Invisible Labor
The following essay will discuss the idea of invisible labor and its relationship to gender and technology over time, but to begin this argument, the question, "what is invisible labor?" must be answered. As we have discussed over the past several weeks in class, invisible labor is the idea that women are the caregivers of a household and are solely responsible for daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Beginning with Oldenziel's work Unsettled Discourses, women began experiencing oppression from technology early in the industrial revolution. As Oldenziel eludes, men were scared that women would become "heroes" in the technological field and that they would be downed from their contributions to society and as a result; men created
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the idea of women as the caregivers.() This idea of women as caregivers and not inventors was created when men would not patent technological advancements produced by women, therefore forcing women to stay at home. While time has progressed, this idea of women overpowering men in the workforce and should perform the more emotional labored task has not yet changed in current day society. This idea was reinforced yet again, earlier this the year when a Google employee stated that the reason women were not performing to standards in tech jobs was that there could be a biological deficiency between women and men.(google) Although career opportunities and the level of acceptance as daily laborers have flourished for women over the years, there are still many setbacks for women such as not being "fit" in the eyes of society for certain careers or even that they should just stay at home and tend to their house. Therefore, this still promotes this idea that women are not equal laborers and they are still responsible to perform their caregiver/invisible labor roles in the house to meet the criteria for a model wife, mother, and friend in society. As mentioned above technology and its advancements is one of the reasons women became responsible for household chores. As more factories and manufactures were being created more "manly" careers began to surface. Men began working in the factories and women were to stay home and cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Men at the time believed that they were making the roles for women more efficient, however, what used to be a large group effort quickly turned into a one-person effort. () Using Schwarz-Cowan piece, More Work for Mother, as an example, this idea of split housework slowly begins to evolve. The industrialization of flour or commercialized grain is one of the main arguments used when defining the split roles in the invention of housework. This switch in society, where a family once grew and harvested their own grain, to grain that was milled in a factory, and then added to a shelf to be store bought, placed a large impact on the family dynamics of this time. When flour was introduced to local stores and markets the idea of social class followed it.
Flour was a large part of the everyday diet and when it was industrialized white flour was viewed as a higher-class grocery, while other types of grains were viewed of a lesser class grocery. This created more work for the mother as the title suggests because now not only did women have to go out and buy the flour, they now were responsible for the class standing of their families when purchasing something essential for her daily cooking needs. One may argue that that the invention of flour, bleached, dried, and then later sent to a local store or market would have no effect on a woman's labor, that in some ways it removed manual labor from women's lives and reduced the number of people it took to prepare something like dinner. However, this transition was a catalyst point of producing housework for women and the divide in housework rules that we see in our society …show more content…
today. Schwarz-Cowen also analyzed this shift in the division of labor using the open heath stove to the invention of the closed stove. The original stove with the open-hearth flame required men and boys of the family to go and collect firewood. Once they had completed this task, they were responsible for maintaining an open flame for the mother and girls to cook dinner, therefore, utilizing the whole family on nightly dinner preparation. When the closed stove was invented, however, men's task became greatly reduced. With these new invention men no longer had to cut firewood and keep an open flame for the spouse to cook on rather she could do it by herself with this new technology. The industrialization of both the flour and the stove are used as examples thus far to not just give the history of technology advancements but to show how the stereotype that women are responsible for the house and the role of women as caregivers evolved over time. Stereotypes and social norms are not formed immediately rather they are formed when a pattern and tradition that is continued over an extensive period of time continues and therefore creating a stereotype. These examples also provide a brief glimpse of what one technological production will produce; meaning will technology produce more work for these mothers or will it drastically decrease the amount of time expected when performing the daily tasks? Continuing with the idea of women as invisible laborers, I would like to continue with the industrialization of technology but analyze it both as an efficiency and as an increase in labor for women. Using the production-to-production model, as technology grew so did the work for women. With the introduction to the household items such as water, electricity, and automobiles women now had to learn new standards of household chores. While these advancements produced efficiency in the house, there was now a lot more chores the women could perform on their own without the help of her family, hence reinforcing the division of labor roles discussed above. In addition to learning new methods around the house, having to uphold new standards of living and cleanliness, and more work for sole women, at this point in technological evolution, society began to produce a pathway for women as laborers in mills and factories.
