Gender division of labour

This chapter builds on the final section of the last, continuing the focus on female workers. Bodies in space form the primary emphasis of the chapter. This involves an exploration of the relationship between bodies and work and also an examination of the ways in which female bodies move through and across spaces of home, gully, factory and city. Two trajectories of marginalisation – that constructed around Muslim minority status and that cemented within hegemonic gender norms (Ray & Qayum 2009) – intersect in the production and reproduction of feminised sectors of the labour force. Other factors were also significant, class in particular. Those labouring in situations like those of Noor and her family were universally at the bottom of both social and labour hierarchies. In a context that often situated women’s engagements with the labour market – particularly when they involved leaving the domestic space – as symbolising low socio-economic standing, it was the families with the smallest incomes that provided the labour for finishing work.

The contentious issue of the division of labour in relation to household chores has been the focal point of a plethora of academic critique by feminist scholars since the onset of second wave feminism in the 1970's. Whilst strong motifs point to inequalities based on biological essentialism, reproduced and reinforced by popular culture and the media, the underlying values integral in perpetuating this phenomenon and their wider implications have at times lacked scrutiny. It will be the purpose of this paper to expand upon the chosen article to critically examine inequalities in paid and unpaid work and the forces, both latent and manifest, that facilitate the power based dichotomy of gendered behaviour as an entrenched status quo.

The Household Meals Project (HMP ) looks at the division of food-related chores (shopping, putting supplies away, food preparation, cleaning up, garbage, and recycling) in 150 middle-class households in suburban and urban New York. The mixed-methods study employs quantitative, qualitative and visual (photographic) data. Issues focused on include: the micro-sociological dynamics of power and accommodation within households; how the praxis of household food chores serves as a distinct power base for women, and one that is transmitted inter-generationally as a vital component of female identity; how the cultural territory of domestic food practices serves as a site where social change is both produced and resisted, often simultaneously; and identification of several socio-historical trends in the U.S. over the last century which have acted to increase the gender imbalance in domestic food work, even as paid work and other domestic labor have moved toward gender equality. These issues all stem from a seemingly simple question: What factors lie behind the continuation of female responsibility for the majority of food-related chores in dual-headed households?
Among the findings: both women and men tend to see the praxis of food chores as a health-related, emotionally freighted vocational discipline--an unpaid job particularly geared toward women that engages the work ethic traditionally associated with paid employment--rather than as a neutral set of tasks that can be done equally well by anyone. In addition, a comparison of chore-specific data from a 1980s study with the HMP 's data reveals identifiable change in who does the work, while still maintaining female-dominated "ownership" of these responsibilities.
This work explores how the combination of personal expectations and experiences, larger social trends, and the physical setting of kitchens influence and shape the daily fulfillment of food-related responsibilities. Through this synthesis, it becomes clear that the food-related home environment--conscious, unconscious, physical, and symbolic--serves as a source of both social stability and instability as it reflects and generates social change. Far from a passive repository of private practices, household meals are seen to be a potent force in cultural, political, and economic life.

Türkiye Küresel Toplumsal Cinsiyet Ayrımcılığı Endeksi’nde ve kadın istihdamı göstergelerinde alt
sıralarda yer almaktadır. Kadınların düşük istihdamına ve toplumun her alanında karşılaştıkları cinsel
ayrımcılığa rağmen, ülkedeki akademik personeldeki kadın oranı pek çok Avrupa ülkesindeki kadın
akademisyen oranından yüksektir. Öte yandan bu yüksek oran kadınların akademik yönetimdeki
temsiliyetlerine beklenen ölçüde yansımamakta ve ayrıca kadınların üniversite bölümlerine dağılımları
arasında ciddi farklar görülmektedir. Bu çalışma istatistiksel verilere ve Türkiye’deki üniversitelerde
yapılan araştırmalara dayanarak kadınların akademideki varlıklarının dinamiklerini analiz etmeyi
hedeflemektedir. Bu doğrultuda araştırmada, Türkiye’deki kadın akademisyenlerin üniversitelerde ve
yönetim kademelerindeki konumları ve kadın akademisyenlerin bölümlere göre dağılımındaki sayısal
eşitsizlik üzerinden akademik çalışmanın cinsiyetlendirilmiş yapısı tartışılacaktır.

