I don't see the issue of women and wages as off topic; not at all. This
country is run by the principles of a science fiction (or science fiction
fantasy, depending on which version is supported) in which all the labor
that a woman does in her own household is entirely without monetary value,
while exactly the same labor done by "housekeepers" and "maids" and
"nannies" and "home healthcare workers," etc., has to be paid for, becomes
part of the Social Security system, is counted in the gross national
product, and all the rest. Few science fictions are less credible than this
one, but we allow it to go on in perpetuum and lift not a finger to change
it. I think we badly need science fiction portraying alternate US societies
in which a woman's labor in her own household (or a man's, for that matter,
in those cases where it is a man who does the "homemaking") has to get
minimum wage just like any other labor, and the money that changes hands
must be counted into national statistics like any other money, must count
toward Social Security, and all the rest. That would let us explore the
question of whether following that policy would -- as has been proposed --
mean the collapse of Western civilization.
Suzette Haden Elgin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:45 PDT