Women out in the workforce did not change this view of women as caregivers however, they were still responsible to cook, clean, and take care of her family outside of the financial realm even though society now said it was socially acceptable for her to have a job. A society without knowing created this idea of the "Second Shift." The second shift-encompassed women working an everyday job in the factory but at the end of the day, her invisible labor or second shift was to mold into societies idea of a perfect woman and cook, clean, and take care of the children. The second shift was yet another idea formed by the society that continued to force women into the stereotype that they have to be the primary caregiver in her family later in the
1900s. By World War II, technology had made many strides and so had women in career opportunities. However, as women began to make successful interventions in STEM-related careers, specifically programming, by the end of the war women were displaced from their jobs and sent back to their homes to care for their families. Men replaced the women in there computing jobs and essentially "took" all of the credit women had been working on in science during the war. As unfair as this is, it furthers argue the point that while time has progressed the way society views women as not. Men with no college education or experience were replacing these women's jobs because society believed women should be sent home to care for their returned soldiers and also to care for the families. Women in World War II proved that we as women are strong enough to be able to have successful careers and still care for our dependents; however, this was a glass eye in thesociety that had yet to broken. Moving forward from the Industrialization Revolution and World War II in the 1800-1900s to modern society, this idea of the status shield slowly developed. Each phase of technology development, isolated women to the home, created more work for them as the caregivers, or paved a way to partial careers but never allowed for a complete career. As society allowed women to become equal laborers to their male counterparts; the idea of emotional laborers and status shield arose. Hochschild in her readings begins to approach this concept on how society views women as weak and inferior gendering certain careers to be specifically male or female dominated. She specifically touched on the careers of nurses and dental hygienist because they are both viewed to require more heart or empathy for the work. Revisiting the Google employee's statement that "women may be biologically different than men" this is why our society is placing a limitation on women in careers. Women are being viewed as emotionally felt laborers and when they cannot compete with the competition they begin to become "witch hunters" to succeed per the New York Times article. () When using all of the history and background provided above on women and how the development of technology gendered them into specific careers paths, I am still left with answering the question, "Why are women still considered prominent caregivers in a society that encompasses all people to push for total equality?" In a society where the standard nuclear family has evolved into a blended or single family, why are women still responsible for going to work and coming home and starting their second shift? In a society were females are receiving the same academia as her male colleagues why is she still considered inferior and viewed as better emotional labor such as a nurse and not an engineer? In our society we have been told for years and passed through generations that women are the caregivers to a family; this is there invisible labor or more commonly referenced as "motherhood as a full-time job." While our country strives to produce equality for careers and education for all genders and even races, one thing that society cannot fix is a cycle that has been repeated over and over. The cycle I mention is the cycle that has been taught to our women of all ages that they are to go to work and come home to take care of their family. Just as I mentioned earlier, stereotypes do not form overnight and just as stereotypes took years to fulfill, it took years of being taught and accepting this idea of women as invisible labors to be accepted into our society. It will take many women not accepting being viewed inferior and of less power to men to break this cycle. It will take a group of women standing up to their individual families and not follow the social norm anymore, and then women continuing to pass down this cycle of women as caregivers and emotional laborers as unacceptable. It will take that one person, has it has throughout history to break the barriers of bad intentions, however, when that one person takes her stand many will follow and this societal norm on how we view will eventually break. In conclusion, there are both pros and cons when viewing women as invisible laborers due to technology. Women have made large climbs in society from being the traditional stay at home housewife in the early 1900s to women with careers in STEM today. While it is easy to point fingers and say this idea is all bad, in light of a tough situation, women have the ability to be a strong support system for their family when performing duties in the second shift. Also in light of this idea, it is socially acceptable for some women who choose to stay at home mothers to raise their families without society crashing on them for not working. Women in our history have been through major twist and turns and if one message can be emphasized from this essay it is, that while we are making progress towards equality; there is never a stride too large or too into the future for women to overcome the societal norm barriers, divide up the roles of invisible labor with other families members, and pursue careers that will one day be viewed as careers for both men and women.
