How Domestic Workers Enable Well Off Women to Prosper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for sharing. This is often a topic I think about when "lean in" conversations happen all around me but I don't have the data to prove my hunch. Will be reading this soon!

I can't think of anything more cyncically regressive than trying to claim women should not lean in because they should do all the domestic labor themselves. That's some pure bullsh*t.

It's not actually. It's bulls$&# that well off white women (and men) think it's their right to get ahead while those they employ to do their dirty work stay behind. That's worse than regression, that's aggression.

There is this thing called a labor market.

I too agree that domestic workers have it tough. Our friend, a nanny, has enormous difficulty dealing with the BS paperwork required to get healthcare.

But the problem is not the UMC employers. If the well off people didn’t pay nannies, the nannies wouldn’t have jobs.
The problem is the SUPER well off people who pay politicians to make working people’s lives worse. Conservative billionaires try to take Medicaid away, try to lower the minimum wage, try to make it hard for working people to move up in society. Don’t blame the upper middle class family scrimping to afford a nanny. Blame people like Paul Ryan who took Koch money to try to take away your health care and put a tax cut for billionaires on a credit card while they say we can’t afford better programs for nannies.

PREACH!!

+2 This is exactly the problem!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, how come lowly paid male workers don't get the same attention? YOu don't think there are deep-sea fisherman who died so that we could all have access to fish? Or construction workers who enable the building of skyscrapers in NYC? These occupations are only occupied by a single gender and are low-wage earning too.

Actually, they're not particularly low-paying relative to the skills and education required.

You're talking about child care, too, right?

Though I will point out that low-paid, low-skill women's jobs usually have significantly less risk of death or maiming than low-paid, low-skill men's jobs.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read the book but this article made me cringe. She acts like she owned slaves or something. Maybe in the countries where she was living they were more like indentured servants because of the lower wages?

In this country I've found these workers are usually happy to have a steady job. You can easily find a nanny who loves her work and excels at her job. You can be an employer who cares about your employee and treats her well. White guilt does not need to blanket everything in your life.

[Anonymous]

This article is woman-bashing trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the book but this article made me cringe. She acts like she owned slaves or something. Maybe in the countries where she was living they were more like indentured servants because of the lower wages?

In this country I've found these workers are usually happy to have a steady job. You can easily find a nanny who loves her work and excels at her job. You can be an employer who cares about your employee and treats her well. White guilt does not need to blanket everything in your life.

The author lived in Singapore, India, and China which are all notoriously bad in terms of human rights abuses and the way domestic help is treated and paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, how come lowly paid male workers don't get the same attention? YOu don't think there are deep-sea fisherman who died so that we could all have access to fish? Or construction workers who enable the building of skyscrapers in NYC? These occupations are only occupied by a single gender and are low-wage earning too.

Actually, they're not particularly low-paying relative to the skills and education required.

They're not low-paying AT ALL. Do you know what the hourly rate for a union laborer is in the NY metro area? $40/hr. With fringes and benefits....they're at $100/hr+.

[Anonymous]

My cousin-in-law started an in-home daycare and does well enough to live in Arlington and feed a family of 4. It's career moms that keep her in business. She can make a living while staying with her kids and helping other women make their livings. Everybody wins.