This article explores the significance of disability for social justice, using Nancy Fraser’s theory of justice as a guideline. The article argues that the disability perspective is essential for understanding and promoting social justice, although it is often disregarded by critical thinkers and social activists. The article looks at three prominent strategies for achieving social justice under conditions of capitalism: economically, by decommodifying labour; culturally, by deconstructing self-sufficiency; and politically, by transnationalising democracy. The disability perspective reveals that decommodification of labour requires enhancement of disability support, deconstruction of self-sufficiency requires valorisation of disability-illuminated interdependence, and transnationalisation of democracy requires scrutiny of the transnational production of impairments. The article discusses each of these strategies in theoretical and practical terms by drawing on disability studies and Fraser’s analyses.

Have you ever wondered about the implications of Emile Durkhiem’s theories in Sociology? Are they relevant today? More importantly, to whom are they important? Durkheim is rather well known for his views on ‘social facts’ a concept that is commonly used to designate almost all the phenomena that occur within society. In sociology, social facts are
the structural values, cultural norms, and social structures and the overall normative structure that is external to and which transcends the individual and are capable of exercising a social constraint. Durkheim argued that the discipline of Sociology should be understood as the empirical study of social facts.

Tucker Carlson recently discussed the role of the free market in the breakdown of the family. However, from the outset feminism set out to undermine  marriage, the role of the man in the family and the family. Therefore the  impact of the free market and  state policies on the family cannot be understood  in isolation but needs to be explored in the context of feminist ideology.

This thesis aims to elucidate the impact of conjugal mixedness on the renegotiation of gender relations within the couple of a Japanese migrant woman and her non-Japanese partner in France. Their gender relation is examined particularly in their way of distributing domestic work and its justifications. We conduct biographical interviews with 15 Japanese women who live in Lyon and Paris and work on CDI and/or full-time, to also understand the influence of their entire social backgrounds, such as educational, professional, marital/familial and migratory. In conclusion, the formation of the mixed couple serves to reconfigure the imaginaries and expectations of their gender relationship within the couple, but more particularly in their perception and interpretation than in the actual distribution of domestic work. Moreover, the justifications of their current situation shed light on how the contexts of their primary socialization are based on their perception of gender relations in the mixed couple.
This thesis have received the special mention of the Polak Prize 2019 from the France-Japan Foundation for the best Master's thesis on Japan.
Key Words: Sociology of Migration / Sociology of Gender / Sociology of Couple / Conjugal mixedness / Gendered division of labour / Justifications

Sociological and cultural studies research suggests that men and women cook differently. However, this research rarely takes into account men’s and women’s different levels of responsibility for the practice and how this might affect cooking approaches.
This study investigates this culinary gender dichotomy through the experiences of men with significant domestic cooking responsibilities. Using interviews, cooking observations, and meal diaries from 30 such men from Toronto, Canada, I examine
the extent to which they drew on traditionally ‘masculine’ and traditionally ‘feminine’ approaches to food. While most men did draw on traditional masculinities, many of the same men also drew on traditional femininities. Further, I observed the most ‘feminine’ approaches among men with the heaviest responsibilities for feeding others, including men who, previous to taking on these roles, saw cooking in more masculine ways. The data illuminate how social roles and responsibilities, as they intersect with interactional positionings and identities, shape gendered cooking approaches.

« Il y a toujours plus inconnu que le soldat inconnu : sa femme ». Ce slogan a été inventé par les militantes du « Mouvement de libération des femmes françaises » au cours de la manifestation du 26 août 1970 à Paris. Elles ont été aussitôt arrêtées par la police, mais cette action constitue pourtant une preuve de la reconnaissance publique du rôle des épouses de militaires.
Le cas des épouses de militaires, en France, offre un cas particulier de réflexion sur l’imbrication entre travail et famille. De nos jours, bien que le rôle des épouses soit caché dans la sphère privée, il est reconnu comme indispensable pour le fonctionnement de l’armée, qui déplace cette activité de la sphère privée au domaine professionnel. C’est ainsi que les conjointes de militaires apportent par extension un service gratuit , favorisé par les dirigeants de l’armée et expliqué par la nature féminine de ces tâches.
L’objectif de cette enquête est d’interroger les constructions identitaires des épouses de militaires, afin de comprendre dans quelle mesure la vie en couples militaires, affecte-t-elle leur accès au travail.

