What Is The Necessity Of Government Financial Compensation For Women's Work In The Home

The problem is accentuated by the widening of the gap between rich and poor, that can be translated in this matter as an increase of difficulty for low-income families to have access to the much more expensive high quality day care options. There are several aspects that built such a controversial situation and the most important are certainly the cultural and economical ones. The huge growth in women’s independence and professional ambition, in addition to importance, of the last decades, caused the fall of the cultural basis that have always taken for granted the responsibility of the mother as the full-time caregiver (Chisholm 38). Now women are more willing to gain a successful and respectable place in society, and this can be achieved almost exclusively through hard work and full immersion in their jobs. Simultaneously, the economical situation of our society caused many families to depend on two incomes to satisfy the basic needs. In fact, the increase in the cost of living not sufficiently balanced by a relatively smaller rise in wages, and a greater attitude toward materialism and conspicuous consumption, have given women the same financial responsibility as men (Chilman 451). This aspect can be fully applied only on families with an average income or better, because professional daycare programs are pretty expensive and in some cases can reach prices higher than the minimum wage. Those factors

Payment doesn't bring happiness to one's life. Although women are advocating for payment for the services they offer by doing house chores, pay does not necessarily give them self-satisfaction. The writer has documented an experience of a

Over the past five to six decades women have been entering the workforce in ever increasing numbers. Some enter because of financial need and others for professional and career goals. Whatever the reason, the result for the children is the same; they are in daycare. Many

It seems that women workers have reached a plateau in society. In order for women to be respected (as men are) in the workplace there needs to be a redistribution of domestic and family work. It’s acceptable now for women to work; but this acceptance into the workforce has not drastically changed what they, women, are expected to perform at home. There is no way for women to move forward to equality in pay if they are not recognized as contributers to their job (i.e. women are still expected to perform outside of work in the family setting as well in a way that men are only expected to perform at work and not at home).

In, “Halving the Double Day” by Dorothy Sue Cobble, she realizes that women get the bitter end of having a poor socio-economic status. Women are more burdened than men with balancing activities. Cobble states, “But none feel the pressure more than those juggling full-time employment with what can seem like a second shift at home” (Cobble, 1). Cobble believes that women, especially in lower income households face more stress and have less time to do things they want in life because they are burdened with finding and working in jobs as well as balancing house hold duties. Unlike men, who’s primary role in the household is to go out and work, women now who are in lower income families have to take on both roles assisting in income and doing house work. Furthermore, Cobble emphasizes that only those who are rich can benefit from the vast benefits that outsiders see in living in America. Cobble states, “Similarly the highly touted family-friendly workplace-the coveted market nook with flexible work schedules, job sharing, child care assistance, and comprehensive health and welfare coverage-is not yet a reality for the majority of salaried workers, let alone hourly workers”

However, “all work makes an economic contribution, but the unpaid work activities related to the home have been marginalized in economic rendering of production” According to Riane Eisler (2007:16 as cited in Lindsey, 2011, pg. 277). Meaning that for human survival, and human development to be successful women’s work needs to be valued, while women are taking on the responsibilities of caregivers to others; as well as their own. In addition to the many task these women provide such as their contribution to their household chores, managing the household income, childbearing; and caring for the elderly; these jobs are all considered unpaid work to which these women will never receive any form of income for the work they provided. In the United States alone more than 40, 000 dollars annually would be paid out yearly, if these women were being paid for services rendered in those areas; such as cooking, cleaning, ironing, care givers; and financial advisor. Meaning, “at the global level, if the unpaid work of women were added to the world’s economy, it would expand by one-third, but on the positive side, the economic reality of women’s unpaid productive work is gaining public and government attention (Lindsey, 200. Pg.

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

In chapter 11, “Families” in the book “Gender: Ideas, Interactions, and Institutions” by Lisa Wade and Myra Mar Ferree discuss the different roles in the family. Married women carry a large proportion of unpaid work in the home. Women with a paid job outside of the home experience the second shift. The second shift is unpaid work waiting for them when they get home. The second shift is buying groceries, cooking dinner, putting gas in cars and reviewing budgets.

