says-religious-research-centre> accessed 5 February 2017.

5. 'Malaysian Women And Their Role As The Sandwiched Generation' (SOCIAL

SCIENCES & HUMANITIES, 2017) <http://psasir.upm.edu.my/28249/1/13%20Page
%20147-162.pdf> accessed 5 February 2017