All four of the assigned readings clearly emphasized the disadvantages women must face in the work place. In "The Mommy Tax", Crittenden describes how much money mothers end up losing in their lifetime due to their decision to have children. Having to work part-time, these women are often either laid off or paid less than they were prior to their pregnancy. I was astounded by the fact that the US is one of only six countries in the world that does not require a paid maternity leave and that only eight states have laws prohibiting discrimination against parents in the workplace. In a nation of supposed freedom and opportunity, I am extremely surprised by the fact that we are one of only a few countries that doesn't try to support its working mothers. Women are instead, told to "be a man", to finish school, find a job, and put off children until the very last minute; however biologically this strategy has been found to be very harmful to women who hope to have kids at some point. This article really reminded me of an episode I watched recently of Desperate Housewives (a show about five or six women who live in the sububs). I don't really watch the show but in this episode, one of the main women was on hard financial times with her husband and she made the decision to earn some extra money by making sexually suggestive movies of herself for a company that streamed the videos to men mainly abroad. She was able to earn money by turning herself into a sexual object; however about half way through the episode one of her friends finds out what she is doing and confronts her about it. She responds by defending herself as having no other options which really got me (and apparently her friend as well) to think about what a woman is supposed to do in a situation when she is used to having the money to feed he family but suddenly is unable to.
In "Maid to Order", Ehenreich describes how we are turning into a country in which those women and families in the upper-middle and upper classes are no longer doing their own cleaning and instead are hiring poor, lower-class women to do it for them. Ehenreich points out that these maids are not treated much better than slaves or servants and are often not actually given fair wages let alone health insurance or pension plans. This article made me think about my family's "cleaning lady", Maria. She has been cleaning our house since we moved to Los Angeles over 10 years ago and I really feel like she is part of the family. She moved to the United States and moved in as a stay-at-home nanny for our good family friends over 30 years ago and uses the money she earns cleaning our house every Saturday to go on cool vacations to places like China and India. I realize Maria is the exception and not the rule; however I thought that Ehrenreich was somewhat exaggerating when she said that having a cleaning woman teaches children that some people are better than others. Although I do believe it is an issue that all of these maids are female instead of a mix between men and women, I also think that in our current economic status with such a high level of unemployment, not all housekeeping jobs should be viewed as evil.
I agree with Shannon on housekeeping jobs. True a good part of that industry is taking advantage of colored and poor women. However, not all housekeeping jobs should be seen as negative. I was thinking back on my hometown and almost every single one of my friends has a housekeeper. Talking with some of these friends, they cannot imagine what life would be like without one. They view cleaning their own house as disgusting, degrading, and unecessary. Thus, some families do treat housekeepers as part of the family. But others, in the case of my some of my friends, treat them as beneath them. They would never 'lower' themselves to do such a job. That's disturbing and sad to me and that's where there is a problem with housekeeping.
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