While I was in Oz I nearly completed an MA in Geography at Melbourne Uni (two chapters short of a thesis). One of the courses I loved best was the unit in Marxist Feminist Theory. It opened my mind to the unfairness of the "unpaid work" that women do, the world over.
I did some micro-research, using a matrix of four women, all of whom were in full time work at the same place. One married/partnered childless, one single childless, one married/partnered with children and one single with child/children. I was not able to choose the number of children. It was one or two and YES I know it makes a difference.
It was established by my research that partnered women without children spent a smaller amount of their day doing the unpaid work tasks....housework, childcare, shopping, cooking etc as expected. But those with partners and children did very much more than those without. Indicating clearly that women do more than their share of such tasks even when there are more people around to help out. In most cases it seemed from interview that, the "other people" in the household thought it was the woman's job! Some sort of birthright!!!
Here is a really good example of how well the new male gets away without joining in the unpaid work at our place. Fortunately the other two members of the household share all the jobs very well.
This young kitty is off to the vet next month and will come home with major changes to his anatomy, but will then spend his life doing much more of the same.
Of course he really looks like this. The days are darkening early and even though it is not very cold yet, DJ has been lighting the fire. Little Billy has had to be pulled away by his tail on more than one occasion as his curiosity gets the better of him.
It has also been deemed unwise to put up the tree this year because Billy loves to climb, so I bought this small tinsel branch and dressed it with robins. BUT...we are already one robin down and have had to pull some red stuff out of Billy's throat.
A day or so ago a woman in Sainsbury's called out that cakes were half price....so I bought the one on the left for £4.50. I hadn't had a chance to make one so I was glad to get it. Today Maureen, cake baker from up the road, turned up with the splendid cake on the right. "Thankyou" she said. I carried some shopping home for her once. FABULOUS cake. Lovely neighbours. Xmas at home will be good.
Cheers to you all
Gillian
I did some micro-research, using a matrix of four women, all of whom were in full time work at the same place. One married/partnered childless, one single childless, one married/partnered with children and one single with child/children. I was not able to choose the number of children. It was one or two and YES I know it makes a difference.
It was established by my research that partnered women without children spent a smaller amount of their day doing the unpaid work tasks....housework, childcare, shopping, cooking etc as expected. But those with partners and children did very much more than those without. Indicating clearly that women do more than their share of such tasks even when there are more people around to help out. In most cases it seemed from interview that, the "other people" in the household thought it was the woman's job! Some sort of birthright!!!
Here is a really good example of how well the new male gets away without joining in the unpaid work at our place. Fortunately the other two members of the household share all the jobs very well.
A day or so ago a woman in Sainsbury's called out that cakes were half price....so I bought the one on the left for £4.50. I hadn't had a chance to make one so I was glad to get it. Today Maureen, cake baker from up the road, turned up with the splendid cake on the right. "Thankyou" she said. I carried some shopping home for her once. FABULOUS cake. Lovely neighbours. Xmas at home will be good.
Cheers to you all
Gillian
2 comments:
What a lovely post! Thought-provoking and charming all in one. Yes the work that women do home-makingis very under-valued. Motherhood especially these days is terribly undervalued - a woman isn't doing her bit unless she is putting her children into a crowd of others to be looked after by strangers who can't possibly care as much about them as she does... I could go on...
Much more cheery s the sight of Little Billy who has the biggest ears I have ever seen on a cat., and is obviously a chap who likes to luxuriate in his surroundings. He is o lucky to have found you two to be his wiling slaves.
Have a great Christmas!
I'm not convinced that farming my kids out to a nurserey may have been more beneficial for them than their bad tempered mother, but hey, moving on. Billy is lovely. Happy new year
PS I seem to have given up on my Blog and taken to Facebook, are you on FB?
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