Queensland University of Technology Interaction of Work and Gender Essay
Lecture notes
What is work or labor?
Can you think of a historical example of unpaid labor?
If we think about the process of Capitalism and wealth accumulation, Karl Marx discusses the transition of society from feudalism to capitalism. The crux of his conflict theoretical perspective highlights the inequalities in society that result from the accumulation of profit at the expense of working class laborers. According to Marx, the division of labor in society is defined by the process of stratification that reinforces wage hierarchies between the owners of the means of production and the producers.
How does unpaid labor fit into this scenario?
Let’s discuss the example of slavery in America. Slave labor is one of the most widely recognized examples of unpaid labor. Slave labor provided mass wealth accumulation for land and business owners. Many U.S. presidents prior to Abe Lincoln were slave owners—including George Washington!
Currently, the process of globalization and off-shoring has introduced another form of labor. This labor is not unpaid but significantly underpaid to the point where families are unable to subsist from the wages received. What is the difference between being unpaid and significantly underpaid and denied social services (such as healthcare) needed to survive?
Women working outside of the home for wages is not a new concept. This week’s chapter discusses the gendered process of migration and work.
Work is often divided into formal and informal labor.
Formal labor is attached to pay or wages and informal labor usually refers to household or unpaid labor. Informal labor is also defined by paid labor that is not recognized by wider society (such as labor that is not taxed—i.e. selling fruit or ice cream from a make-shift cart during the summer in a neighborhood park).
Managing the double-shift or balancing work outside of the home and housework is often a point of contention for both men and women—particularly in immigrant homes. I attended a conference last week where a sat in on a panel where the discussants spoke about domestic violence in immigrant communities that resulted from women’s increase participation in paid labor in America and theirdesire to gain decision-making power based on their increased financial power.
It is important to make the connections between gender, work and migration as we think about the outcomes of immigrant groups and how men and women differ in their assimilation trajectories.
Let’s also consider the context of gender in the immigration laws in America:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/us-immigration-women_n_3390540.html
Previously in American history, migrant men were primarily recruited as miners, farmers and railroad construction workers. Overtime, women’s migration became significant—especially as the need for care work and cost effective labor facilitated this gender migration transition.
Read Chapter 6. Intersection of Work and Gender
Book: hondagneu-sotelo, P. Gender and US immigration (2003)
Answer the following questions. (Base on chapter 6)
1. Cite two examples that were of particular interest to you as you read
chapter 6 and the Huffington post article linked above and discuss why you were struck by them?
2. Discuss the relationship between ethnicity, transnationalism and gendered relations in America. How are pre-migration and post-migration gendered expectations shaped by ethnic values?
3. Do you see change occurring? How?
4. How and why do immigrants laws shape gendered ways of assimilation? Discuss.
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