Caring for our young: childcare in Europe and the United States
European countries, in general, are much more progressive in terms of government supported childcare than the United States. The quality of the care is also often better. The United States is increasingly realizing the importance of early childhood education, and many parents desire to enroll their children in preschool and want more places for their children to go (Clawson et. al 29). The United States government has realized that early childhood education and childcare is an important and good thing, however “…most attempts to improve US childcare are incremental, efforts to get a little more money here or there, with little consideration for what kind of system is being created” (Clawson et. al 30).
Most US parents struggle finding childcare. For 3 and 4 year old children with employed mothers, “…more than one out of eight are in three or more childcare arrangements, and almost half are in two or more arrangements…” (Clawson et. al 30). Parents have to constantly shift their children between caregivers and search for more childcare opportunities. In France, all children age 3 to 6 have a place in government sponsored childcare facilities, and many parents take advantage of this opportunity (Clawson et. al 30). The French system of childcare also integrates early education, as well as offering extra resources to specifically poor areas. The staff of childcare centers are also well-paid and educated, making it a much more desirable job than working at US childcare centers.
US childcare centers are expensive for parents. While some lower socioeconomic classes do receive financial assistance, it is minimal, and the government does not make up for the deficit. Quality of childcare is also quite diverse, depending on location, funding, and employees. The French childcare options are almost as expensive as those in the US, however parents do not pay, instead, the government does (Clawson et. al 31). Many Americans advocate adopting a French-like childcare system, especially because of its emphasis on early childhood education.
Another example of European childcare systems is Denmark. Danish childcare centers do not emphasize early childhood education like the French do. Danish childcare centers focus around social, unorganized times, with pedagogues, not teachers (Clawson et. al 32). This system also integrates all children 6 and under, unlike the French system which only applies to 3 to 6 year olds. And also, the Danish government run childcare options are only available to working parents (Clawson et. al 32). This system appeals to Americans who want their young children to be in a less structured, informal environment. This system stresses relaxation, socialization, and play. The pedagogues also, alternatively from teachers, act more as loving caregivers.
One major difference between most European childcare instead of US childcare, is that in the US caregivers are often paid low wages, have no special training, and are almost all women (Clawson et. al 33). They also often have lower staff-child ratios than European caregiving centers. However, it is debated whether the relationships children have with the caregivers or their peers is more important. Another striking difference is that although social expectations in the US often prompt mothers to stay at home, European companies usually offer more parental leave than US companies. Also, some European policies also cater to fathers’ paid leave, while few US policies do. The childcare system in the US does need modification, but parents and government must decide how to model and fund their new systems.
Developing Earner-Carer Policies in the US
The basis of this article is that government policies supporting childcare is possible in the US, based on what other countries have done. The US is far behind many European countries in terms of government sponsored childcare. This could be caused be several factors, including the decentralization of policy-making authority and hesitation of many Americans for the government to allow government to allocate resources for things that were traditionally private (Gornick 268). The US also differs from Europe and Canada in terms of racial and ethnic diversity of families. Many of these groups might be hostile to government intervention in childcare, traditionally believed to be private. Policies must include options for all Americans. These policies, the authors assert, are different from welfare. It is instead often known as a social provision (Gornick 270). The European policies, as stated in the above reading, often emphasize early childhood education, especially language education. The education also includes cultural learning, especially beneficial for children of immigrants, which is becoming a larger part of the population (Gornick 271).
One of the greatest barriers to government-sponsored childcare is that Americans often shy away from government intervention in personal lives. “…American parents want to be free to choose the type of care their child receives. The political pollster Ed Goeas, for example, observes that ‘people do believe that ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ but they want a village that expresses the values and beliefs they have” (qtd. in Gornick 272). This supports the heterogeneity of beliefs in the US, and each family wants to raise their child within their own values. However, government-sponsored childcare does not mean families would be forced to use these options. Also, flexibility in the options can be included to cater to several types of families, especially because single parenthood is especially prevalent in the US (Gornick 274). However, the research believes policies for single and dual parent households are feasible. Provisions include regulating work time, leave time, and providing access to affordable housing and healthcare (Gornick 275). Another difference US parents have is many more are in low-wage jobs. Policies for these parents would be especially important, however care policies alone will not economically level these families with others.
Another question is how government assistance to families with children will affect child rates. “In the United States, critics suggest that generous social welfare policies could increase birthrates and decrease marriage rates…have had [a potential to have a] ‘pronatalist’ orientation” (Gornick et. al 280). Europeans are currently experiencing declining fertility rates, some to the point of concern. Some Americans, in contrast, believe these policies might lead to increased fertility. Others also believe policies might lead to higher rates of single motherhood, but this has not happened in the majority of European countries. Another concern is that these policies would increase unemployment rates and even weakens the economy (Gornick et. al 284). However, European policies do seem economically possible for the US.
Another part of the debate is whether care benefits should be at the state or national level. In European countries, the policies are nationally decided, while in the US most policies are currently state based. The states are also where the majority of moves for more government-sponsored childcare come from. These efforts could eventually become national programs or federal-state levels (Gornick et. al 287).
As explained previously, the greatest barrier to instituting European-like childcare options is that many Americans are hesitant to let the government into this part of their personal life. However, they are “…supportive of government programs that are constructed as enhancing opportunities or providing support to those who are gainfully employed…most American parents say they believe that government should be doing more to support working families” (Gornick et. al 289). This leads some to believe that government childcare would be well received be Americans, as long as they allow options. Another important barrier is that some men will be against this shift in gender roles and carework. Other studies, however, report fathers would like to spend more time at home but feel this is unsupported by employers and coworkers (Gornick et. al 292). Resistance towards changing policies could also come from employers, who will be unwilling to set out the public programs for families that are similar to European programs because of possible costs (Gornick et. al 294). However, European countries did not largely suffer from these policies. Also, this could be good for productivity, because workers will be happier and work harder if there work week is shortened. The highly gendered carework in the US is alarming, but now more women move into the labor force and struggle finding childcare. Although no European model of government is perfect, the US can adopt many strategies they use to improve current childcare options.
The Work and Family Handbook
This author also begins by asserting the US’s shortcomings in public policies for families. One particular area the US is behind in is family leave policies, because the US provides no law for parental leave with the birth of a newborn (Kelly 99), instead it is decided by companies. Some are provided with unpaid family leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act, but not all (Kelly 100). There are several restrictions workers must meet to be eligible for unpaid leave, and it is, as named, unpaid, therefore many people cannot afford to take time off. Many companies also do not comply to FMLA rules. This leads many women to take the parental leave, since it is unpaid and they often earn less than their husbands, so men usually cannot choose to take a leave from work (Kelly 101). For companies that provide some form of paid maternity leave, this solely applies to women. These laws, however, differ state by state.
European countries, by contrast, offer much more flexible family leave policies that are paid more than US employees. Each nation has its own laws about time of family leave, payment, and whether it can be for men, women, or both. Some countries go as far as to promote father’s parental leave by providing “individual, nontransferable leave benefits” (Kelly 103). And families do not have to worry about losing the immense amount of income that US couples worry about. Each country has its own laws, however, but all are considered more generous than US policies.
Asian countries have also been attempting to revise family leave policy and extend it to men as well. Currently, Japan and South Korea offer better family leave policies than the US (Kelly 104). These policies include large portion of wage retention, a specific amount off, and benefits for both men and women.
Currently, US parents must find their own childcare options. Although the US provides some support to the poorest families, it is far from enough. The benefits the neediest families receive include tax breaks, subsidized care, and welfare (Kelly 105). These options all keep the government removed from the childcare centers themselves, because Americans often fear governmental interference in their private lives. Therefore, tax deductions are often used because then the parents themselves choose how to spend that money on childcare. However, “tax breaks provide greater benefits to higher-income families than lower income families” (Kelly 106), so it often does not help those most in need. Another way the government tries to indirectly provide childcare is by encouraging employer-based childcare centers, and those employers receive tax credits. The state, not federal, governments are in charge of controlling the quality of childcare centers, which are low in comparison to other industrialized nations.
