The recession, Women, and the job market

First, check out this link . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

This raised three clear issues for me - (1) the article clearly states that women are now forced to work from their homes given the state of the economy; (2) that men are not assuming more of the DAILY WORK it needs to keep a household going although they do not have a job; and (3) that the pay gap is still real.

I have to say that I get seriously irritated when we use statistics about White women and portray that to be the state of women all of the time. Admittedly, I haven't done much research in American history, but I do know this - that Black women often took up doing the laundry or cooking for other people because they were jobs they could do in their homes. Why did they do this? Because they could have their children near them as they worked and to avoid sexual harassment. Even though slavery had ended (and I'm talking well into the 20th century . . . to this very day), Black women were often sexually harassed by "the man of the house" and they would then catch flack from the "lady of the house" for sexual advances they did not seek out. So to deal with this, Black women stopped doing work as domestics in other peoples' homes and would take in the laundry or do cooking for others. I suppose White women can join the rest of us then.

Secondly, how ridiculous is it that when women are unemployed, we have to look for our jobs and make sure everyone has their emotional and physical needs met. I do see this as an opportunity to move something about sexism here. Honestly, looking for a job is not necessarily an eight hour affair. Men need to take on these domestic responsibilities, particularly if women are the ones who are taking home the bacon. Perhaps they could learn to fry it up in the pan. How about making sure the kids needs are met after school? How about making sure that everything is nice, neat, and clean by the time their spouses are finished with their workday. Perhaps NOW we will understand that working at home is work.

Finally, the pay gap. The statistics on U.S. educational achivement grow dimmer and dimmer everyday. Yet, this is a field that is predominantly female and is desperately underpaid. While we're trying to provide economic stimulus, perhaps now is the time to seriously boost the pay for important fields such as teachers. There would be far more medical mistakes if NURSES, who are predominantly female, did not pick up the slack for the male doctors they work with. How about a major pay adjustment for those women? How about putting more money in nursing schools so that we have more direct health care providers for an aging, more sickly population.

I would like to see not only the economy stimulated, but sexism stimulated out of our social and economic structure.