The sub-continental working woman

The heat in Karachi these days is delirious. Not to mention the innumerable times that power outages and water shortages spring up on you without any notice. I think this is how life is in the entire sub-continent. It is surprising, and irritating rather, how growing up away from the land of my origin never got me thinking about the extended hardships that a working woman has to face in a third-world country.

Yes, women all over the world come home from work, and their work has only just begun. While men prance about in their Calvin Klein briefs, bellies stuffed with food (however horrible), relaxed that they are home after a hard day's work. But, consider this. How much more difficult is coming home from work to a water shortage in the entire block that will take at least 24 hours to resolve? As opposed to the same amount of household work, but the comfort of knowing that you won't be short of running water, or even power for that matter.

In light of all my third-world experiences this past year, I can surely say that womenfolk of the first-world take the convenience that is available to them for granted. I know that whenever it is that I do go back home to Toronto, I will never ever be as ungrateful as I was before when I wasn't aware of the circumstances in which majority of our world has to survive.