European countries usually offer childcare for children ages 3-schoolage. The government, ensuring high quality care, much more rigorously controls childcare. Several Asian countries also have more developed childcare systems, especially Japan.
Another way governments can help working families is by mandating lower-hour workweeks. Employers do not have to subscribe to any specific laws about limiting time at work, and do not protect against mandatory overtime (Kelly 109). Many workers feel pressured to work long hours to keep their jobs, and new parents want to prove their remaining dedication to work. Women are especially pressured to commit to more hours. Women who only have time for part time jobs have much lower wages (Kelly 110). Most other Western nations, by contrast, regulate work hours more rigorously. There is a hourly cap, including overtime, enforced by the European Union, as well as paid vacation time (Kelly 111).
Countries providing government care assistance can be classified into three groups, “a. whether their policies are available universally to all citizens or are targeted at specific groups of citizens, b. the generosity and quality of benefits provided, and c. the extend of ‘de-commoditfication’ or the degree to which ‘a person can maintain a livelihood without reliance on the [labor market]” (qtd. in Kelly 113). The policies vary based on the social beliefs and governmental roles of each country. Work-family policies have positive effects on women’s wages and encourages them to remain in the workforce, and regulation of part-time work pay and hours would also be beneficial for mothers.
Creating Gender Egalitarian Societies: An Agenda for Reform
Women and men are quickly approaching equally employment rates in many countries. This leads to shorter time at home for both men and women. Without an institutional reform, American parents are going to be spending less and less time with their children. The current policies also do not support gender egalitarianism. The traditional role, of male-breadwinner and female domestic worked, began to change after WWII (Gornick et al. 316). The rate of female employees has also grown in many European countries. However, social policies have been slow in catching up with the gender equality advancements in the workplace. Families experience a serious lack of time together, and parents scramble for childcare options. Children also suffer from parents’ long hours, “employment arrangements that great reduce parents’ time and attention for their children appear to pose the greatest risk for child well-being” (Gornick et. al 319). The interests of all family members, fathers, mothers, and children, must be considered while making social family-work policy changes. Most families lie somewhere on a spectrum of both parents employed full-time and neither parents employed (Gornick et. al 322), and the labor market must respond to their flexibly. The incentive for these changes should be higher than the employer-level, and similar to European models, be left to the government (Gornick et. al 323). The author believes that the best way to provide this is a combination of several elements that European countries feature: “paid family leave, regulation of working time, and early childhood education and care” (Gornick et. al 324). Leave policies should also be extended to both genders, including immediately following childbirth. Leave should also include full pay. Regulation of work time is also important so that both men and women can spend more time at home. However, questions about pay and hours also bring about a debate. Early childhood education is also important, which is why many European countries emphasize early childcare education, not daycare (Gornick et. al 326). This education must substitute for time that parents are at work.
Although each European countries’ laws differ, they all have in common maternity leave policies and benefits, gender neutral parental leaves, support gender equality in the home and workplace, provide work time regulations, and are financed through social insurance to help distribute and minimize costs (Gornick et. al 329). The Nordic countries are especially generous in terms of benefits and promoting gender equality (Gornick et. al 331).
The early childhood education in European countries also include publicly supported care for infants and toddlers, affordable early education around age 3, high-quality care centers, and knowledgeable employees (Gornick et. al 334). Although many Americans might shy away from public childcare centers because of government intervention in personal life, it has proved beneficial in many European countries and systems like this are possible in the US.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Blog entry #10
What’s wrong with prostitution?
This article is based on the author’s field study of San Francisco prostitutes. The author discusses three viewpoints on prostitution: radical feminist critiques of prostitution, pro-feminist defense of prostitution, and contextualized feminist approaches to the sex-work dichotomy (Bernstein 95).
The radical feminists’ critique of prostitution explains that is different from traditional wage labor because of the sexual objectification within the occupation. The sale of the body is different than the sale of any other commodity. It is not based on emotional work, merely sex work. Prostitution puts the male within a position of power, he is the one paying and therefore, controlling the woman for the time he is with her.
In defense of prostitution, some feminists say it actually puts women in power. They are free to express their sexuality, going against the traditional gender roles. Prostitution is often thought of as a last-resort option, these women are thought to not have another employment opportunities. While this is true for some of these women, there are ranges of women who become prostitutes. There are also moral stigmatisms that accompany sex-work.
The author found three classes of strippers in her study- upper, middle, and lower classes (Bernstein 102). Classes were determined by their race and physical appearance. The upper class prostitutes are better dressed, better looking, and might not be recognized by the majority of the public as sex-workers. The most important feature of prostitutes is that “… there is no other job at which they could make anywhere near a comparable wage” (Bernstein 104). Prostitution gives women sexual power; they can price themselves and pick and choose their customers. This is dependent on if these women work for themselves or a pimp, who otherwise determines wages. However, sometimes the relationship between pimp and prostitute is caring, and they both look out for each other. The women also face physical violence from their clients and pimps, but are often unable or discouraged to seek medical treatment because of possible law enforcement repercussions or lack of funds. The pimps protect women from other pimps, but not from their clients or the police. San Francisco police are rather liberal, often citing prostitutes with more petty crimes. COYOTE (Call Off Your Tired Ethics) is the national prostitutes’ rights organization founded in San Francisco (Bernstein 110). Most members of this organization are white, middle class, and educated, mostly prostitutes or exotic dancers. COYOTE uses the term sex-workers to avoid the negative connotations associated with prostitution. At one point in their lives, these women crossed a “good girl-bad girl” line, diverting from their upbringing and shedding traditional occupations (Bernstein 112). However, besides economic gain many sex-workers describe the enjoyment they receive from their sex-work occupations. These prostitutes are usually “professional sex-workers”, and not those walking the streets. These women usually meet criteria for avoiding degradation in their occupations, having “… control over their sexuality, meaningful consent, self management and promotion, and alternative life options” (Bernstein 114). Streetwalkers are more often “crack prostitutes”, working for drugs and living a lower-class lifestyle. They are often homeless and make significantly less money than professional sex-workers do. They have little or no options for other professions, and barely survive with the wages they earn.
Sex work for the middle classes
The author begins by citing the biggest obstacles to sex-work as shame and ignorance (Bernstein 474). Technology, mainly the Internet, has opened up a new frontier for sex-work. As cited in the above article, sex-work is not simply a lower-class occupation, many white, middle-class, educated women also participate in sex-work. Jobs for these women are often are to come by and do not pay as much as jobs in the sex-work industry. Sex-work jobs also often seem more excited than typical desk jobs. Women often view sex-work jobs as just a quick occupation when they need money, but remain in the industry because of the money and enjoyment they receive from their jobs. The majority of sex-workers are unmarried and without children, and have a freer and more experimental view of sex than most Americans (Bernstein 478). The success of any sex-worker depends on her built up list of clientele, which people can begin while working for an agency but then eventually work independently. Women are often economically exploited by their sex-work managers, so they desire to move away from them quickly.
The internet is one of the quickest ways for sex-workers to develop clientele. Women can post advertisements, pictures, videos, and more on the webpage to entice and contact clients. Women also organize meetings to discuss their sex-work, including safe sex practices, how to find safe clients, and other professional advice (Bernstein 481). Books and websites have also been dedicated to instructing sex-workers how to create and run their business.
Sex-work also requires certain boundaries. The commodity being sold is sex, not a personal relationship, so it is important to keep interpersonal connections separate from sex-work. However, for the customers, such as those in a strip club study, often find “realness” within interactions with strippers (Bernstein 484). These customers look for natural looking, outgoing women who are easy to talk to. Some of those sex-workers describe feigning loving relationships for their clients because they appreciate it more.
