As discussed in class, 1st World women are starting to no longer wish to do the “private sphere” work. The Private Sphere work consists of domestic duties, childcare, housekeeping, cooking, shopping…etc. Back in the day, the private sphere work was done solely by the females out of love for their husband and family. Today, women have greater opportunities to advance in the career world, therefore women no longer want to do the private sphere duties, moreover they wish to engage in more public sphere activities. With this theory advancing to more female minds in 1st world countries, women from 3rd world countries are now being hired to do all these things. In a way the relationship between first world women and third world migrant workers are similar. Both females are looking to better their lives in order to provide for their families. However, each is seen in a different way. Some people think that the migrant housekeeper is “invisible”, or seen as an addition to the first world woman, instead of a hard-working individual trying to support her own family. Some first world women shield their migrant housekeepers because they feel shameful, because they are supposed to be “superwoman” and do it all. In my opinion, no one can “do it all.” You can make a choice to split career and family, or go in either direction, but to take credit for another woman’s work in the household you are building is, in my opinion, wrong.
~Angela Cuomo
Adding to what Angela has said, I believe in Ehrenreich and Hochschild opinion, they think that a global relationship is created that is similar to that of a traditional relationship between the sexes, that "The First World takes on a role like that of the old-fashioned male in the family - pampered, entitled, unable to cook, clean or find his own socks. Poor countries take on a role like that of the traditional woman within the family - patient, nurturing, and self-denying"(196). In a sense, this 'division of labor' has become a global situation. As more women in First world countries are becoming career-orientated and coming into the public sphere, they begin to create a sort of 'care deficit' towards their families and that is where the striving woman from the Third World comes into site. These women come into the private sphere where they will tend to cooking, cleaning, and childcare along with other duties. Ehrenreich and Hochschild also state that this creates a sort of 'togetherness.' That First World women and Third World migrant women "come together as mistress and maid, employer and employee, across a great divide of privilege and opportunity"(195).
D.Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn. "Globalization: The transformation of Social Worlds."
-Korissa Arugay
Adding to what Angela has said, I believe in Ehrenreich and Hochschild opinion, they think that a global relationship is created that is similar to that of a traditional relationship between the sexes, that "The First World takes on a role like that of the old-fashioned male in the family - pampered, entitled, unable to cook, clean or find his own socks. Poor countries take on a role like that of the traditional woman within the family - patient, nurturing, and self-denying"(196). In a sense, this 'division of labor' has become a global situation. As more women in First world countries are becoming career-orientated and coming into the public sphere, they begin to create a sort of 'care deficit' towards their families and that is where the striving woman from the Third World comes into site. These women come into the private sphere where they will tend to cooking, cleaning, and childcare along with other duties. Ehrenreich and Hochschild also state that this creates a sort of 'togetherness.' That First World women and Third World migrant women "come together as mistress and maid, employer and employee, across a great divide of privilege and opportunity"(195).
D.Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn. "Globalization: The transformation of Social Worlds."
-Korissa Arugay
In addition to the third world migrant workers being hidden away so that the first world women can keep up their image, these workers are usually women of color and have to also face racial judgement and comments that degrade them even further. In the book, "Globalization", reading 22, "The global woman", it is written that "It is as if the wealthy parts of the world are running short on precious emotional and sexual resources and have had to turn to poorer regions for fresh supplies." As sad as this may seem, it sounds like that is what is really going on. First world women do not have time to make sure their house is neat and tidy or that the kids are fed and taken care of. These women see themselves as "higher standard" type of women and will not bring themselves to a level in which women of third world countries should be doing. In my opinion, third world migrant workers and first world women are not equal. Third world women should have a greater importance because they are sacrificing so much to feed their families and take care of their own child while doing the same thing for a stranger's children. They are taking care of someone else's child and keeping someone else's house clean and making sure meals are being made, while that "someone else" is out doing something that is putting them in a better position. That is why I see those third world women as women who should be noticed and acknowledged.
ReplyDeleteAs a man, I have always wondered what the Women's role are in Society (I am not saying that women are not capable of doing certain thigns men can do). As mentioned eariler from my group members, first women tend to work in "Public" sphere, while third women do domestic work for first ladies and feel shame about it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the concept of the Superwoman is strongly emphasized, especially in the world where everyone is required to work; however, it is almost impossible to do both publich works and domestic works at the same time.
Many women is forced to use house maids (Third migrants in this case) to do the works. which leads me to a question that I've always wondered about. It is a fact that someone does have to look over the family, then what is that woman really want from men? Is it to divide up domestic works evenly? or to be recognize and prove women's ability in public sphere?
Share your opinion please.
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ReplyDeleteBeing a woman and thinking about the roles that I will have as a mother hopefully one day, I wish that the women all did the "private sphere" work. My parents are both 100% Greek so I have been raised in a family where my dads owns a restaurant and works 7 days a week, while my mom does laundry, cleans the house, and has dinner on the table every night. I am accustomed to this lifestyle and I want it to be the same when I am older. I think that like we discussed in class how 1st world women are no longer doing the "private sphere" work isn't a better way of living. But on the other hand, its not like the women who are working instead of staying home all have the choice of doing so. With the degradding economy that is effecting everyone, many women are out looking for jobs to support their family and help their husbands, who may have lost their jobs or no longer have as high of paying income jobs. Also, many women in the upperclass waste their money in my opinion on hiring house cleaners, personal assistants, and etc. because they have the money to do so. I believe that it is a woman's job to take care of the house but it isn't wrong at all if a woman has a job. I'm just saying she should be sure to maintain her "private sphere" duties. While, third world women do provide an important role in their families and they definately deserve some praise for what they do. They are fulfilling basically the "mom" duties while the real mom of the children that the third world women is taking care of. All in all, I think that dads should work and moms should fulfil their "private sphere" work duties. The cases may split and families do not always have the choice of what they want to do. For example, it is much more common today I think that you see dads taking care of the kids, taking and picking them up for school, and many even cooking dinner while we see this as abnormal because those responsibilities are ones that the women should fulfil.
