ANÁLISIS CON ANSYS

In the context of material aspirations, the women in this sample spoke about their wishes to make money, and their desires for security and high level employability in career.

9.2.1 Financial imperatives

Seventeen women aspired to make „big money‟ in their careers. Natasha explains:

It is nice to feel that you are capable of making a lot of money (Natasha, 25)

Two respondents emphasised that people work to earn a living:

You work to earn a living after all. I don’t buy people who say that they work for passion or to get over boredom. I mean nobody would spend over 40 hours a week on work and go through all that work stress for passion. You need money to survive – it is obviously one of most important things in the world (Michelle, 51)

Whereas Michelle linked remuneration with survival, other respondents felt that good financial imperatives were essential to maintain their upper class lifestyles in Colombo:

It would also be nice to be able to make good money rather than just enough to support myself. It is a high lifestyle in Colombo (Shamila, 32)

Shamila defined the high lifestyle in Colombo in terms of regular dining out, entertaining and attending social events. Madhavi similarly emphasised that how two high incomes are mandatory to keep up with the active social life in Colombo:

We dine out almost every other day, we host our friends at restaurants regularly – it is only fair - they host us as well. Then there are the weddings, almsgivings, and parties - we attend at least two a week. It is almost always the same crowd of people so you can’t wear one sari more than twice. Thank god I don’t have any daughters or else I would have got sold out buying them clothes. Anyway two incomes are essential to keep up with this lifestyle. We spend a great amount of money on entertainment – sometimes on things that we don’t want to do. But we don’t have a choice (Madhavi, 48)

Madhavi gives insights into the lifestyle of high social class elites in Sri Lanka, highlighting that substantial financial imperatives are extremely important to support it.

Two respondents reconciled themselves to less desirable jobs due to the financial imperatives provided by employing organisations. Shanili who is heavily overworked at her current workplace explains her decision to remain in the organisation:

What’s keeping me in NAMBA – that’s a question I’ve been asking myself? I think it is mainly the pay packages and perks – they are excellent payers, and we get bonus and several allowances (Shanili, 36)

In the context of perks Shanili was given unlimited fuel, an entertainment allowance and medical insurance from her company: all which she found invaluable. Fuel and medical cover was similarly important to other respondents. Kishani who is a lawyer by profession, explains her decision to work for an organisation rather than practice law herself:

Whatever said and done they [organisations] reimburse medical expenses. Dilan [her husband] and I both get all our medical expenses reimbursed from Dentile investments and we get up to 20,000 rupees a month for health care for dependents. They also give a hospitalisation cover, petrol cover and life insurance scheme. You can’t get these perks anywhere else except from an organisation (Kishani, 31)

The rising cost of fuel has been a longstanding concern among many Sri Lankans and was an issue raised by a number of women in this sample. Furthermore Sri Lankan state provided healthcare was considered to be less than satisfactory by most respondents where almost all the women in this sample used private medical care which was covered by their employers.

Significantly, a number of respondents associated their aspiration to make money in their careers with providing for their children. Here five women talked about having to fund their adult children‟s foreign education. This was a burden on these respondents since they were compelled to pay fees and board in foreign currency while earning in Sri Lanka. Kanthi

planned to retire early from civil service and do private consultancy work, since it was more profitable to finance her children‟s education:

My husband and I budgeted for only one degree for each child and they surprised us by going on to masters and what not. As parents we cannot discourage them from educating themselves further – but we found it very difficult. It isn’t easy for parents.

Actually this is why I am retiring soon, I can get my EPF and private consultancy work is more profitable so I may be able to help my children out a bit more financially (Kanthi, 52)

Three women aspired to make large amounts of money in their careers to provide luxuries for their children:

I am making as much as money as my husband. More than anything I am able to buy my daughters anything they want from my own money – I don’t deny them anything – my parents never denied me anything (Diluni, 39)

Like Diluni two other respondents spoke about how they were able to buy their children everything they wanted from their personal incomes: especially items that their husbands refused. Indeed these women seemed to be spoiling their children immensely through their indulgence.

Three respondents desired financial imperatives in career to accumulate property for their adult children:

Sending children to university is not enough, you know. We have to give them something as well. We are constructing two houses for my older son and daughter.

(Rupika, 54)

Two other women were also in the process of constructing houses for their adult children.

Parents‟ gifting their children with property upon marriage is customary in Sri Lanka;

especially in the case of girl children. Indeed this custom appeared to be a significant financial strain on some of the women in this sample.