Who’s orgasm is this anyway?
Couples are constantly faced with desires from the outside world, making having a pure, monogamous relationship more difficult. Men are always referred to as unemotional, looking for sexual fulfillment in other women (Duncombe and Marsden 221). Sex-work is not only for prostitutes, but also has to occur within relationships. This exchange of resources between partners usually “… tends to be tilted towards men. Yet male actors do not invariably deploy their power, nor do women always defer…” (Duncombe and Marsden 222). There are several viewpoints on the source of sexual pleasure for women, all giving some degree of power to the men. Relationship satisfaction is hard to reach, especially because one study found most people constantly compare their own relationships to those within the media (Duncombe and Marsden 225), often creating impossible standards. Men were found to want their women to be slightly sexual assertive, while women enjoyed gentle sexual dominance of males. Other studies have also found that married couples sexual activity experiences a decline during the duration of the relationships (Duncombe and Marsden 225). Sex becomes a special occasion, not something frequent and important to the marriage. While each couple may blame it on different things, husbands and wives have both admitted to fault in their sexual relationships. Both partners also admitted a reluctance to discuss the problem.
This lack of sex leads partners to look outside of their relationship for sexual pleasure. These outlets include pornography, masturbation, and different sex techniques (Duncombe and Marsden 230). After emotional distance separates some couples, partners are unable to have sex with their partners. Celibacy sometimes also leads to affairs, where partners can find their sexual, and sometimes emotional satisfaction, elsewhere (Duncombe and Marsden 232). Women are more interested in mutual sexual satisfaction than men are often found to be. However, in time, women often lose their desire to perform sex work as well. Fantasy is also a part of sex-work for both partners, especially as time passes. However, sex-work does become work after the passage of time, and it is unkown how to keep authentic, real, and enjoyable sex in a long-term relationship.
‘Stepford Wives’ and ‘hollow men’?
there are gender differences in emotional work, most important are those concerning power (Duncombe and Marsden 212). Women often bear the burden of the emotional work, trying to promote communication, which is often how they achieve intimacy. This also extends further than just partner relationships, as women are usually responsible for the communication in all relationships. Men’s emotional work is seen in a different way, they usually respond that they do paid work for their family, not themselves, and many of them may think this shows their emotional ties (Duncombe and Marsden 214). They claim that with the birth of their children, they put more emotion work into the workplace. Instead of focusing emotions on their wives and children, men switch their focus to work. One problem people cite for emotion work is that overtime it becomes an obligation, sometimes people do not really care but simply perform the work because they feel they ought to (Duncombe and Marsden 215). People “perform” their gender by performing the carework associated with it. The authentic work usually has little emotional component. Men, especially, report a difficult time performing emotion work, and both genders report feeling pressured to perform different types of emotion work.
This article is based on the author’s field study of San Francisco prostitutes. The author discusses three viewpoints on prostitution: radical feminist critiques of prostitution, pro-feminist defense of prostitution, and contextualized feminist approaches to the sex-work dichotomy (Bernstein 95).
The radical feminists’ critique of prostitution explains that is different from traditional wage labor because of the sexual objectification within the occupation. The sale of the body is different than the sale of any other commodity. It is not based on emotional work, merely sex work. Prostitution puts the male within a position of power, he is the one paying and therefore, controlling the woman for the time he is with her.
In defense of prostitution, some feminists say it actually puts women in power. They are free to express their sexuality, going against the traditional gender roles. Prostitution is often thought of as a last-resort option, these women are thought to not have another employment opportunities. While this is true for some of these women, there are ranges of women who become prostitutes. There are also moral stigmatisms that accompany sex-work.
The author found three classes of strippers in her study- upper, middle, and lower classes (Bernstein 102). Classes were determined by their race and physical appearance. The upper class prostitutes are better dressed, better looking, and might not be recognized by the majority of the public as sex-workers. The most important feature of prostitutes is that “… there is no other job at which they could make anywhere near a comparable wage” (Bernstein 104). Prostitution gives women sexual power; they can price themselves and pick and choose their customers. This is dependent on if these women work for themselves or a pimp, who otherwise determines wages. However, sometimes the relationship between pimp and prostitute is caring, and they both look out for each other. The women also face physical violence from their clients and pimps, but are often unable or discouraged to seek medical treatment because of possible law enforcement repercussions or lack of funds. The pimps protect women from other pimps, but not from their clients or the police. San Francisco police are rather liberal, often citing prostitutes with more petty crimes. COYOTE (Call Off Your Tired Ethics) is the national prostitutes’ rights organization founded in San Francisco (Bernstein 110). Most members of this organization are white, middle class, and educated, mostly prostitutes or exotic dancers. COYOTE uses the term sex-workers to avoid the negative connotations associated with prostitution. At one point in their lives, these women crossed a “good girl-bad girl” line, diverting from their upbringing and shedding traditional occupations (Bernstein 112). However, besides economic gain many sex-workers describe the enjoyment they receive from their sex-work occupations. These prostitutes are usually “professional sex-workers”, and not those walking the streets. These women usually meet criteria for avoiding degradation in their occupations, having “… control over their sexuality, meaningful consent, self management and promotion, and alternative life options” (Bernstein 114). Streetwalkers are more often “crack prostitutes”, working for drugs and living a lower-class lifestyle. They are often homeless and make significantly less money than professional sex-workers do. They have little or no options for other professions, and barely survive with the wages they earn.
Sex work for the middle classes
The author begins by citing the biggest obstacles to sex-work as shame and ignorance (Bernstein 474). Technology, mainly the Internet, has opened up a new frontier for sex-work. As cited in the above article, sex-work is not simply a lower-class occupation, many white, middle-class, educated women also participate in sex-work. Jobs for these women are often are to come by and do not pay as much as jobs in the sex-work industry. Sex-work jobs also often seem more excited than typical desk jobs. Women often view sex-work jobs as just a quick occupation when they need money, but remain in the industry because of the money and enjoyment they receive from their jobs. The majority of sex-workers are unmarried and without children, and have a freer and more experimental view of sex than most Americans (Bernstein 478). The success of any sex-worker depends on her built up list of clientele, which people can begin while working for an agency but then eventually work independently. Women are often economically exploited by their sex-work managers, so they desire to move away from them quickly.
The internet is one of the quickest ways for sex-workers to develop clientele. Women can post advertisements, pictures, videos, and more on the webpage to entice and contact clients. Women also organize meetings to discuss their sex-work, including safe sex practices, how to find safe clients, and other professional advice (Bernstein 481). Books and websites have also been dedicated to instructing sex-workers how to create and run their business.
Sex-work also requires certain boundaries. The commodity being sold is sex, not a personal relationship, so it is important to keep interpersonal connections separate from sex-work. However, for the customers, such as those in a strip club study, often find “realness” within interactions with strippers (Bernstein 484). These customers look for natural looking, outgoing women who are easy to talk to. Some of those sex-workers describe feigning loving relationships for their clients because they appreciate it more.
Who’s orgasm is this anyway?
Couples are constantly faced with desires from the outside world, making having a pure, monogamous relationship more difficult. Men are always referred to as unemotional, looking for sexual fulfillment in other women (Duncombe and Marsden 221). Sex-work is not only for prostitutes, but also has to occur within relationships. This exchange of resources between partners usually “… tends to be tilted towards men. Yet male actors do not invariably deploy their power, nor do women always defer…” (Duncombe and Marsden 222). There are several viewpoints on the source of sexual pleasure for women, all giving some degree of power to the men. Relationship satisfaction is hard to reach, especially because one study found most people constantly compare their own relationships to those within the media (Duncombe and Marsden 225), often creating impossible standards. Men were found to want their women to be slightly sexual assertive, while women enjoyed gentle sexual dominance of males. Other studies have also found that married couples sexual activity experiences a decline during the duration of the relationships (Duncombe and Marsden 225). Sex becomes a special occasion, not something frequent and important to the marriage. While each couple may blame it on different things, husbands and wives have both admitted to fault in their sexual relationships. Both partners also admitted a reluctance to discuss the problem.