Socialization is a significant factor that has influenced the unequal distribution of unpaid work in a household. Throughout the chapters of Stanford’s book, it is mentioned numerous times that the majority of unpaid work, including household chores, caring for young children or elderly family members (Stanford, 2015, p.119), is completed by women. Statistics Canada has provided statistics on unpaid work, “men

It is true that if women are engaged in paid work, their dignity in the household and society increases. However, it is also the case that if there is respect for women there would be more sharing of household work and a greater acceptance of women working outside. A safe and secure environment may allow more women to take up a variety of jobs or run a

Women’s unpaid labor in maintains a systems of oppression in many ways. In Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee’s Women’s Voices Feminist Visions unpaid labor done by many women is, “undervalued as women’s formal productive paid labor in the workforce is prioritized” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, 471). Shaw and Lee are saying that women work at home is devalued because it is viewed as informal and as work that is done out of love or is natural work. Since the work being done is viewed as natural work, it further reinforces gender stereotypes by stating that women are supposed to do the household work which is deemed more as feminine. This thought process follows patriarchal thinking, where women are expected to do the

Unpaid work is a key theme emphasized in Stanford’s text Economics for Everyone. The importance of unpaid work is explained in a variety of ways throughout the chapters. The unequal distribution of unpaid work, towards women, is highlighted for being an outdated social norm. Stanford enlightens readers on the reality of how unpaid work significantly affects economics. The content shows that if unpaid work within the economy was properly understood, it could influence a change within economic evaluations. The current economic evaluation tool, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), strongly influences social policies particularly for women, affecting their ability to participate fully in the paid workforce. Stanford expresses changes that need to be made concerning how economists view unpaid work. The author stresses this issue in the final chapter by listing unpaid work within his “A Dozen Big Things to Remember About Economics”. The following will go further in depth about why unpaid work is a crucial issue within the economy.

Conventionally, females played a very insignificant role in the paid work force of a society as many times they were expected to be home taking care of their family. Their roles at home can often include grocery shopping, meeting all the needs of her children and husband. As time moved on, our society became more accepted of sharing housework between the couples, but even so, the traditionally more feminine housework such as cooking, caring for sick children, and shopping for the entire family are mostly done by the females of the house. It is argued in a research journal Work and Occupations (Witkowski & Leicht, 1995) that in an average North American family, females take on roughly three-quarters of the housework. Even though we are in a democratic society, parenting roles in the household are assigned based on gender rather than in a democratic fashion (Winslow-Bowe, 2009). Because of the many responsibilities and obligations that are associated with the female gender, their career paths are eventually affected for the worse. According to Statistics Canada (2001), for every dollar a man earns, a single woman earns 93 cents and a married woman earns 69 cents. These statistics

Rao (2013) writes in his article “Should housewives be paid salaries?” that staying at home mothers must not receive salary because the responsibility of the chores that they do is private. It may be true that housewives must not get paid for their services. However, people should realize that housewives are doing a job, personal or not there is labor involved. Likewise, it is important to remember that housewives are working every day, and every hour without any breaks that they can relax. Housewives can help their family if they get paid or put their money into insurance, save it for the future and use it if

Although the economic exchange model provides a historical account of why the gendered division of labour may have been an accepted part of life during a time when women’s workforce participation was considered unusual, it is not able to explain why a clear inequality persists in a time of more inclusive workplace involvement (Maher & Singleton, 2003:61). Evidence indicates that women who spend longer hours in paid employment do less unpaid domestic work, clearly owing to a reduction in the available time to perform such tasks (Baxter, 1992:16). The same does not hold true for men, however, with research indicating that less time spent in paid employment is correlated with a reduction in the amount of domestic work undertaken (Bittman et al., 2003:187). Shamir (1986, as cited in Baxter, 1992:403) argues that