Getting to work in the family

Since 1995 South Africans have celebrated Human Rights Day on March 21, in memory of the Sharpeville anti-pass law protests on that day in 1960 when 69 people were shot by the police.

UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) also marks March 21 as the annual International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in memory of the massacre.

Human Rights Day. The name still evokes a political overlay, but in fact the greater focus is on the whole wider area of human rights.

South Africa’s Bill of Rights focuses primarily on the rights of the individual.  Other legislations focus on women and children, or categories of workers or prisoners. But little in South African law addresses the rights of a family as a unit.

The Catholic Church’s Charter of Rights of the Family was produced in 1983 by the then newly established Pontifical Council for the Family, a result of after the Synod on the Family in 1981.   The document addressed itself to governments and leaders as well as to the People of God, and includes an article on the right to work.

As the Pontifical Council for the Family is co-hosting the World Meeting of Families in Milan from May 30 to June 3  with the theme “Families, Work and Celebration”, it is of interest to consider some aspects of work as presented in the Charter of Rights of the Family.

Families have a right to a social and economic order in which the organisation of work permits the members to live together and does not hinder the unity, well-being, health and stability of the family, while offering also the possibility of wholesome recreation.

Remuneration for work must be sufficient for establishing and maintaining a family with dignity, either through a suitable salary, called a “family wage”, or through other social measures, such as family allowances or the remuneration of the work in the home of one of the parents. It should be such that mothers will not be obliged to work outside the home to the detriment of family life and especially of the education of the children”   (Article 10).

No 7 of the catecheses provided for the World Meeting on the subject of Family and Work uses Genesis 3:17-19 for reflection. God creates a garden, places man in the garden to cultivate and care for it and by the sweat of his brow provide bread to eat. The catechesis suggests that man (that is, human beings) is a collaborator with God in the work of creation, and not a mere slave of the gods.

We are to care for every other creature and for creation and at the same time rediscover the dignity of manual labour and the humanising function of work.    “Man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but also achieves fulfilment as a human being.”

Work is good, it avoids idleness and encourages industriousness. But the risk that work may become an idol is noted.  This happens when work has the absolute primacy over family relationships and happiness is sought in material wellbeing while God may be forgotten. Both domestic and professional choices need to be discerned wisely within the family with a fair distribution of duties to be worked out.

The family is described as the first school of work where one learns to be responsible for oneself and others. It is there that members are taught values, where they learn to appreciate the concept of toil and strengthen their will towards the common good.

The right to work is certainly important and the responsibility to work industriously and productively equally so. Retrenchment after having worked and the unemployed state of never having worked, or of having no prospect of work, are other realities faced by too many, especially young people.

With an attitude of industriousness and a sense of responsibility for one another, could more be done on the ground to alleviate the sense of hopelessness, dependency and even laziness that so often prevails even within our own families?

“Get off your butt kid, and clean your room, wash the dishes, plant some vegetables, fix your bike, the car, my computer or the dog’s house. Don’t let your mother do everything!” Are these not at least calls to value formation?