This lack of sex leads partners to look outside of their relationship for sexual pleasure. These outlets include pornography, masturbation, and different sex techniques (Duncombe and Marsden 230). After emotional distance separates some couples, partners are unable to have sex with their partners. Celibacy sometimes also leads to affairs, where partners can find their sexual, and sometimes emotional satisfaction, elsewhere (Duncombe and Marsden 232). Women are more interested in mutual sexual satisfaction than men are often found to be. However, in time, women often lose their desire to perform sex work as well. Fantasy is also a part of sex-work for both partners, especially as time passes. However, sex-work does become work after the passage of time, and it is unkown how to keep authentic, real, and enjoyable sex in a long-term relationship.
‘Stepford Wives’ and ‘hollow men’?
there are gender differences in emotional work, most important are those concerning power (Duncombe and Marsden 212). Women often bear the burden of the emotional work, trying to promote communication, which is often how they achieve intimacy. This also extends further than just partner relationships, as women are usually responsible for the communication in all relationships. Men’s emotional work is seen in a different way, they usually respond that they do paid work for their family, not themselves, and many of them may think this shows their emotional ties (Duncombe and Marsden 214). They claim that with the birth of their children, they put more emotion work into the workplace. Instead of focusing emotions on their wives and children, men switch their focus to work. One problem people cite for emotion work is that overtime it becomes an obligation, sometimes people do not really care but simply perform the work because they feel they ought to (Duncombe and Marsden 215). People “perform” their gender by performing the carework associated with it. The authentic work usually has little emotional component. Men, especially, report a difficult time performing emotion work, and both genders report feeling pressured to perform different types of emotion work.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Blog entry #9
The Place of Caregiving Work in Contemporary Societies
Caregiving often does not get the time and attention paid to it that it once did. Men and women both share caregiving roles, although women alone have been responsible for the physical care and reproduction. This has never been viewed as work, instead as a loving and nurturing task. Women are responsible for four-fifths of unpaid work, as well as one-third of paid work, however only receive 105 of the world’s income (Bonnar). Both paid and unpaid work of women is often undervalued. The early feminist movement represented the desire of women to do paid work and be more valued. However, employment often added more stress to women’s lives, because they now faced work outside and inside the home. The literature on housework is varied. Many studies examined the economic value of housework, estimating that homemakers are worth about ten thousand to forty thousand a year (Bonnar). Other studies, instead, trivialized housework and devalued it.
Housework is composed of domestic tasks and child rearing. It also requires care of the worker. There is a distinction between housework and caregiving, but housework is usually done out of care. Caregiving, however, is the more important of the two. Many people do caregiving, but it is important to have some constant people. Employed mothers, in order to do their caregiving, have even more planning to do because they need to schedule out their time for caregiving. Mothers hold the purchasing power for household products and also what their children buy.
The author designates four reasons why the detailing the thought going into caregiving is important. These reasons include that the nature of the work is usually not completely understood, that it is not possible to outsource all the caregiving tasks, that the workplace is often not conducive to caregivers, and finally because the market sector and domestic sector are not compatible. Working mothers have a small range of jobs to pick from, because most are not flexible to caregiving chores. Because of the little value of caregiving, it is often “squeezed for many people to the edges of available time and energy (Bonnar 197).
Internationally, women remain the primary caregivers. Although more women work for wages now, they are still responsible for most of the domestic tasks. Also, the jobs usually held by women are not as high paying as those held by men. Socialist countries, such as Sweden, are one of the more gender-neutral countries today, and it is the stance of the government that “…every individual, regardless of sex, shall have the same responsibility for child upbringing and housework” (qtd. in Bonnar 198). However, there is still a significant wage difference between men and women, which makes it more fiscally responsible for the woman to do most childcare tasks. Women’s jobs also often require less skill and are socially undervalued.
Women often desire wage jobs, but tradition and policy have made carework unpaid. Therefore, the carework and parenting becomes undervalued and pushed secondary to paid work. Societies emphasis on material wealth makes unpaid work underappreciated. For women to be more productive in the workplace the hours a job demands must lessen and also be more flexible for family emergencies, since it is usually the mother responsible for those situations.
Another option, instead of making paid work more flexible, is to make domestic work paid work. The government would then pay wages for domestic labor on an hourly rate. Another option is to pay caregivers, those responsible for the physical well being of other humans. People would be paid depending on the age, physical conditions (mental illness, handicapped, etc), and number of people they are responsible for.
The prospect of waging caregivers is often met with opposition. Feminists often believe it will further force women back into the home. However, men could also choose to do caregiver work instead of getting a job outside the home. Others cite that caregiving should be done out of love, not for wages.
New World Domestic Order
Latino and Latina immigrants perform a large portion of the Los Angeles domestic work. The services they perform are widespread and inexpensive, even though they are labor-intensive and difficult tasks for the workers. Instead of domestic labor outsourcing decreasing lately, as predicted, it has instead expanded, especially Mexican and Central American women as housekeepers and nannies (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
Many of these women in performing paid domestic labor are married and with children. Therefore, these women are responsible for taking care of their own home and children as well as others. Nannies are perceived as more caring and nurturing then the daycares, when children can get lost in the crowd. Also, nannies can mold around parents’ schedules, unlike daycares. These nannies are also usually responsible for housekeeping tasks. These jobs are often underpaid, even though pay inequality was predicted to lessen after World War II (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Los Angeles is one of the cities with the most Mexican and Central American women employed in these domestic labor tasks. Domestic laborers are also a sign of prestige for the residents of Los Angeles. “… in Los Angeles’ suburban landscape, gardeners and domestic workers proliferate… twice as many gardeners and domestic workers were working in Los Angeles in 1990 as in 1980” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 7). While Mexicans have always had a large presence in Los Angeles, Central American immigrants have experienced a large influx lately. Domestic labor is often looked down upon by those who perform it and those who pay for it, “… this occupation is often not recognized as employment because it takes place in a private home” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Also, domestic labor is traditionally preformed out of love, and because of its emotional component, not recognized as paid labor.
Perhaps more importantly than the domestic laborers themselves not seeing their work as legitimate, the employers often do not believe themselves to be employers (Hondagneu-Sotelo). They sometimes call their laborers “part of the family”, but there is still a tension because of being paid. Employers treating their domestic employees as workers “… encourage the domestic employees to work harder and longer, and simultaneously allow employers to experience personal recognition and validation of themselves as kind, superior, and altruistic. Maternalism is thus an important mechanism of employer power” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Especially as nannies, the employers create emotional ties with the families they work for and therefore are more likely to let themselves be exploited by their employers.
However, lately this dual-sided emotional connection has become mostly the desire of the employees to be closer to their employers. “They want social recognition and appreciation for who they are and what they do…” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). The employers, however, are often reluctant to discuss their employees. It is a luxury that often goes unnoticed and is not discussed. The employees also devalue their work, admitting to not aspiring to it. However, “… they are extremely proud of what their earnings enable them to accomplish for their families” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Also, labor regulations for domestic work are virtually unknown by anyone.
