Women and Unpaid Labor

 Women and Unpaid Labor have for decades now, gone hand in hand without addressing underlying issues with gender discrimination. A big word in class we have used is "traditionally" which is also the case in this week's topic as well. Traditionally women have been seen as the primary caretakers and not working as much as the men, or in other words, "full time". However, in the present day, with a new economy and a new way of life, you tend to see a lot more women working full-time while trying to hold up their end of being caretakers. They are now expected to not only work full time, but also carry the load of taking care of children and the home as well, which does not seem fair. 

In class, Ms. Kirschman addressed some prominent issues while also incorporating our personal stories, which moved mountains for me, kind of putting things in perspective. In Caroline Criado Perez's book Invisible Women, the data we looked at all pointed to the same issue, women being undervalued in data. Another key issue she mentioned was men's pay compared to women's pay in the job industry, which showed how men get paid more to do the same thing that a woman does. Research shows that women get paid 84 cents to the man's dollar, which is honestly absurd, this can all stem from the idea that women "dilute" an industry. Perez says, "industry attracts lower pay and loses 'prestige', suggesting that low-paid work chooses women rather than the other way around". This is a huge issue because if there is evidence showing women can't escape low pay, regardless of what industry they are in, it shows a failed capitalist society with equal opportunity.

In a different lens, maternity leave is very controversial and honestly a mess. I never quite understood the struggles of what comes with having a child and holding a job until I spoke with my mom. She described her situation as, "I had no option really. If I wanted to make money still, I needed to work, regardless of what I felt was the right amount of time to spend with you (her children)." Since she was on a commission-driven pay, she couldn't stop working really, which she felt took away from her time with her family. She brought up her friend who has four children, and regardless of wanting to work, unless she pays someone to watch her children,n she doesn’t have enough time to. Or at least work full-time. This ties into the idea of including women's unpaid labor into the GDP because of its importance in society as a whole. Women learn at a young age to take control of situations, especially around the house, because they feel like no one else will, which definitely has some truth in it. My sister was always on me about asking my mom to do things for me, when she would always do things for herself instead of seeking outside help. I think this just goes to show how undervalued women's work is, whether it is raising children or in the workforce, there needs to be more equality.