the idea of women as the caregivers.() This idea of women as caregivers and not inventors was created when men would not patent technological advancements produced by women, therefore forcing women to stay at home. While time has progressed, this idea of women overpowering men in the workforce and should perform the more emotional labored task has not yet changed in current day society. This idea was reinforced yet again, earlier this the year when a Google employee stated that the reason women were not performing to standards in tech jobs was that there could be a biological deficiency between women and men.(google) Although career opportunities and the level of acceptance as daily laborers have flourished for women over the years, there are still many setbacks for women such as not being "fit" in the eyes of society for certain careers or even that they should just stay at home and tend to their house. Therefore, this still promotes this idea that women are not equal laborers and they are still responsible to perform their caregiver/invisible labor roles in the house to meet the criteria for a model wife, mother, and friend in society. As mentioned above technology and its advancements is one of the reasons women became responsible for household chores. As more factories and manufactures were being created more "manly" careers began to surface. Men began working in the factories and women were to stay home and cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Men at the time believed that they were making the roles for women more efficient, however, what used to be a large group effort quickly turned into a one-person effort. () Using Schwarz-Cowan piece, More Work for Mother, as an example, this idea of split housework slowly begins to evolve. The industrialization of flour or commercialized grain is one of the main arguments used when defining the split roles in the invention of housework. This switch in society, where a family once grew and harvested their own grain, to grain that was milled in a factory, and then added to a shelf to be store bought, placed a large impact on the family dynamics of this time. When flour was introduced to local stores and markets the idea of social class followed it.
Flour was a large part of the everyday diet and when it was industrialized white flour was viewed as a higher-class grocery, while other types of grains were viewed of a lesser class grocery. This created more work for the mother as the title suggests because now not only did women have to go out and buy the flour, they now were responsible for the class standing of their families when purchasing something essential for her daily cooking needs. One may argue that that the invention of flour, bleached, dried, and then later sent to a local store or market would have no effect on a woman's labor, that in some ways it removed manual labor from women's lives and reduced the number of people it took to prepare something like dinner. However, this transition was a catalyst point of producing housework for women and the divide in housework rules that we see in our society …show more content…
today. Schwarz-Cowen also analyzed this shift in the division of labor using the open heath stove to the invention of the closed stove. The original stove with the open-hearth flame required men and boys of the family to go and collect firewood. Once they had completed this task, they were responsible for maintaining an open flame for the mother and girls to cook dinner, therefore, utilizing the whole family on nightly dinner preparation. When the closed stove was invented, however, men's task became greatly reduced. With these new invention men no longer had to cut firewood and keep an open flame for the spouse to cook on rather she could do it by herself with this new technology. The industrialization of both the flour and the stove are used as examples thus far to not just give the history of technology advancements but to show how the stereotype that women are responsible for the house and the role of women as caregivers evolved over time. Stereotypes and social norms are not formed immediately rather they are formed when a pattern and tradition that is continued over an extensive period of time continues and therefore creating a stereotype. These examples also provide a brief glimpse of what one technological production will produce; meaning will technology produce more work for these mothers or will it drastically decrease the amount of time expected when performing the daily tasks? Continuing with the idea of women as invisible laborers, I would like to continue with the industrialization of technology but analyze it both as an efficiency and as an increase in labor for women. Using the production-to-production model, as technology grew so did the work for women. With the introduction to the household items such as water, electricity, and automobiles women now had to learn new standards of household chores. While these advancements produced efficiency in the house, there was now a lot more chores the women could perform on their own without the help of her family, hence reinforcing the division of labor roles discussed above. In addition to learning new methods around the house, having to uphold new standards of living and cleanliness, and more work for sole women, at this point in technological evolution, society began to produce a pathway for women as laborers in mills and factories.