Primarily those of lower socioeconomic status have always done domestic work, however, both American-born white women and immigrants preformed it. However, lately solely immigrant workers or nonwhites have preformed it. Black women have predominantly preformed the domestic labor in the South, but now has shifted to Mexican or Central Americans, especially in the Southwest states, such as California. This is due to the high rates of immigration, as well as the rise of racialized xenophobia (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Mexican and Central American women are often forced into the dead end domestic labor jobs, and portrayed as lazy or unmotivated, but often they just have no other opportunities. The racialization of domestic work is present in most developed countries around the world. Globally, paid domestic work has led to three factors- paid domestic work is usually preformed by people who leave their own homes to do it, it draws women who were of high status in their own countries away, and international migration of women laborers. One thing that sets apart the United States from other countries is there is no official government policy to contract foreign domestic laborers (Hondagneu-Sotelo). In the United States, domestic work is informal and done with little government regulation.
Domestic labor remains, in large, a woman’s task. Even when people outsource domestic work, women are in charge of the hiring. While outsourcing domestic tasks as well as quicker and simpler ways to perform domestic tasks have cut down on number of hours worked, it is still the women that perform the majority of the tasks. The women are usually responsible for organizing their children’s lives as well, and due the majority of child rearing. However, when a woman performs paid work as a nanny or housekeeper, that diminishes the time they can spend with their own family. They spend time, instead, connecting with the family they work for and building emotional ties with them. These domestic laborers fit into three categories- live-in nanny/housekeepers, live-out nanny/housekeeper, and housecleaner (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
Maid in L.A.
Although Latina immigrants often work in low-paying domestic once they move to the United States, they usually were not domestic workers in their previous homes. Because it does require some money to move to a new country, people must have some money. Live-in nanny jobs are especially convenient for those who do not have enough money to get a place of their own when they first come to the United States. The employers of domestic workers often do not acknowledge the previous jobs or education their employees had, instead treating them with little respect. Privacy is also difficult for live-in nannies; even those that have their own room still must share common space with their employers. The line between work and home life also becomes incredibly blurred for these employees; especially those who are on call during the night or live in a room with a child. Along with room, live-in nannies are usually provided board, but this is somewhat ambiguous, and employees often feel uncomfortable expressing their food preferences and when they want to eat their meals. Some women also say there are designated foods only for the family, and are left with scarce options. Although many of the families employing domestic laborers are in the upper class, they still grossly underpay their employees. The time constraints also keep the workers from their families for days at a time. Live-in nanny jobs, because of the reasons listen above, are the least desired of the domestic jobs. Mostly, people who have not been in the country long enough to afford room and board for themselves, and are somewhat forced into the position.
Live-out nanny jobs follow a much more rigid schedule than live-in nanny jobs, but are nonetheless demanding. The work and home are truly separate for these employees, and they can designate time for their own families. They still develop strong loving bonds with some of the children they care for, however. Many of the responsibilities include picking up children from school and various activities, as well as food preparation for the children. Some parents who use live-out nannies hire help so they can both work, however one nanny expressed, “La Americana is very selfish, she only thinks about herself. They prefer not to be with their children, as they find it’s much easier to pay someone to do that” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 40). Some nannies believe they are hired just so that mothers do not need to spend more time with their children, and this way they can decide how often they interact with their children. These parents also rarely discipline their children, and hostility is often taken out on nannies. Disciplining is hard for nannies to do, the way Latina culture disciplines varies from the traditional American way, and discipline is often reserved by the parents. Sometimes, however, the children only listen to their nannies, as they spend most time with them. This respect for the nanny sometimes makes parents jealous that their children may love their nannies more than them. The nannies often feel similar affection for the children, which can strain their own family ties.
Housecleaners are the least involved of the domestic laborers. Housecleaners usually split their week between working at the homes of several families. These women report that the hours are convenient to being with their families and feel that they still spend a good amount of time with their families. One woman interviewed states that housecleaning was easier than many of the other job options for one with her qualifications, and pays more than other jobs. Usually housecleaners had been living in the United States for a while, often previously working as a live-in or live-out nanny, and usually have children of their own as well. One of the hardest parts of housecleaning is finding enough work, because these women have to find multiple families to hire them. When they do not have enough families for a week, they have to find alternative means of earning money that week. Overall, the housecleaning jobs are those taken by the people who have been in the United States for longer, and these people receive significant more wages than some of the other domestic laborers do. They also work the most desirable hours and have the most time available to spend with their families. Live-in nanny jobs often separate families, making mothers only see their children once a week or simply having to mail home their wages. The mothers who send their families home checks for their domestic work are common, and this is known as “transnational motherhood” (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
While nonwhites have traditionally preformed domestic work, there is a disproportionate number of Central American employees (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Los Angeles especially has a large amount of Central American domestic workers, because of both its location and the patterns and traditions that kept Central American workers in domestic labor force. When first moving to the United States, women look to their social contacts for opportunities for work, usually domestic labor. These jobs often also provide a place to live, and women often see these jobs as an easy option. Cultural forces, such as the low marriage rate in Central America, lead women to migrate because they might not have a family, and if they do, then they often must leave as the sole breadwinners of their families, and send their money back. There are a multitude of reasons families prefer Latina domestic employees, mostly that they trust Latinas to keep family secrets of what they might see while working in the house. They are also viewed as more submissive and servile. Ironically, women who employee domestic workers identify their heritage as clean and hygienic, but do not perform the cleaning themselves. Some employees also display racist attitudes towards their employers. Stereotypes are applied and quickly learned for domestic employers, as well as employees.
The “Nanny” Question in Feminism
The great accomplishment of moving women out of the home and allowing them into the workplace was vital part of the feminist movement. However, this leaves the question of what to do with children whose mothers leave for the workplace. Partners can use a rotating schedule, or professional daycare or nanny services. This author also asserts that live-in, full time nannying is the most difficult of all domestic jobs.
The author deciphers several differences between hiring domestic laborers and purchasing labor and services. These include that the house setting, in private, is often not thought of as employment, because the relationships between domestic laborer and employer and more intimate than in market relationships, and that the product of domestic labor is often a relationship between caregiver and children (Tronto). He also mentions three perspectives of the employees, the first of which is the worker.
Domestic workers are paid low wages, especially when they are live-in nannies. However, the most important thing to the workers is not the wages, however it is “… that they are not accorded sufficient respect and dignity. From the standpoint of workers, the moral stress of being a domestic worker is great” (Tronto 38). Workers are forced to act in the manner that their employer believes desirable and acceptable, and people lose their own values and self worth then. There are few laws to ensure welfare of domestic laborers, and those that do exist are rarely enforced. Caring for children and the elderly is undervalued in the United States, unlike most other cultures. However, the unique bond that develops between caregivers and children makes it difficult for women to leave their jobs as domestic laborers. The employee holds very little power over their position, instead the employer, usually the wife and mother, is in control of the relationship the caregiver has with children and the family. The mother holds all control over the relationship, and can demand her caregiver acts a certain way. This can make the mother act in a tyrannical way, or feel guilty for the low wages and hardships of the job she inflicts upon the worker (Tronto).
Having a nanny and multiple caregivers can be both beneficial and harmful for children. Having a nanny around, meeting children’s needs, may make children believe adults will always be there to cater to their needs (Tronto). However, caregivers are important source of love and intimacy for children. Also, caregivers are usually a different race than the children they care for, which might provoke racial stereotyping by children.
For many families, having a nanny is a status symbol. Upper class mothers are expected to outsource at least some domestic tasks to domestic laborers. Mothers are also urged to outsource many of the childrearing tasks to professionals- children are encouraged to participate in many activities, keeping them largely out of the home. However, parents are often skeptical of large daycare or childcare establishments, so they instead turn to nannies. Therefore, parents alleviate guilt in hiring domestic laborers by believing they are doing it for the good of their children.
The concept of intensive mothering has made it so no matter how much time mothers spend with their children and how much time they allocate for other caregivers, they still do not feel they provide their children with adequate hours of caregiving. For feminists, there is also no solution for what to do with children when their mothers go off toe be a part of the labor force.
