Paid Carework

Parental Leave and Child Care
Deanne Bonnar

This reading focuses on the inequalities present in care work. Much care work as suggested by Bonnar is conducted by the female. This article also suggests that care giving is not considered work, yet it is a duty expected to be fulfilled by the woman of the household. Women’s labor outside of the home has received little acknowledgment and though they are participating in double the work, housework is continued to be recognized only as a biological right. Bonnar discusses that housework also contains the aspect of care giving and human care. Human care as explained by Bonnar is the aspect of nurturing, and emphasizing the difference between caring for things and people. Women are responsible for not only taking care of regular household chores but also most importantly women are responsible for taking care of their children. This becomes a problem when women participate in both household work and outside market work.
Thus women discover the conflict of scheduling, leave benefits thus limiting them in jobs that are poorly paid. Bonnar also suggests solutions to these problems, especially the most significant of them all, unpaid care work. Because housework has not been defined as work, one interesting suggestion made by Bonnar would be considering to provide wages for domestic work. Another solution that I more agree with than paying for domestic work and care giving, is modifying the time variable that will allow for more personal time with the child and with the family.