ReplyDeleteTina Foutris
I think the public has to realize that women are not "Superwoman". There is just no way that we women can do everything and just ease our way through both public and private sectors. We too are humans, and sometimes we need help too. Women should not be criticized for not being able to accomplish their 'duties' and be seen as a failure in society. Our class discussion about third world women being hired as maids, housekeeper or caretaker by the first world to take on the jobs first world women are not doing anymore provided me a new perspective.
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in the Philippines. Both of my parents have full time jobs and since the day that I was born, we already had a maid in our house. In the Philippines, it is a normal thing in the main city to hire maids to care for the house. Usually the maids that we hire come from provinces across the country. In my personal story, the image of a 'maid' is nowhere close to the perception we have discussed in class. Having a maid in our house does not mean my mom, as a woman, has shifted from the private to the public sector. No. As a matter of fact, even though my mom holds a full time job as a dentist, she was still hands on with me. When it comes to nurturing and making sure I am well taken care of, my mom took that responsibility. Our maid's main job was help around. In our household the maids that we hired are considered family. We do not look down on them or make them feel as an employee. We provide a room for them in our house, they get monthly salary, if they have to take days off to visit family we let them. In meal times, they eat with us. My mother did not dump all of the household responsibilities to our maid just to meet the amount of work the public sector demands of her. She was able to juggle both her roles as a mother and a woman. She made sure that she was there for my brother and I while we are growing up and at the same time be able to provide for her family and not just depend on my dad to be the bread winner of the family. This would not be possible if it were not for our maid's aid. Yes my mom can juggle her responsibilities as mother and a woman but she cannot do all of it by herself. I feel that society demands so much on the women of the world that they tend to neglect the fact that they are human beings too. They have the nurturing instincts men will never have. At the same note, they too have the capability on taking up roles that usually requires men to do the job. But they cannot do both at the same time and fulfill the demands of both sectors by themselves. People in the first world are living in a fast paced society that everything revolves around work. Sometimes the words Family, Love, Respect, and Happiness lose its true meaning and value. We get too worked up on how to get ahead (which is not a negative thing) that we end up losing even our own self in the mix. We allow societal norms to influence and take control of our perspective towards the world. Third world migrant women should not be looked down upon. For us living in the first world, their job may seem to be degrading and unworthy of recognition but you have to think about the hard work they put into it. It is not their fault that they are taking up on those kinds of jobs. One has to consider the situation they are in and the lifestyle they grew up in. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon. For us having a ‘caretaker’ or ‘maid’ as a job title may be demeaning, but for the women of the third world they consider this to be something to be proud of. It is just heartbreaking that some first world societies abuse the services these third world women have to offer. But then again the world is never fair. In every good deed there is always an evil counterpart. If everything is perfect then we would be living in a utopian world.
Patricia Fernandez
I agree that the public needs to stop making women feel that they constantly have to be viewed as a "superwomen." In a sense I am proud of women today because we have continuously striven to take matters into our own hands by seeking education and career goals rather than constantly being dependent on a man. I agree that women are slowly transferring from the private to public spheres and are having an extremely hard time balancing both which is understandable.
ReplyDeleteFirst world women feel the need to be able to support themselves and have a strong career while also being a good mother and "housewife." With today's declining economy almost everyone leaps at the opportunity to take a job regardless of how terrible your hours are, which is often the case for women in upper division jobs. This has sadly further led to the process of globalization because first world women then hire third world women to help raise their children, cook, clean and do all the work that they no longer have time for. This creates a shamefulness in first world women because they feel disappointed in themselves because they were unable to do everything at once while still maintaining a career.
I think it is about time the government stepped in a little bit more to help women out. I believe women should be granted maternity leaves with the aggreance that she be given her job back as soon as her leave is up. Not only our companies giving up on high quality workers, their new pregnant employee is not laid off or without a job when she comes back. Referring back to Korissa's post that is a direct quote from the book, I think it is a negative outlook to have first and third world women be compared as "mistress and maid, and employer and employee." If first world women are needing to reach out for help, we should not feel ashamed but most importantly we should not degrade these third world women for doing all of the dirty work that first world women don't want to do or cannot do.
Overall I think the government needs to be willing to help and offer more government funding daycare programs. I agree entirely that all women AND men should be there for their child as they grow up, but with today's declining economy it is absolutely necessary that women keep their jobs in order to help support the child especially if the man ever decides to leave.
For me personally, my parents are divorced and went through a nasty breakup and my mom was uneducated and had always been the typical housewife that we talk about. When the divorce happened she had absolutely no idea what to do for a job because it was the first time in over twenty years she ever felt she really need a "real job." As much as I know it is hard to be an at home mother and housewife along with a career woman, I think it is important to appreciate different class women for their help in order for you to succeed. If women are able to have a steady career than they are able to help support themselves and their family which overall is important to help their children become educated and giving. The process of globalization I think will always continue to occur because women are so accustomed to this lifestyle. I think men and women should come together a lot more for combined income and parenting in order to help support one another than making one feel they have to do double the work.