Women out in the workforce did not change this view of women as caregivers however, they were still responsible to cook, clean, and take care of her family outside of the financial realm even though society now said it was socially acceptable for her to have a job. A society without knowing created this idea of the "Second Shift." The second shift-encompassed women working an everyday job in the factory but at the end of the day, her invisible labor or second shift was to mold into societies idea of a perfect woman and cook, clean, and take care of the children. The second shift was yet another idea formed by the society that continued to force women into the stereotype that they have to be the primary caregiver in her family later in the
1900s. By World War II, technology had made many strides and so had women in career opportunities. However, as women began to make successful interventions in STEM-related careers, specifically programming, by the end of the war women were displaced from their jobs and sent back to their homes to care for their families. Men replaced the women in there computing jobs and essentially "took" all of the credit women had been working on in science during the war. As unfair as this is, it furthers argue the point that while time has progressed the way society views women as not. Men with no college education or experience were replacing these women's jobs because society believed women should be sent home to care for their returned soldiers and also to care for the families. Women in World War II proved that we as women are strong enough to be able to have successful careers and still care for our dependents; however, this was a glass eye in thesociety that had yet to broken. Moving forward from the Industrialization Revolution and World War II in the 1800-1900s to modern society, this idea of the status shield slowly developed. Each phase of technology development, isolated women to the home, created more work for them as the caregivers, or paved a way to partial careers but never allowed for a complete career. As society allowed women to become equal laborers to their male counterparts; the idea of emotional laborers and status shield arose. Hochschild in her readings begins to approach this concept on how society views women as weak and inferior gendering certain careers to be specifically male or female dominated. She specifically touched on the careers of nurses and dental hygienist because they are both viewed to require more heart or empathy for the work. Revisiting the Google employee's statement that "women may be biologically different than men" this is why our society is placing a limitation on women in careers. Women are being viewed as emotionally felt laborers and when they cannot compete with the competition they begin to become "witch hunters" to succeed per the New York Times article. () When using all of the history and background provided above on women and how the development of technology gendered them into specific careers paths, I am still left with answering the question, "Why are women still considered prominent caregivers in a society that encompasses all people to push for total equality?" In a society where the standard nuclear family has evolved into a blended or single family, why are women still responsible for going to work and coming home and starting their second shift? In a society were females are receiving the same academia as her male colleagues why is she still considered inferior and viewed as better emotional labor such as a nurse and not an engineer? In our society we have been told for years and passed through generations that women are the caregivers to a family; this is there invisible labor or more commonly referenced as "motherhood as a full-time job." While our country strives to produce equality for careers and education for all genders and even races, one thing that society cannot fix is a cycle that has been repeated over and over. The cycle I mention is the cycle that has been taught to our women of all ages that they are to go to work and come home to take care of their family. Just as I mentioned earlier, stereotypes do not form overnight and just as stereotypes took years to fulfill, it took years of being taught and accepting this idea of women as invisible labors to be accepted into our society. It will take many women not accepting being viewed inferior and of less power to men to break this cycle. It will take a group of women standing up to their individual families and not follow the social norm anymore, and then women continuing to pass down this cycle of women as caregivers and emotional laborers as unacceptable. It will take that one person, has it has throughout history to break the barriers of bad intentions, however, when that one person takes her stand many will follow and this societal norm on how we view will eventually break. In conclusion, there are both pros and cons when viewing women as invisible laborers due to technology. Women have made large climbs in society from being the traditional stay at home housewife in the early 1900s to women with careers in STEM today. While it is easy to point fingers and say this idea is all bad, in light of a tough situation, women have the ability to be a strong support system for their family when performing duties in the second shift. Also in light of this idea, it is socially acceptable for some women who choose to stay at home mothers to raise their families without society crashing on them for not working. Women in our history have been through major twist and turns and if one message can be emphasized from this essay it is, that while we are making progress towards equality; there is never a stride too large or too into the future for women to overcome the societal norm barriers, divide up the roles of invisible labor with other families members, and pursue careers that will one day be viewed as careers for both men and women.