This article examines Jacques Derrida’s work of self-reflection on his own teaching practice by using as a guiding thread the problematics of reproduction in the seminars of the 1970s. The first part of the article examines the sequence of seminars taught by Derrida at École normale supérieure from 1971 to 1977 to show how the concept of reproduction is deconstructed by Derrida across several seminars. Derrida systematically demonstrates, across several themes and fields (sociology and economy, biology and sexuality, art, technique, ontology, and so on), that the critical recourse to the concept of reproduction (for instance, in its Marxist or sociological form) risks being complicit in the reproductive system it criticizes. The deconstructive motif of "débordement" is introduced to problematize this onto-logic of re-production. The second part of the article analyzes more specifically the unpublished seminar “GREPH, le concept de l’idéologie chez les idéologues français” (1974–75), in which Derrida examines the seminar function, his role as a teacher, and his own situation within the French educational system. In particular, Derrida offers a deconstructive critique of the reproductive effects of teaching, and of the institution of philosophy inasmuch as it functions as a reproductive machine. This work of deconstruction is done in the seminar notably through readings of Marx, Engels, and Althusser, with special attention to the concepts of ideology, reproduction, division of labor, and sexual difference.

Keywords: Jacques Derrida, deconstruction, Louis Althusser, Karl Marx, Marxism, pedagogy, politics of education, ideology, division of labor, sexual difference

Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers,
cleaners, food preparation workers etc. – are considered low-skill
and are poorly remunerated. During the Covid-19 crisis they have
been recast as ‘essential’, leading to unprecedented praise and
attention in public discourse. Nonetheless, public praise for these
‘essential’ workers so far has not translated into a commitment
for higher wages and improved working conditions. In this article,
we argue that skills hierarchies continue to determine labour
market outcomes and social inequalities. We pinpoint that these
are embedded into the logic of capitalist social relations, rather
than being an expression of the features of jobs themselves. We
also show how some socially reproductive sectors resist the
tendency to automation precisely because of the prevalence
therein of a workforce which is portrayed as un-skilled. By
focussing on low-skilled workers’ engagement in various forms of
labour unrest and their demands for long overdue recognition
and wage rises. the article puts into question the inherited skillslexicon according to which low-wage jobs are unproductive and
lacking in skills and competence. The authors conclude that these
workers’ fights for the recognition of the dignity and importance
of their jobs and professions can facilitate a rethinking of the
division of labour in our societies.

The domestic division of labour and its impact on female employment has been a much debated
issue and prior research has provided mixed findings. Some researchers claim women’s
domestic situation remains almost the same while others identify considerable changes which
have ameliorated women’s prospects in employment. The current essay discusses the ‘double
burden’ that women have to carry even nowadays forcing them to opt out from employment or
find part-time jobs and the threats that this entails to the family (e.g. divorce). It explores the
reluctance of men of all classes to help their partners with domestic labour and the
preconception that housework and childcare are not important and therefore non-existent
issues. This essay also elaborates on how pressures in the workplace increase stress in women
and how men seem sometimes unable to help their partners with housework even when they
are willing. Finally, it stresses that the state does not adopt any family-friendly policies to help
couples share the burden apart from promoting part-time work for women thus avoiding to
provide facilities for childcare. Recommendations are also provided to help women get the
position they deserve in the modern employment market and pursue their careers on an equal
base with men.

