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Working Woman: The Global Effects on the Female Workforce and Their Families
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The chain of negative effects women in the workforce must face often begins before they even become mothers, with the problem of maternity leave, or, more often than not, lack thereof, being a major issue. Even in a First World such as the United States women must deal with the tough decision of choosing between unpaid leave and leaving their newborn. Care options range from depending on relatives, daycare centers or at-home nannies, which many mothers are unable to avoid due to financial need. As Lise Vogel states, “Having a baby is an expensive undertaking.” This is supported by doctor’s and hospital bills that add up to the thousands of dollars, not to mention the costs of all of the necessities that a baby requires. Especially for first time mothers, the expenses that a baby brings with it are often too much for a husband’s paycheck alone to handle, if there even is a father or husband around. The ever increasing cost of living is one major reason why the percentage of working mothers has gone up so drastically in the past century or so. There are “few benefits available to assist women workers who bear children... despite an entrenched public ideology venerating motherhood and family” and there remains a “continuing absence of even the most basic components of an adequate maternity policy: health insurance, a job- and benefit-protected leave, and some income replacement during the leave” (Vogel 1993:30). Without assistance, mothers are unable to remain at home with their children during the first stages of life, when first words are spoken and first steps are taken. This lack of aid is even more present with regards to immigrants or women of color, with even the often minimal benefits provided to Americans or Europeans almost completely denied them. In the case of domestic workers, the very same women who sacrifice so much to provide care for their employer and their employer’s families are often let go or punished for becoming pregnant or wanting to bring a child to their work environment. As Andall writes, “the ideal servant is unmarried, even asexual…a historical incompatibility between live-in domestic work and family life” (Andall 2000:195-196). With the majority of women unable to afford being away from work any longer than their health requires, they must leave their infant in someone else’s care to ensure that their financial stability does not falter. The reality that even in the United States maternity leaves are “typically unpaid” (Vogel 1993:32) in turn creates a heavy dependency on domestic workers, whether for housekeeping duties, childcare, or both. Most frequently these workers have immigrated, leaving their own families behind in exchange for higher wages and the hope of a better life. This enables the mothers who cannot afford to stay at home with their children to go to work with slightly less worry. The vast majority of domestic workers migrated alone, and “even in those instances where they already had their own families they were usually compelled to leave them behind in the country of origin” (Andall 2000:125). Most frequently their journey is due to financial need, an “economic migration, made possible by the existing demand within the receiving country” (Andall 2000:125). It is an unfortunate cycle that as more women in industrialized countries leave their homes to get wage-paying jobs, the demand for domestic workers becomes higher and higher, free time becoming a thing of the past to the working women of the world. As Andall indicates, It almost seems as though a woman’s emancipation can only occur by off-loading a part of her own domestic duties onto another woman. It is not by chance that the number of domestic workers has risen noticeably over the last few years. The reasons behind this growth in the domestic work sector can be…attributed to the organizational needs of a working woman and the fact that she cannot…reconcile her double presence so she prefers or is forced to delegate part of the domestic labour to another woman if she wants to have a minimum amount of space for herself. (Andall 2000:253). Rather than handling the “second shift” responsibilities of housekeeping and childrearing alone or sharing with a husband, the working women often find the solution in simply paying someone else to manage it. While this appears to be a simple and golden opportunity for the migrant workers, the sacrifice they make in leaving their homes and their families is very high. It is true that most, if not all, of their already deteriorating situations back home are in fact reversed with the increasing demand for them in the field of domestic work, but at what cost? While some cite their previously unimaginable “degree of independence” and “liberation” (Hochschild 2002:1,3), this independence is achieved through the separation of mother from family in almost every case, often for months or even years at a time. In addition, their employers often know nothing of their personal lives or children that were left behind, and frequently overlook such sacrifices, not realizing that the love their own child receives from the hired help was in reality love that was being denied another. This love, along with numerous other benefits that employing migrant women provides, causes other childcare options to pale in comparison. Day care centers, as one example, are often much less reliable, more demanding, and much more expensive than a live-in childcare provider, but unfortunately many of these live-in care providers are exploited because of these very reasons. The main complaints of the domestic workers in interviews “concerned the long hours, abuse by employers, lack of free time and lack of privacy…structural problems endemic to the live-in work relationship” (Andall 2000:129). It is a sad truth that migrant women are “subject to greater exploitation because of their migrant status, which meant that their presence was precarious” (Andall 2000:129), combined with the reality that the money to be made in domestic work is still far greater