Gendered Labor

A Google image search of the words "hotel maid" will produce pages upon pages of women making beds in hotel rooms. The majority of the women are Hispanic or African-American, and they're all happy and smiling. The reality for many lower-class workers is not so positive. Lower class people have far fewer jobs available to them, and many are mistreated by employers. However, social status often causes people to refrain from complaining or seeking compensation when they are mistreated. Lower class jobs are an excellent example of gendered labor as well. Women are often only offered domestic jobs, like nannying, maid service and housekeeping. Men work the jobs outside of the home.

I find the cycle of labor very interesting. Middle and upper class women were initially not allowed to work outside of the home. When they were able to get out of the home and into the workforce, they still needed someone to do their work inside the home. They hire lower class women to raise their children and clean their homes. The lower class women then have to leave their own children in order to raise someone else's and need family members to care for their homes. In all of this, the only women who get out of the home are the middle and upper class ones. There is a social inequality here that does not give lower class women the same rights as other women. They must still do the domestic work. So while upper and middle class women are embracing their freedom from the home, they are still helping to perpetuate the idea of domestic work being "women's work."

The connection to race within all of these issues of domestic work is also interesting. Immigrants are often forced to do lower class work because they do not have citizenship or may be working illegally. Many immigrants also might not have the communication skills to work many jobs. Therefore, they are marginalized and must do the work available to them. When they are being paid below minimum wage, that is a problem. Somehow, we need to regulate the amount paid to domestic workers because it further devalues the work to underpay it. While we keep women working in the home and continue to devalue that work, men are earning top dollar and benefitting from the lack of women in the work place. As someone who grew up in a house where both parents worked and both parents helped around the house, I did not see such a devaluing of domestic work. For example, my dad always cooked dinner because he got home before my mom. This splitting of the domestic work and out-of-house-work is one way to help break down those walls we have put up separating men and women. Treating workers well is another step to take.