Time for something a bit more serious than chocolate and horses...a little bit of social observation to give you folks a bit more of an idea this place.
Since starting work I have heard alot about women's day to day life experience from my colleagues - families, work, child-raising etc. It dawned on my last night while talking with other volunteers that I had mostly talked to women because my colleagues were almost all women - they make up the majority of the work force, it seems. In my immediate team we have 2 men to 6 women. This ratio is the same, or slightly higher, than other teams at my workplace. Many of my AYAD peers work with only women, or perhaps a man in a senior role. And sure, we are working in the kinds of organisations that attract women etc. - but it is definitely the social norm that women will have a full-time job, while raising multiple children.
The women I am meeting all work very long hours - business hours in my office are 8.30am to 5.30pm. No one (else!) leaves at 5.30pm, on days I've worked later my colleagues are still busily working away.
This seems bad enough for work/life balance. But don't forget your commute to work. How bad could it be, in a country of 2.7 million people, with a population density of 1 person per 1.75km-squared? I have a solid half hour walk to work. In the mornings I have been piking and getting a taxi because I tend to leave the house around 8.29.
After talking with my colleagues I need to have a spoonful of concrete... - these guys spend 1-1.5 hours standing in a jam packed bus to come to work in the morning; and in the evening, with traffic, it usually takes almost 2 hours (standing the whole way)! Add on to that an hour of english class after work and that makes on super-long day. Leave home at 7am and arrive home around 10pm. The distance they are traveling is not huge, if they were going to the farthest point of suburbia it is only 15km - the problem is UB has one main road (Peave Ave) which is indescribably jam-packed with traffic the entire day - buses, cars, "taxis". The mining boom has seen a steep rise in car-ownership - Lexus 4WDs, Mercedes, Hummers...what you'd expect in a country where 1 in 3 people is living in poverty.
And sure, you're thinking young people like myself could handle that kind of lifestyle - it's not like we have family to care for? True for me, but not for Mongolians. Based on my exhaustive surveying of locals, the usual age for your first child is 21. It is very common to have a large gap between children, a gap of 10-12 years. I have not met anyone with children closer than about 6 years in age. One hypothesis for this is the practicality of the first child being old enough to care for their siblings.
Nice in theory you might say? Well, it's more than a theory here. I was amazed to hear one colleague tell me her 12 year old son does all the housework - washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking - yes, he cooks his mother dinner! And the more people I meet the more common this seems to be. This little lad goes to school from 1pm-6pm, does all the household duties and finds time to play games at the internet centre with his friends, I am assured. Like most kids, he will be shipped off to the countryside to hangout with the grandparents for a month, or two, or three in the summer holidays.
Paid maternity leave is 4 months, there is no attempt at replacing an employee who is on maternity leave which results in a fair amount of workplace pressure and/or personal responsibility to return to work asap after giving birth - usually women will stop work around 7 months and come back when their child is around 2 months old. One would assume this means breastfeeding is not common after around 2 months. In saying that, from observation there is definitely none of the ridiculous stigma attached to breastfeeding in public that is found in western cultures, nor any attempt at modesty.
Most women have 2, maybe 3 children. If you are particularly productive and have 4 children the Government awards you with a special Medal and you receive some kind of monetary gift as well.
Encouraging population growth has many motivators - a hundred years ago when the Chinese were ruling over the Mongols they were attempting to wipe out the race, and doing a nice job - there were only around 800,000 left. In the early 20th century the Mongolians got rid of the Chinese, with Russia's help. Russia then decided they would stay around and help out, alot, in much the same way they helped out central asia and eastern europe until 1990. But that complex and interesting story will wait for another day. Back to population - by 1956 the population was 845,481. Today it is estimated at over 2,700,000. Only 2.7 million Mongolians....wedged between over 1,300,000,000 Chinese (1.3 billion) and 142,905,200 Russians. Yep, I'd be worried too.
So to paint a stereotypical picture of the Mongolians I am meeting - they are female, mid 30s, with 2 children, the eldest is around 10-12 and then there is the baby, 1.5 years. They are working full-time - probably 45-50 hours a week. Dad may or may not be in the picture - rarely have the people I speak to mentioned their partners, in a way that would make me think they weren't around if I was talking to an Australian, but later evidence suggests they are around. The women I am associating with are intelligent and hard working, with strong opinions. One of the key factors in the soviet socialist system was to tap into the previously under-utilised 50% of the population - women. It seems this has had a wonderful impact on promoting their contribution to society in Mongolia.
It can't help that Mongolian children are ridiculously cute - utterly ridiculously cute. Especially when they are rugged up in super puffy star-shaped jumpsuits for winter.
It is very striking how affectionate parents are with their children - always holding them while walking down the street, carrying them around shopping centres, children sit on parents laps in the car...oh hang on, there are no strollers in this picture, or car seats (that 5 seater car is carrying 10 Mongolians anyway). While it's impossible for PWD (People with Disabilities) to get around UB, it's very hard for parents with children. Not a chance in hell of pushing a stroller. Very unlikely anyone in that car is wearing a seat belt, let alone getting a car seat for that baby.
As a disclaimer, this is based on my observations - I am not observing women living in poverty in the ger districts of the city, or women living in the countryside (I will be interacting with these women throughout the next year though, so will be interesting to compare). I am working at a fantastic workplace where people love their job (not as common as we would all like), for an organisation that does amazing work to help disadvantaged. The lifestyle I have described above falls into the more positive life experiences of city-dwelling Mongolians. And these guys are paid probably somewhere in the range of $250-450 US a month.
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