Two respondents aspired to make money in their careers to provide for their extended families. Shanili explains:

Actually I don’t need to earn at all for myself – my husband is well able to provide for me. I work for my family. My parents are now dependent on me. Both of them are retired – the rent they get from their various properties are not enough especially in the case of hospitalisation. My grandmother is also there – she lives with my parents. None of them have medical insurance and I can’t get a good cover for them because they all have underlying health problems. My sister recently got divorced after a brief marriage – she’s a Montessori teacher – she doesn’t make much - so I occasionally help her out.

Basically I have obligations. I am happy that I am able to earn enough to help them (Shanili, 36)

Michelle similarly talked about how she was motivated to develop her career due to her financial obligations to her extended family. Michelle who came from a family of six had been compelled to help in funding her younger siblings‟ education when her father‟s business

went bankrupt. Since the Sri Lankan welfare state did not provide social security such as unemployment benefit, the sick and elderly often depended on their family members for financial assistance if they did not have sufficient personal savings. Indeed a number of respondents emphasised the complete lack of safety net in Sri Lanka due to the extremely limited provision of social services.

Overall money was extremely important to almost all respondents and they therefore aspired to make a significant amount of money in their careers. The only woman who stated that money was not everything in life: Swaneetha, worked as a professor of Zoology in a leading university in Sri Lanka. It is a well-known fact that public sector jobs in general and academia in particular, are far less paid than private sector jobs in Sri Lanka. However while other public sector women in this sample were employed in the few well-paying public organisations in Sri Lanka or were doing additional private work to supplement their income, Swaneetha concentrated on her passion: science. She was able to do this since she had an inheritance to depend on:

I didn’t make a fortune out of my work – on the contrary my husband and I were very fortunate to be able to depend on our inheritance. But then money is not everything.

(Swaneetha, 61)

Although many other women in this sample also had substantial inheritances to fall back on, they seemed to have more obligations than Swaneetha. For instance, Swaneetha was one of the few respondents who had only one child. Inheritances didn‟t seem to be enough for women who had several children especially when they had to fund foreign education and accumulate property for children.

9.2.2 High level employability and security

Employability at suitably high level jobs and security was important to eight women in this sample. Vandana explained her decision to get into banking in terms of high level employability:

I always intended to join a bank after school. My father was a bank manager and you can be well assured of a decent job in commercial banking anywhere (Vandana, 38)

Niranjala similarly explained her decision to get into management accounting in terms of high level employability:

I want to get into accounting - job prospects are good – all the good jobs on the papers are for accountants (Niranjala, 24)

The emphasis women placed on employability seemed to be influenced by the extremely small amount of senior jobs in the Sri Lankan labour market. This is addressed in detail in section 10.1.

A number of women highlighted that job security was especially significant to them:

Job security is very important – how many people just lost their jobs last year (Gayathri, 29)

By last year Gayathri referred to the recent global economic crisis.

Other women who had also witnessed people being laid off from jobs during the recession similarly emphasised that that job security was extremely important to them. However, for the women in this sample, it was not only about having a secure job. They wanted jobs with good perks (which I already addressed above) and pensions. Dilhari explains her decision to work for a public sector bank in terms of pension:

Government jobs are secure after all. You are pensionable, you cannot be laid off work suddenly – how many people in the private sector lost their jobs with this financial crisis (Dilhari, 46)

Two other women similarly explained their decision to work for public organisations in terms of job security and pensions. In a country with very little state provided social services, a pension seemed to assure these women of long term economic security.

Interestingly some women‟s desire for economic security extended to obtaining residency in another country in case things went wrong with the Sri Lankan economy. Niranjala explains:

Getting a residency in another country is good. There is some security – you never know where Sri Lanka will end up if it goes on like this. The war has ended but it’s very difficult to live – cost of living is very high – they [The Sri Lankan government] should do something to the economy (Niranjala, 24)

Niranjala‟s desire for economic security was influenced by her lack of faith in the Sri Lankan economy. Sherangi similarly explained her application for permanent residency in Australia in terms of economic security:

Actually I applied for PR in Australia – loads of people are applying. I don’t think I’d pack up my bags and go there if I get the visa, but I wanted to keep it [residency] in my hand. Just in case you know. I actually applied because my brother did - at the time of the war and this economic crisis. Now the war is over but the economy is still shit. I don’t think I’d ever be happy living my entire life in another country. But the visa is like a security in case things go really bad here – which would hopefully never happen (Sherangi, 26)