One of the biggest emphasis in the feminist literature is that the most critical area is the women’s economic freedom and the need of female labour force participation in order to provide a gender equality. According to a study of Women’s Human Rights Project in 1997, the biggest obstacle for women to participate in the labour force is the motherhood and childcare in Turkey (İlkkaracan, Kim, & Kaya, 2015). Therefore, the institutionalization of childcare emerged as both a need to improve the female labour force participation and their economic power within the means of social right and social care.
In Turkey, although the labour force participation rates are at around %50 which is very low among the OECD countries, the labour force participation rate between male and female tells a lot about the division of labour in the country and why it is impossible to expect a positive shift for the benefit of women in the future with the relevant childcare policies (Özgan, 2010). According to TURKSTAT, 2004 is the only year that the female labour force participation has increased until 2015 between the years 1988 and 2015. However, since 2014, the female participation rate has passed just above the %30, marking a striking gender participation gap of 40 percentage points between male and female (İlkkaracan, Kim, & Kaya, 2015).
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey since 2002 has been marked by the rise of conservatization in socio-cultural and political matters, which has generated critical implications for gender relations in Turkey. In the AKP's conservative politics, being a woman is first and foremost defined within the familial sphere through traditional gender codes. The neoliberal economic policy with a conservative political agenda leads to an emphasis on “strong familialism” and a call to fight the modernization trends that “erode family ties” (Yazıcı, 2012). However, while doing that, the AKP government pushed forth the family and especially the female members in families to fill any gaps in caregiving. As the “mothers” have become the primary caregiver within the family, the lack of good institutional childcare services and “need-based” rather than “right-based” time leaves have also supported the female to be part of their homes, rather than labour force. This article will demonstrate how the childcare policies that are interwined with a familialistic discourse lead to explicit familialism in Turkey and how this type of familialism create a “gendered” and “non-inclusive” citizenship for women.

Throughout African history, domestic labour time, directed at meeting the basic consumption needs of family members, dwarfs any other labour time allocation. Domestic labour, commonly termed ‘housework’, is conventionally conflated with ‘women’s work’.  Housework encompasses childcare, cooking, washing, cleaning and general household maintenance. It is perceived as a jumble of multi-tasking activity dominating women’s daily lives, motivated by love, duty, care and concern for family and lineage rather than monetary gain. This chapter attempts to piece together a historical narrative of the changing nature of domestic labour since 1900 based on social science literature. This article traces domestic labour’s evolution with respect to domestic labour performance, the household division of labour, and how unmonetized family-based domestic labour is affected by the general expansion of labour commodification in African economies through time: the colonial period, 1900-1949; the nationalist and early post-colonial period from 1950 to 1979; economic crisis, deagrarianization and income diversification, 1980-1999; and the neo-liberal economic boom, urbanization and sectoral realignment, including natural resource extraction in African national economies from 2000 to the present.

This paper examines the relationship between gender composition and rural household strategies in Cavan, a county in north-central Ireland, during the first half of the 19th century. I show that the ratio of adult females to males was highest in small farm households that depended for their survival on intensively deployed family labour in agriculture, flax-cultivation and spinning. By contrast, households without land or with micro-holdings relied on the income from men’s employment as
agricultural labourers, supplemented by women’s work as spinners. More substantial landholders employed men as agricultural labourers. In both of the latter categories household labour strategies centred on men’s activities, with women’s work
representing an important supplement, whereas in the small-farm category household labour strategies centred on a strategic balance between men’s and women’s labour
input. Amongst households engaged in linen weaving the ratio of women to men was lower across all landholding categories. Differences in gender composition resulted from a complex interplay amongst household labour and inheritance strategies in a changing socio-economic environment.

IIn this study we use time-diary data from Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom to analyze how fathers’ child care differs across countries with distinct gender norms, family policies, and maternal employment rates. We pay particular attention to the role of mothers’ paid work time in influencing paternal child care. Results show that Danish fathers display the most involved child care behavior. Spanish fathers spend more time in child care than UK fathers, but Spanish fathers are less egalitarian than UK fathers regarding the relative contribution to the couple’s child care time. Women’s paid work is significantly associated with men’s routine child care, the most time-demanding and female-typed forms of parenting, but not with men’s interactive child care. The study suggests that maternal employment partly drives cross-national differences in fathers’ child care time, implying that women’s employment policies can influence active paternal involvement.

