“La sociedad no valora las obligaciones familiares y de ahí deriva la dificultad de conciliar trabajo y hogar”
"Society does not value family obligations and hence the difficulty of reconciling work and home."
Reyes Calderón, professor at the University of Navarra, points out that choosing between work and obligations that are neither valued nor paid "creates tensions in women".
"The measures aimed at reconciling work and family life, while necessary, do not attack the main problem: the lack of evaluation of family obligations". This is what the dean of the School of Economic and Business Sciences of the University of Navarra, Reyes Calderón, said during a roundtable on the occasion of Working Women's Day. The event, which took place at the auditorium Kutxa Andía in San Sebastian, was organized by this entity, the high school Mayor Ayete and the School of Engineers - Tecnun of the University of Navarra.
"Women continue to be the main providers of care and attention to children and the elderly, an activity that consumes a large part of their time," the economist pointed out. Likewise, statistics show that in Spain many more hours are spent, about 200 more per year than the average of the European Union, in the development of the same jobs of work.
"This can be seen as a synonym of leave productivity, but also as a 'wrong' loyalty to business. It is mistakenly thought that a better worker is one who is only dedicated to his or her professional work and devotes many more hours to it than to other tasks," he explained. Thus, choosing between work, valued with social compensation of all kinds subject, and family obligations, not valued or paid, "creates tensions in women".
What is not on the market does not exist'.
"Home cooking, caring for an elderly person or a child at home -which avoids the expense health care of an income- are not part of the GNP. These are private activities and in our society 'what is not in the market, does not exist', is not valued and is not appreciated," stressed the professor of the University of Navarra. "What price does society pay to women and men who exchange work for family service?" she added.
The roundtable, held under the degree scroll "Towards balance in the distribution of time", was also attended by Rosa Díez, director of Euskadi Irratia; Pilar Kaltzada, director of Communication of Innobasque; and Aizpea Goenaga, film director and actress.