Answer To: Job inside and out of the home

The Gendered Phenomena of Work Inside and Outside the Home

The essay Work Inside and Outside the Home reflects on the gendered phenomena that affect work in which feminine and other male behaviors are coded. The household activities such as washing, cooking, farming as well as caring for the children are known to be female duties to date. The paper illustrates the interaction between unpaid domestic labor and the global labor market trends that influence women's labor force participation patterns (Shaw and Lee, 470).

The Decline of Domestic Work Performed by Women in the US

I must say that I was intrigued by the fact that since the rise of feminism in 1960's the amount of domestic work performed by women in the US has declined while the amount of household work performed by men has increased (Shaw and Lee, 473). It is an achievement that should not go unnoticed. I believe there is nothing wrong with husbands taking care of children, cleaning the house or even cooking. Since women are no longer housewives, I believe that as bills are shared between spouses so should be the domestic duties.

The Impact of Domestic Work on Women's Salaries

The only thing that saddened me upon reading the article is that the domestic work has 'a negative impact on the salaries of women regardless of their occupation' (Shaw and Lee, 473). This shows that there is still much that needs to be done to achieve equality in the labor market. The wage gap between men and women with the same qualifications and holding similar positions on the basis that domestic work affects the productivity of a woman in the office should be discouraged. Besides, it is not justifiable that women are paid less because housework increases their stress and anxiety. They should be appreciated in the sense that domestic work is unpaid and involves taking care of the man so that he can perform efficiently in the workplace. Men do not have the anxiety or stress contributed by housework since someone else is doing the work for them who happens to be a woman.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, domestic chores should not be a basis of wage inequality.

Works Cited

Shaw, Susan M, and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. McGraw-Hill, 2012.