than anything they could hope to achieve in their home country, gives an employee the upper hand. Part of the problem fueling such negative effects are realities such as “racial ‘discounting’” and the “indoor nature of so much of the new migrant’s work” (Hochnschild 2002:3). The presence of these workers and the exploitation that they endure is often ignored or forgotten by the public simply because the nature of their work is so private, they are out of sight a vast majority of the time,. It is also true that these hired women are often so good at their jobs of housekeeping and childrearing that their employers often neglect or fail to remember that the workers do in fact have personal lives. The most common complaints of domestic workers is that it is impossible to have any time to themselves, whether to meet with friends or more importantly go home to see their children, and the strenuous nature of the work is frequently mentioned as well, being on-call at any hour of the day is job that not many could tolerate. Oddly enough solace is found in the most peculiar place: the children left in the workers’ care. Strong bonds frequently develop between the children and their domestic caregivers, in one instance so much so that the child’s first word was her caretaker’s name (Hochnschild 2002:16). A common reality is that the care and love that would have been given to the migrant women’s own children is in fact shifted to the children that they look after day in and day out. What many of the parents fail to see is that this nurturing and caring is not simply a part of the worker’s nature or culture, but a sign of the effect that the “heartbreaking absence of their own children” (Hochnschild 2002:4) is having on them. Being away from the children that should be receiving their love, they instead shift their attentions to the children that are available, that they do see. This movement of love from less developed countries to more modern ones has been referred to as a “global heart transplant,” in which love and care is essentially extracted from Third World countries, much like coal or oil. The First World is so deprived of such things, with the scramble for “bigger and better” often overshadowing something so basic to human nature, that is has taken to importing it in the form of these migrant women. This transfer of care has not only impacted these mothers who leave their children behind in search of work but very heavily on the children as well. The effects that an absent mother can have on a child is hotly debated but nonetheless a reality. Studies on children of varying ages present drastically different results, some arguing that separation can strengthen the bond that a young child has with its mother while others claim that an insecure attachment will result. “Maternal employment” during the most critical “first year of life” most often affects “the child’s social and behavioral development” (Wisensale 2001:92), which can lead to more severe damage later in life. As the age of the child increases more often than not so does the level in which they are affected, psychological and behavioral problems such as hostility towards other children, unhealthy relationships with adults, depression, and in extreme cases, attempted suicide (Hochnschild 2002:22). Despite all of this, women continue leaving their homes in the thousands, hoping that the money they receive will help to make the efforts worthwhile. Despite all of the side effects and harm that working women seem to cause and endure, it is highly unlikely that their numbers will begin declining soon. The number of women in the workforce is expected to continue its steady incline, with the dramatic rise since the 1970s setting the stage for the future. Increases in the costs of living mirror the need for women to leave their homes in exchange for a paycheck, no matter the distance or damage they must endure. The unfortunate impact of this trend on their families and their children is a tragedy, but a tragedy that is dealt with in order to provide food and shelter for the very same family. As pressure placed on women in First World countries to compete with their male counterparts in the workplace or the home, the steady demand for domestic workers has provided many Third World women with opportunities to achieve a better life for themselves and the ones they love, but at a price. Despite the dramatic differences in the lives that these women lead, between them is shared desire to improve the lives of their families and themselves. The sacrifices they make are costly ones, but are done to carry or send a paycheck home. In the case of women who leave their children in order to do so, many suffer as their children do because of lengthy separations, but many are realizing the dream of having more than just enough to get by as well. The absence of a mother is often very damaging on the children that are left in alternate care, with psychological and behavioral problems to show for it. Regardless of the many obstacles and side effects, from the difficulties of maternity leave, being forced to leave children behind, to emotional damage that ensues, the calling of a mother to provide for her family outweighs all else. The common maternal cause unites mothers from different worlds as they take jobs for the betterment of their family, regardless of their personal sacrifices. REFERENCES Andall, Jacueline. 2000. Gender Migration and Domestic Service. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Co. Hochnschild, Arlie. 2002. “Introduction” and “Love and Gold” in Barbara Ehrenreich, and Arlie Hochnschild Eds. Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Henry Holt. The Pennsylvania State University. 1997. Alan Booth, Ann C. Crouter, Nancy Landale Eds. Immigration and the Family: Research and Policy on U.S. Immigrants. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers Vogel, Lise. 1993. Mothers on the Job: Maternal Policy in the US Workplace. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Wisensale, Steven K.. 2001. Family Leave Policy: The Political Economy of Work and Family in America. New York: M.E. Sharpe New York.
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