Caregiving often does not get the time and attention paid to it that it once did. Men and women both share caregiving roles, although women alone have been responsible for the physical care and reproduction. This has never been viewed as work, instead as a loving and nurturing task. Women are responsible for four-fifths of unpaid work, as well as one-third of paid work, however only receive 105 of the world’s income (Bonnar). Both paid and unpaid work of women is often undervalued. The early feminist movement represented the desire of women to do paid work and be more valued. However, employment often added more stress to women’s lives, because they now faced work outside and inside the home. The literature on housework is varied. Many studies examined the economic value of housework, estimating that homemakers are worth about ten thousand to forty thousand a year (Bonnar). Other studies, instead, trivialized housework and devalued it.
Housework is composed of domestic tasks and child rearing. It also requires care of the worker. There is a distinction between housework and caregiving, but housework is usually done out of care. Caregiving, however, is the more important of the two. Many people do caregiving, but it is important to have some constant people. Employed mothers, in order to do their caregiving, have even more planning to do because they need to schedule out their time for caregiving. Mothers hold the purchasing power for household products and also what their children buy.
The author designates four reasons why the detailing the thought going into caregiving is important. These reasons include that the nature of the work is usually not completely understood, that it is not possible to outsource all the caregiving tasks, that the workplace is often not conducive to caregivers, and finally because the market sector and domestic sector are not compatible. Working mothers have a small range of jobs to pick from, because most are not flexible to caregiving chores. Because of the little value of caregiving, it is often “squeezed for many people to the edges of available time and energy (Bonnar 197).
Internationally, women remain the primary caregivers. Although more women work for wages now, they are still responsible for most of the domestic tasks. Also, the jobs usually held by women are not as high paying as those held by men. Socialist countries, such as Sweden, are one of the more gender-neutral countries today, and it is the stance of the government that “…every individual, regardless of sex, shall have the same responsibility for child upbringing and housework” (qtd. in Bonnar 198). However, there is still a significant wage difference between men and women, which makes it more fiscally responsible for the woman to do most childcare tasks. Women’s jobs also often require less skill and are socially undervalued.
Women often desire wage jobs, but tradition and policy have made carework unpaid. Therefore, the carework and parenting becomes undervalued and pushed secondary to paid work. Societies emphasis on material wealth makes unpaid work underappreciated. For women to be more productive in the workplace the hours a job demands must lessen and also be more flexible for family emergencies, since it is usually the mother responsible for those situations.
Another option, instead of making paid work more flexible, is to make domestic work paid work. The government would then pay wages for domestic labor on an hourly rate. Another option is to pay caregivers, those responsible for the physical well being of other humans. People would be paid depending on the age, physical conditions (mental illness, handicapped, etc), and number of people they are responsible for.
The prospect of waging caregivers is often met with opposition. Feminists often believe it will further force women back into the home. However, men could also choose to do caregiver work instead of getting a job outside the home. Others cite that caregiving should be done out of love, not for wages.
New World Domestic Order
Latino and Latina immigrants perform a large portion of the Los Angeles domestic work. The services they perform are widespread and inexpensive, even though they are labor-intensive and difficult tasks for the workers. Instead of domestic labor outsourcing decreasing lately, as predicted, it has instead expanded, especially Mexican and Central American women as housekeepers and nannies (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
Many of these women in performing paid domestic labor are married and with children. Therefore, these women are responsible for taking care of their own home and children as well as others. Nannies are perceived as more caring and nurturing then the daycares, when children can get lost in the crowd. Also, nannies can mold around parents’ schedules, unlike daycares. These nannies are also usually responsible for housekeeping tasks. These jobs are often underpaid, even though pay inequality was predicted to lessen after World War II (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Los Angeles is one of the cities with the most Mexican and Central American women employed in these domestic labor tasks. Domestic laborers are also a sign of prestige for the residents of Los Angeles. “… in Los Angeles’ suburban landscape, gardeners and domestic workers proliferate… twice as many gardeners and domestic workers were working in Los Angeles in 1990 as in 1980” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 7). While Mexicans have always had a large presence in Los Angeles, Central American immigrants have experienced a large influx lately. Domestic labor is often looked down upon by those who perform it and those who pay for it, “… this occupation is often not recognized as employment because it takes place in a private home” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Also, domestic labor is traditionally preformed out of love, and because of its emotional component, not recognized as paid labor.
Perhaps more importantly than the domestic laborers themselves not seeing their work as legitimate, the employers often do not believe themselves to be employers (Hondagneu-Sotelo). They sometimes call their laborers “part of the family”, but there is still a tension because of being paid. Employers treating their domestic employees as workers “… encourage the domestic employees to work harder and longer, and simultaneously allow employers to experience personal recognition and validation of themselves as kind, superior, and altruistic. Maternalism is thus an important mechanism of employer power” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Especially as nannies, the employers create emotional ties with the families they work for and therefore are more likely to let themselves be exploited by their employers.
However, lately this dual-sided emotional connection has become mostly the desire of the employees to be closer to their employers. “They want social recognition and appreciation for who they are and what they do…” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). The employers, however, are often reluctant to discuss their employees. It is a luxury that often goes unnoticed and is not discussed. The employees also devalue their work, admitting to not aspiring to it. However, “… they are extremely proud of what their earnings enable them to accomplish for their families” (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Also, labor regulations for domestic work are virtually unknown by anyone.
Primarily those of lower socioeconomic status have always done domestic work, however, both American-born white women and immigrants preformed it. However, lately solely immigrant workers or nonwhites have preformed it. Black women have predominantly preformed the domestic labor in the South, but now has shifted to Mexican or Central Americans, especially in the Southwest states, such as California. This is due to the high rates of immigration, as well as the rise of racialized xenophobia (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Mexican and Central American women are often forced into the dead end domestic labor jobs, and portrayed as lazy or unmotivated, but often they just have no other opportunities. The racialization of domestic work is present in most developed countries around the world. Globally, paid domestic work has led to three factors- paid domestic work is usually preformed by people who leave their own homes to do it, it draws women who were of high status in their own countries away, and international migration of women laborers. One thing that sets apart the United States from other countries is there is no official government policy to contract foreign domestic laborers (Hondagneu-Sotelo). In the United States, domestic work is informal and done with little government regulation.
Domestic labor remains, in large, a woman’s task. Even when people outsource domestic work, women are in charge of the hiring. While outsourcing domestic tasks as well as quicker and simpler ways to perform domestic tasks have cut down on number of hours worked, it is still the women that perform the majority of the tasks. The women are usually responsible for organizing their children’s lives as well, and due the majority of child rearing. However, when a woman performs paid work as a nanny or housekeeper, that diminishes the time they can spend with their own family. They spend time, instead, connecting with the family they work for and building emotional ties with them. These domestic laborers fit into three categories- live-in nanny/housekeepers, live-out nanny/housekeeper, and housecleaner (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
Maid in L.A.
Although Latina immigrants often work in low-paying domestic once they move to the United States, they usually were not domestic workers in their previous homes. Because it does require some money to move to a new country, people must have some money. Live-in nanny jobs are especially convenient for those who do not have enough money to get a place of their own when they first come to the United States. The employers of domestic workers often do not acknowledge the previous jobs or education their employees had, instead treating them with little respect. Privacy is also difficult for live-in nannies; even those that have their own room still must share common space with their employers. The line between work and home life also becomes incredibly blurred for these employees; especially those who are on call during the night or live in a room with a child. Along with room, live-in nannies are usually provided board, but this is somewhat ambiguous, and employees often feel uncomfortable expressing their food preferences and when they want to eat their meals. Some women also say there are designated foods only for the family, and are left with scarce options. Although many of the families employing domestic laborers are in the upper class, they still grossly underpay their employees. The time constraints also keep the workers from their families for days at a time. Live-in nanny jobs, because of the reasons listen above, are the least desired of the domestic jobs. Mostly, people who have not been in the country long enough to afford room and board for themselves, and are somewhat forced into the position.
