Free All Caring and Re-productive Labourers! By: Charles Brown.

11/1/2021

Free All Caring and Re-productive Labourers! By: Charles Brown.

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I named this blog "Labor Power” because its theme will be the working class, the 99%.

One form of labor which is not always clearly thought of as labor or work is Caring and Re-productive Labor. By convention, history, prejudice, etc., it is done predominantly by women. Even wage-labor jobs of the Caring Labor type are done more by women.

For background on Caring Labourers, see my previous article.

The Familial and anti-War, not Commercial or Male Supremacist, Origins of Mother's Day

"Care work is a sub-category of work that includes all tasks that directly involve care processes done in service of others. Often, it is differentiated from other forms of work because it is intrinsically motivated, meaning that people are motivated to pursue care work for internal reasons, not related to money.[1] Another factor that is often used to differentiate caring labor from other types of work is the motivating factor. This perspective defines care labor as labor undertaken out of affection or a sense of responsibility for other people, with no expectation of immediate pecuniary reward.[2]Despite the importance of this intrinsic motivation factor, care work includes care activities done for pay as well as those done without remuneration.

Specifically, care work refers to those occupations that provide services that help people develop their capabilities, or their ability to pursue the aspects of their life that they value. Examples of these occupations include child care, all levels of teaching (from preschoolthrough university professors), and health care of all types (nurses, doctors, physical therapists and psychologists).[3] Care work also includes the array of domestic unpaid work that is often disproportionately done by women.[4]

Often, care work focuses on the responsibilities to provide for dependents- children, the sick, and the elderly.[5] However, care work also refers to any work done in the immediate service others, regardless of the recipient’s dependent or nondependent status.

Care work is becoming a popular topic for academic study and discussion. This study is closely linked with the field of feminist economics and is associated with scholars including Nancy Folbre, Paula England, Maria Floro, Diane Elson, Caren Grown and Virginia Held" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Care_work)

Of course, women do much of what is regularly called labor, work, toil, too:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Millet_-_Gleaners_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Author

Charles Brown is a political activist in Detroit, Michigan. He has degrees in anthropology and is a member of the bar. He teaches anthropology at Community College. His favorite slogan is "What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

This article was produced by Charles Brown Blog - *small adjustments have been made for contextual relevance.