The gender division of labour is a phenomenon that projects masculine domination that pervades society. The gendering of occupations is essentially different from society to society. However, most cultures see music is seen as a male occupation At this point, “bayan orchestras”, musical practices that are done by women-only musicians and for women-only audience subvert social presumptions about the gender of conservative communities, which is both a result and reproduction of masculine domination. There “bayan orchestras” in conservative communities are results of banning women to dance in the presence of men. In this context; It is also not welcome for women to dance in entertainment with male orchestras. However, this situation is resolved by women performing music in the public sphere, which may not be welcomed, either. Thus, DJs and musicians who call themselves “bayan orchestra” emerge in response to the need for musicians in women-only entertainments, especially in conservative communities, such as henna nights. In this context, DJ Cannur, who provides bayan orchestra service” to mostly conservative groups in the Kemalpaşa district of İzmir, is our case study.
This study aims to examine the “bayan” orchestra practice in the context of gender division of labour. In this context, first, gender division of labour and gender division of labour in music are examined. Afterwards, henna night as a gendered entertainment practice and the role of this ritual in the emergence of “bayan orchestras” are emphasized. Finally, an analysis based on interviews is presented.

Questo libro ambizioso indaga come l’amore e il lavoro abbiano plasmato i rapporti tra donne e uomini nel XIX e XX secolo, coniugando in modo originale l’analisi di due temi a lungo trattati in modo separato, uno dall’arte e dalla letteratura, l’altro dall’economia e dal diritto. Lo studio si dispiega in una prospettiva genuinamente europea, con numerosi riferimenti all’Italia. Illustra l’emergere di una nuova sensibilità che spinge donne e uomini a lottare per il riconoscimento sia del diritto all’amore sia del diritto al lavoro, colonne portanti dell’esistenza individuale.

L’autrice intreccia storia sociale, culturale, economica e giuridica, misurandosi non solo con trattati eruditi e studi scientifici ma anche con romanzi e testi autobiografici. Affronta una vasta gamma di temi: dai divieti di matrimonio (per relazioni di parentela in grado proibito, motivi religiosi, confessionali, razziali) al potere dei padri; dalla trasmissione della proprietà alla segregazione di genere del lavoro; dai ruoli di donne e uomini nelle guerre mondiali a quelli nelle migrazioni; dall’incesto, dall’adulterio e dall’omicidio passionale alla prostituzione e alle malattie veneree; dalla psicoanalisi all’eugenetica e al “culto della coppia sana”; dalla segregazione razziale, dal lavoro forzato e dallo sterminio durante il nazismo alla riorganizzazione della società e dei rapporti di genere dopo il 1945.

Enclosure is a concept developed in Marxian political economy referring to the private appropriation of common resources under capitalism. Originally, the term defined the practice of fencing common lands into individual holdings that occurred in the Late Middle Ages in Europe. This process brought about the dispossession of peasants from their means of subsistence and contributed to the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Today, increasing numbers of scholars consider the enclosure of the commons as an ongoing process. Human geographers and other social scientists have analyzed different forms of enclosure that engender conflicting value practices and pertain to both human and nonhuman life. Examples include the privatization of public utilities and services (e.g., waste, water, and transportation systems), the appropriation of tangible and intangible resources (e.g., technologies and knowledge), the control of the human body, and the rendering for sale of living beings. This entry traces the history and different dimensions of the concept through the examination of iconic contributions in the field.

Understanding the conditions that facilitate mothers’ employment and fathers’ involvement in childcare and housework is important for achieving gender equity in paid and unpaid work. Using Sen’s capabilities framework, the article explores the effect of paternal involvement in childcare on mothers’ employment resumption nine months and three years’ post-childbirth. Logistic regression is used on the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study. Results show that the probability of mothers resuming employment increase at both time points if the father is more involved in childcare nine months post-birth – and in some cases, this is more important for her employment resumption than her occupational class and the number of hours the father spends in paid work. However, attitudes have an even stronger effect, and appear to drive behaviour, as the probability of mothers resuming employment increase significantly three years post-birth if either parent endorses more gender egalitarian roles in the first year of parenthood.