Live-out nanny jobs follow a much more rigid schedule than live-in nanny jobs, but are nonetheless demanding. The work and home are truly separate for these employees, and they can designate time for their own families. They still develop strong loving bonds with some of the children they care for, however. Many of the responsibilities include picking up children from school and various activities, as well as food preparation for the children. Some parents who use live-out nannies hire help so they can both work, however one nanny expressed, “La Americana is very selfish, she only thinks about herself. They prefer not to be with their children, as they find it’s much easier to pay someone to do that” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 40). Some nannies believe they are hired just so that mothers do not need to spend more time with their children, and this way they can decide how often they interact with their children. These parents also rarely discipline their children, and hostility is often taken out on nannies. Disciplining is hard for nannies to do, the way Latina culture disciplines varies from the traditional American way, and discipline is often reserved by the parents. Sometimes, however, the children only listen to their nannies, as they spend most time with them. This respect for the nanny sometimes makes parents jealous that their children may love their nannies more than them. The nannies often feel similar affection for the children, which can strain their own family ties.
Housecleaners are the least involved of the domestic laborers. Housecleaners usually split their week between working at the homes of several families. These women report that the hours are convenient to being with their families and feel that they still spend a good amount of time with their families. One woman interviewed states that housecleaning was easier than many of the other job options for one with her qualifications, and pays more than other jobs. Usually housecleaners had been living in the United States for a while, often previously working as a live-in or live-out nanny, and usually have children of their own as well. One of the hardest parts of housecleaning is finding enough work, because these women have to find multiple families to hire them. When they do not have enough families for a week, they have to find alternative means of earning money that week. Overall, the housecleaning jobs are those taken by the people who have been in the United States for longer, and these people receive significant more wages than some of the other domestic laborers do. They also work the most desirable hours and have the most time available to spend with their families. Live-in nanny jobs often separate families, making mothers only see their children once a week or simply having to mail home their wages. The mothers who send their families home checks for their domestic work are common, and this is known as “transnational motherhood” (Hondagneu-Sotelo).
While nonwhites have traditionally preformed domestic work, there is a disproportionate number of Central American employees (Hondagneu-Sotelo). Los Angeles especially has a large amount of Central American domestic workers, because of both its location and the patterns and traditions that kept Central American workers in domestic labor force. When first moving to the United States, women look to their social contacts for opportunities for work, usually domestic labor. These jobs often also provide a place to live, and women often see these jobs as an easy option. Cultural forces, such as the low marriage rate in Central America, lead women to migrate because they might not have a family, and if they do, then they often must leave as the sole breadwinners of their families, and send their money back. There are a multitude of reasons families prefer Latina domestic employees, mostly that they trust Latinas to keep family secrets of what they might see while working in the house. They are also viewed as more submissive and servile. Ironically, women who employee domestic workers identify their heritage as clean and hygienic, but do not perform the cleaning themselves. Some employees also display racist attitudes towards their employers. Stereotypes are applied and quickly learned for domestic employers, as well as employees.
The “Nanny” Question in Feminism
The great accomplishment of moving women out of the home and allowing them into the workplace was vital part of the feminist movement. However, this leaves the question of what to do with children whose mothers leave for the workplace. Partners can use a rotating schedule, or professional daycare or nanny services. This author also asserts that live-in, full time nannying is the most difficult of all domestic jobs.
The author deciphers several differences between hiring domestic laborers and purchasing labor and services. These include that the house setting, in private, is often not thought of as employment, because the relationships between domestic laborer and employer and more intimate than in market relationships, and that the product of domestic labor is often a relationship between caregiver and children (Tronto). He also mentions three perspectives of the employees, the first of which is the worker.
Domestic workers are paid low wages, especially when they are live-in nannies. However, the most important thing to the workers is not the wages, however it is “… that they are not accorded sufficient respect and dignity. From the standpoint of workers, the moral stress of being a domestic worker is great” (Tronto 38). Workers are forced to act in the manner that their employer believes desirable and acceptable, and people lose their own values and self worth then. There are few laws to ensure welfare of domestic laborers, and those that do exist are rarely enforced. Caring for children and the elderly is undervalued in the United States, unlike most other cultures. However, the unique bond that develops between caregivers and children makes it difficult for women to leave their jobs as domestic laborers. The employee holds very little power over their position, instead the employer, usually the wife and mother, is in control of the relationship the caregiver has with children and the family. The mother holds all control over the relationship, and can demand her caregiver acts a certain way. This can make the mother act in a tyrannical way, or feel guilty for the low wages and hardships of the job she inflicts upon the worker (Tronto).
Having a nanny and multiple caregivers can be both beneficial and harmful for children. Having a nanny around, meeting children’s needs, may make children believe adults will always be there to cater to their needs (Tronto). However, caregivers are important source of love and intimacy for children. Also, caregivers are usually a different race than the children they care for, which might provoke racial stereotyping by children.
For many families, having a nanny is a status symbol. Upper class mothers are expected to outsource at least some domestic tasks to domestic laborers. Mothers are also urged to outsource many of the childrearing tasks to professionals- children are encouraged to participate in many activities, keeping them largely out of the home. However, parents are often skeptical of large daycare or childcare establishments, so they instead turn to nannies. Therefore, parents alleviate guilt in hiring domestic laborers by believing they are doing it for the good of their children.
The concept of intensive mothering has made it so no matter how much time mothers spend with their children and how much time they allocate for other caregivers, they still do not feel they provide their children with adequate hours of caregiving. For feminists, there is also no solution for what to do with children when their mothers go off toe be a part of the labor force.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Blog entry #8
Using Kin for Child Care
Since the 1960s, childcare by non-parent relatives has steadily decreased overall (Uttal). This study examines the differences in non-parent childcare between races. Although many report that they would like to have childcare by relatives, not many do. Overall, most studies previously done report that African Americans and Hispanics use extended kin for childcare more than White families (Uttal). Historically, Whites have emphasized a nuclear family more than other races, which treat the family as more of the extended unit.
Three main theories have been proposed to explain the racial differences between extended family caregiving, including cultural explanation, structural explanation, and integrative explanation (Uttal). Typically, economic status has little effect. Culturally, nonwhite families have closer kin ties, and geographically it is easier for them to care for family. However, there are many other factors previous research has also found.
For the study, the researcher did interviews with employed mothers with one or more non-school aged children over 2 years. Included were African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Mexicans. Only three of these mothers expressed a desire to use extended kin to care for their children. The six mothers that did use extended kin care had tried but failed to search for other alternatives first. One important difference was that Anglo Americans resisted offers from family to be caregivers, while the other two groups did not. Anglo Americans cited kin care as an imposition on their family, that they did not want to owe their family anything, and that they wanted to instill their own values in their children, not their parents’ (Utaal). Mexican Americans viewed extended kin care as giving family members employment and that, as their relatives, the caregivers wanted to spend time with the children regardless. Mexican and African Americans are more likely to view extended kin caregivers as acceptable, although Anglo Americans also use extended kin caregivers, but just do not reference it as desirable.
The Color of Family Ties
Blacks and Latinos are more likely to live with, near, or visit relatives than Whites (Gerstel et. al). With monetary and emotional needs, White families are more giving, however, with practical needs, including childcare, Black and Latino relatives are found more helpful. In all racial groups, it is women that are more likely to provide their families with emotional support than men. This study, in contrast to the previous, names socioeconomic status as a more important indicator of using extended kin caregivers than historical and cultural differences. Although cultural values do exist, the socioeconomic status is more important. Blacks and Latinos tend to have less income than Whites and live closer to the poverty line, giving them less time and money to perform or outsource childcare. While Whites can give monetary help to family, minorities instead exchange domestic and childcare favors.
