Unit – III: GENDER AND LABOUR

Unit – III: GENDER AND LABOUR

CHAPTER 1 –  Housework: The Invisible Labour 

The society which we live in believes that the roles of boys and girls are different in a well-defined manner. Broadly speaking, our societies are mostly patriarchal i.e., a male is always the head of the family. As compared to boys, girls spend more time in the kitchen and they are the ones who help the mother in taking care of the requirements of the household.

It is a preconceived notion that women who stay at home do not work, but it is not true. Women who stay at home do almost an equal amount of work as compared to their male counterparts by running the household, which is not an easy task. On an average, women spend more time working as compared to men.

 Housework is invisible and unpaid work, is physically demanding and is time consuming. 

Invisible here means something which is not noticed. A good example will be breakfast in the morning, which we eat without realizing the amount of effort put in making it.

Physically demanding means something which requires hard work. An example of this is washing clothes.
Time consuming means something which takes a long time to be done. Cleaning the house is an example of this

Since our society considers men to be the breadwinners of the family, any work that a woman does is not valued much because it does not contribute to the total income of the family. However, it must be noted that the amount of time women spend in taking care of the household, which involves tasks such as preparing three meals, getting kids ready for school, taking care of the general cleanliness of the household, managing rations, dealing with maids or other such domestic helps etc., and the effectiveness with which they do it is truly commendable.

The poem “Vantillu” by Vimala is the story of the poet’s mother and all mothers and mothers’ mothers. It tells us how modernity brings a fancy kitchen with modern gadgets and points out that there has been no change in women’s lives.

Abburi Chaya Devi expresses the difference between an academic feminist vision and the material reality for modern women in her famous story “Srimathi Udyogini”.


Judy Brady's "I want a wife" 

At some point in our lives, we have wanted to have someone else do things for us. These things range from doing chores and tasks, such as laundry and cooking, to just keeping us satisfied in life, dealing with our mental, physical, social, and sexual needs. In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife”, she explores why she would like to have a wife.

Judy Brady's purpose of the essay, "I Want a Wife", is to show women how men think, act, and feel. She being a feminist wants to show how men truly think of woman, that when they get what they want men set women aside for bigger and better things. Not only that but she wants to let the world know that she is fed up with everything that she is doing and wants to switch roles where she is the husband. Brady wants to have the satisfaction of not having to do those household things. Brady writes this essay in the 1st person,  She is writing as the man who wants a wife. She makes a list of the responsibilities that a typical woman from the 1970's would have.

CHAPTER 2 –  Women's Work: Its Politics And Economics

“My mother does not work”. In country after country, this expression is heard each time someone describes a woman not engaged in paid employment. None of the family enterprises would run if women refuse to shoulder the responsibility of the household. Whether women have a paid job or not, they all do the housework, as it is seen as a woman's duty.

Employment and social security policies disregard women's labour at home. Women are sentenced to dependence on husbands and fathers and to housework. Neglect of women’s contribution to our economies as homemakers or care-givers has a common sense-like acceptance. In India, claims for a non-earning woman’s accident or death are often of negligible value.

As daughters, siblings, wives or mothers, women are mostly employed in full-time work that involves household chores, and production of goods and services not sold in the market and so on. They also perform a swathe of care-giving work besides the rearing of children. The major difference between this work and paid employment is financial compensation. Some women work from home, i.e. their work is home based work and some others work part time.

Many women across the employment spectrum in India drop out of paid work once they have children. In case of earning women, their wages are often seen as supplementary or supportive wage for the family. Working women also carry the burden of housework and childcare. It is vital that this burden is taken away from them with the formation of childcare centres at work and new social security policies.

Gender pay gap in India refers to the difference in earnings between women and men in the paid employment and labor market. For the year 2013, the gender pay gap in India was estimated to be 24.81%. A report by the World Economic Forum highlights that in the corporate sector in India, a woman is paid only one-third of what a man in the same position is paid. 

Further, while analyzing the level of female participation in the economy, this report slots India as one of the bottom 10 countries on its list. Thus, in addition to unequal pay, there is also unequal representation, because while women constitute almost half the Indian population (about 48% of the total), their representation in the work force amounts to only about one-fourth of the total.

If trade unions see women as members with equal rights, they need to fight against conditions that prevent women from having work or a social life and that make their work at home invisible.

Men, the state, trade unions and society need to accept that housework exists and has market value. It has to be shown that women who work outside of the home and then also do the housework are doubly exploited.

It is vital that equal work brings equal pay, that childcare centres are opened at work places and trade unions, that jobs with trade union membership, social security and guarantee are demanded, and that the principle of the social state is defended against neoliberal politics

Men today do a higher share of chores and household work than any generation of men before them. Yet working women, especially working mothers, continue to do significantly more.

Each week, mothers spend nearly twice as long as fathers doing unpaid domestic work. But while it’s important to address inequality at home, it’s equally critical to acknowledge the way these problems extend into the workplace. Women’s emotional labor—which can involve everything from tending to others’ feelings to managing family dynamics to writing thank-you notes—is a big issue that’s rarely discussed.

Assignment on Page 110