Women still facing traditional problems

JAKARTA (JP): Women are still encountering traditional hurdles in their efforts to enter the workforce in the age of globalization, a psychologist here has said.

Although there are more job opportunities for women today, they still face rivalry from men, Sartono Mukadis, a psychologist told a seminar on the impact of globalization, technology and information on family and women, over the weekend.

He said that due to technological and information developments, many job opportunities are now offered to women.

Citing examples, Sartono said that due to the development of technology, several employment in fields like the military, stock exchange and information industry are now also offered to women.

According to data, he said, about 40 percent of Indonesia's workforce is women.

"Men or husbands take the reality as a threat because the area where they can build-up themselves will decrease," Sartono said.

He added that men believe that in this situation they will soon lose their role as provider, and are also worried that they will lose their authority over women.

According to Sartono, this will result in a mechanism of self- defense accompanied by symptoms of neurosis.

"If the tendency is expressed in the mood of competition it will create no problems, but what we often see is covert aggression," he said.

Another speaker was psychologist Leila Ch. Budiman, who discussed ways to solve conflict in the family.

She said conflict always exists, "Because no one in the world is identical," she said.

According to her, people always perceive conflict as danger. "It is not always true," Leila said.

"The most important thing in this case is how we solve a conflict," she said. (05)