In this article I review several theoretical approaches to the explanation of the intra-household division of labour, focusing in particular on the distribution of domestic chores. I consider three strands of sociological theory: the rational choice perspective (social exchange, relative resources and economic dependency), the gender perspective (gender socialization and "doing gender") and the Breen&Cook's (2005) game-theoretic framework. I derived some hypotheses testable with data from three time use surveys, conducted in Turin (1979 and 2002-03) and other Italian metropolitan cities (2002-03), and analysed the share of time devoted to core housework tasks by the wife in dual earner couples. Findings give scant support to the social exchange theory while suggesting a "doing gender" behaviour among couples not living in Turin. I conclude with some remarks on Breen&Cook's game-theoretical framework, which seems to be appealing because it explicitly takes into account the issue of the persistence of gender inequalities in the division of household labour, but assumes as granted that couples' divorce or separation is driven mainly by men's lack of cooperation in household tasks. This assumption is challenged by a welldocumented paradox found in the literature about perceived fairness and satisfaction in family relations.

"Dass Buben mit Bauklötzen und Mädchen mit Puppen spielen, gilt oft als 'natürlich'. Erstens ist es das nicht, zweitens verdienen Puppenspielerinnen meist deutlich weniger. Über die Erfahrungen von Frauen mit schmutzigen Haaren in verkrusteten Strukturen. [...] Christian Berger, Ökonom bei der Arbeiterkammer Wien und ehemaliger Sprecher des österreichischen Frauen*Volksbegehrens, hegt beträchtliche Zweifel an dieser Erklärung. Die Rede von den 'natürlichen Interessen' sei lediglich ein Argument zur Verschleierung von Interessen und Herrschaftsansprüchen. 'Interessen', so Berger, 'sind zuvorderst eine Frage der Sozialisation.' Wie werden Frauen in Kultur, Fernsehen oder Werbung dargestellt? Welche weiblichen Vorbilder gibt es in der Politik, im Sport oder in der Wirtschaft? In welchen Berufen sehen Kinder ihre Eltern und Verwandten?" von Johannes Greß

Link zum Artikel: https://www.arbeit-wirtschaft.at/maenner-frauenberufe-klischee-ade/all/1/

Solidarity within the labour movement is contingent on the representation of the needs of all labouring members. Therefore, it is essential that women attain positions of leadership within the union in order to represent those interests most salient to female workers. Unfortunately, gendered proportional representation in the union executive has been a historically persistent problem at the global level and women continue to be underrepresented in positions of leadership despite their increasing participation in the labour force. Hence, the following roundtable with women labour union leaders from around the globe illuminates those systemic and institutionalized barriers that prevent women from attaining positions of leadership within the union, while also providing potential solutions to rectify this inequity. The very nature of such a project that draws on the collective knowledge of women union leaders from around the globe can invoke solidarity among those invested in achieving gender equity within unions.

"Today, there is a heartening resurgence of interest in handlooms. It can be seen as an interesting natural result of the monotony of globalised brands that are the very same across the world. In contrast, the handlooms of India in pure yarns provide exclusive customised products, the romance associated with tradition and heritage, a large variety from which to choose, ergonomic benefits and a cultural story associated with each textile."

Differences between men and women in terms of economic contribution are largely socially constructed instead of being rooted in biological factors. Domestic work such as childcare and household work has traditionally been viewed as jobs primarily for females to perform. These types of jobs are frequently viewed as less productive and contributing less to the national economy than jobs traditionally associated with male workers. Thus, most governments are now encouraging women to be incorporated to the formal work that pay taxes. With the rapid wave of global capitalism, multinational corporations have spread across the globe. Developing nations embrace this trend and compete with each other to invite foreign direct investment, since they see this as an opportunity to improve government revenue. This has created significant changes in the labour force around the world, including the composition of men and women in the workforce. This reflective essay attempts to explain the relation between gender, globalization and the feminization of labour. It argues that the process of globalization has produced tendency toward feminization of division of labour particularly labour-intensive industry in developing countries. The ongoing trade war between United States and China may have escalated this trend by having more Chinese factories move to lower labour cost countries in Southeast Asia. This paper suggests that in relation with neo-liberal approach, globalization and economic integration only give benefits to the rich in terms of state and individual, female factory workers seem far away to be the winner (at least equal) in the labour force and gender relationship within workers' organization.