Another factor influencing minorities’ reliance on extended kin care is lower marriage rates. Instead of husbands, mothers turn to other family members for help with children. The low marriage rates could be due to the low socioeconomic statuses of many minority men (Gerstel et. al). pro-marriage government and workplace policies make it difficult for minority single parents.
Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents
As seen in previously read literature, teenage girls and boys begin falling into their sex roles within their household chores while still living with their parents. The reason as to the early genderizing of household tasks, however, is debated. Employment is an equalizing factor for women’s hours spent on domestic tasks, but employed and unemployed men are often found to do similar amounts of housework. This supports that it is not about time worked or money earned, however it is simply based on gender. However, these findings were not similar for all studies preformed. This study focused on further examining this gender gap.
This study examines help given to parents and parents-in-law, given in hours per week. Age, race, education, health, and martial status are also measured and used as controls. Geographic distance from parents, parents’ health, and financial status were also controlled.
Women are found to give significantly more help to parents than men, however when employment status was considered it was not found to be significant. However, when both partners are employed the gender gap does not lessen, women still giving more help than men. Women were also usually found to work less and be paid less than men. Not surprisingly, higher wages are associated with giving less help. However, self-employment is found to be associated with giving less help as well (Sarkisian et. al).
This study’s findings support the traditional gender gap. While employed men and women are somewhat equal in providing help, this is not true when women are not employed. Women also cited caring for parents more important than men did, which suggests more emotional ties with parents for women. However, there is not one clear answer why women are more likely to help parents than men.
The Female World of Cards and Holidays
The author outlines two theoretical trends responsible for the changing view of women’s work. First, the recognition of women’s unpaid home and family work as important, and secondly, the importance of women within the family (di Leonardo). However, it is not just women’s importance within the household that should be recognized. They are largely responsible for keeping and nurturing extended kin ties for their entire family. Women are often the one sending cards and giving relatives phone calls, not men or children. While kin ties are just as important to men, they do not take responsibility for them. Young women today, while much more active in paid work, still work to maintain kin ties. Women are responsible, and always have been, for family gatherings. They also are often responsible to settle disputes among family members (di Leonardo).
Even when women do not want to be responsible for kin ties, they are often pressured into it because society views it as women’s work. Also, it is important for the happiness of a family for someone to keep in charge of the extended kin’s social schedule and provide opportunities for meetings. Di Leonardo believes this form of kinship, scheduling holidays and events together, is mainly American. The cultural and religious background of families also influences how much women are expected to do with extended kin. Families also share some sort of resources, depending on their economic status, with one another. The women are responsible for these offerings. Extended kin responsibilities are also unique because they exist in all economic classes, there is no way to outsource them completely like housework or childcare. Also, women are supposed to want to keep these ties for their families and are guilted into the roles. So, women accept these roles as they do many of their other unpaid work roles, as a part of their nurturing and emotional nature that men do not possess.
Since the 1960s, childcare by non-parent relatives has steadily decreased overall (Uttal). This study examines the differences in non-parent childcare between races. Although many report that they would like to have childcare by relatives, not many do. Overall, most studies previously done report that African Americans and Hispanics use extended kin for childcare more than White families (Uttal). Historically, Whites have emphasized a nuclear family more than other races, which treat the family as more of the extended unit.
Three main theories have been proposed to explain the racial differences between extended family caregiving, including cultural explanation, structural explanation, and integrative explanation (Uttal). Typically, economic status has little effect. Culturally, nonwhite families have closer kin ties, and geographically it is easier for them to care for family. However, there are many other factors previous research has also found.
For the study, the researcher did interviews with employed mothers with one or more non-school aged children over 2 years. Included were African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Mexicans. Only three of these mothers expressed a desire to use extended kin to care for their children. The six mothers that did use extended kin care had tried but failed to search for other alternatives first. One important difference was that Anglo Americans resisted offers from family to be caregivers, while the other two groups did not. Anglo Americans cited kin care as an imposition on their family, that they did not want to owe their family anything, and that they wanted to instill their own values in their children, not their parents’ (Utaal). Mexican Americans viewed extended kin care as giving family members employment and that, as their relatives, the caregivers wanted to spend time with the children regardless. Mexican and African Americans are more likely to view extended kin caregivers as acceptable, although Anglo Americans also use extended kin caregivers, but just do not reference it as desirable.
The Color of Family Ties
Blacks and Latinos are more likely to live with, near, or visit relatives than Whites (Gerstel et. al). With monetary and emotional needs, White families are more giving, however, with practical needs, including childcare, Black and Latino relatives are found more helpful. In all racial groups, it is women that are more likely to provide their families with emotional support than men. This study, in contrast to the previous, names socioeconomic status as a more important indicator of using extended kin caregivers than historical and cultural differences. Although cultural values do exist, the socioeconomic status is more important. Blacks and Latinos tend to have less income than Whites and live closer to the poverty line, giving them less time and money to perform or outsource childcare. While Whites can give monetary help to family, minorities instead exchange domestic and childcare favors.
Another factor influencing minorities’ reliance on extended kin care is lower marriage rates. Instead of husbands, mothers turn to other family members for help with children. The low marriage rates could be due to the low socioeconomic statuses of many minority men (Gerstel et. al). pro-marriage government and workplace policies make it difficult for minority single parents.
Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents
As seen in previously read literature, teenage girls and boys begin falling into their sex roles within their household chores while still living with their parents. The reason as to the early genderizing of household tasks, however, is debated. Employment is an equalizing factor for women’s hours spent on domestic tasks, but employed and unemployed men are often found to do similar amounts of housework. This supports that it is not about time worked or money earned, however it is simply based on gender. However, these findings were not similar for all studies preformed. This study focused on further examining this gender gap.
This study examines help given to parents and parents-in-law, given in hours per week. Age, race, education, health, and martial status are also measured and used as controls. Geographic distance from parents, parents’ health, and financial status were also controlled.
Women are found to give significantly more help to parents than men, however when employment status was considered it was not found to be significant. However, when both partners are employed the gender gap does not lessen, women still giving more help than men. Women were also usually found to work less and be paid less than men. Not surprisingly, higher wages are associated with giving less help. However, self-employment is found to be associated with giving less help as well (Sarkisian et. al).
This study’s findings support the traditional gender gap. While employed men and women are somewhat equal in providing help, this is not true when women are not employed. Women also cited caring for parents more important than men did, which suggests more emotional ties with parents for women. However, there is not one clear answer why women are more likely to help parents than men.
The Female World of Cards and Holidays
The author outlines two theoretical trends responsible for the changing view of women’s work. First, the recognition of women’s unpaid home and family work as important, and secondly, the importance of women within the family (di Leonardo). However, it is not just women’s importance within the household that should be recognized. They are largely responsible for keeping and nurturing extended kin ties for their entire family. Women are often the one sending cards and giving relatives phone calls, not men or children. While kin ties are just as important to men, they do not take responsibility for them. Young women today, while much more active in paid work, still work to maintain kin ties. Women are responsible, and always have been, for family gatherings. They also are often responsible to settle disputes among family members (di Leonardo).
Even when women do not want to be responsible for kin ties, they are often pressured into it because society views it as women’s work. Also, it is important for the happiness of a family for someone to keep in charge of the extended kin’s social schedule and provide opportunities for meetings. Di Leonardo believes this form of kinship, scheduling holidays and events together, is mainly American. The cultural and religious background of families also influences how much women are expected to do with extended kin. Families also share some sort of resources, depending on their economic status, with one another. The women are responsible for these offerings. Extended kin responsibilities are also unique because they exist in all economic classes, there is no way to outsource them completely like housework or childcare. Also, women are supposed to want to keep these ties for their families and are guilted into the roles. So, women accept these roles as they do many of their other unpaid work roles, as a part of their nurturing and emotional nature that men do not possess.
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