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Unpaid Domestic Labor

Unpaid domestic labor, is carried about by 83% of women on a daily basis, and is crucial to the capitalist patriarchal society. In 2015, a study found that on an average day, men completed 65% of household activities and women completed 83%. Women also spent an average of 2.6 hours completing the household work, and men spent 2.1 hours. The study also noted that food preparation was completed by 68% of women and 42% of men. In regard to labor, employed men were reported to have work 53 minutes more than employed women, due to the higher likelihood that women worked part-time jobs.

Capitalist Society and Division of Labor

Historians have noted that the industrial capitalist system created a division between the private sphere of the home and the public sphere of labor, in which the private sphere was recognized as one of personal feelings, family, and human values. The division was also recognized as one that separated the family and the economy, thus, separating paid labor and unpaid labor. Theorists have argued that the division of spheres also contributed to the inferiority of women to men, and related a woman's oppression. Eli Zaretsky, a socialist feminist, argued that a women's oppression has increased due to their exclusion from the paid labor, and he notes that the exclusion is caused primarily by the capitalist society, in which women are required to work within the domestic sphere of the home in order to maintain the reproduction of labor earners of capitalism. Furthermore, women contributing within the household may additionally be working in both the private sector and the public sector, in which they are doing twice as much work.

Marxist and Social Feminist Perspective

A Marxist feminist might argue that a capitalist system benefits from women’s unpaid labor through the notions of the dual spheres and the types of value produced. Marx explained that use value, one type of economic value, is considered the worth of an article produced for human need or want, and is typically made for others within the same group. An example of use value would be housework, as it is produced for the family, and has immediate use. Margaret Benston, a socialist feminist, argued that the use value labor that women are producing is not considered legitimate because it is valueless. She then argues that as such work goes unrecognized as valued work, women experience further oppression. Other socialist feminists have argued that the private sector of domestic work is alienating to women, as it is not voluntarily chosen. Critics of this viewpoint have claimed that the domestic labor is unalienating because it is useful work and has the potential to view a future in which all forms of labor are considered useful. Angela Davis offers a similar argument in which she notes that domestic slave labor was the only meaningful form of labor because it produced valuable articles to be used by the community, at large. Social feminists have argued that the private sphere and it's familial realm has highlighted the fact that women's work in the home is devalued because it is based on nurturing, caring and emotion. The mothering characteristics were then argued to be considered natural, and natural work is seen outside of the wage labor.

Nature vs. Culture Dualism: Women's Association with Nature

The nature vs. culture debate has been longstanding, and society has tried to understand what is natural. In doing so, natural ideals have been projected on women and women then experience a close tie to nature. This relationship situates women in the realm of the home, as it is seen as the natural place of work. Social feminists have argued that the private sphere and it's familial realm has highlighted the fact that women's work in the home is devalued because it is based on nurturing, caring and emotion. The mothering characteristics were then argued to be considered natural, and natural work is outside of the wage labor.

Surplus Value and Cheap Labor

Surplus value, a concept distinguished by Marx, is considered the difference between the value of the product produced by the laborer and the cost to produce the labor. As this labor depends on what it means to reproduce the labor, additional labor needs to also be produced. Gayle Rubin makes the correlation between surplus value produced by women and the necessity of the additional household labor that must be completed. Her argument holds that since the housework is typically completed by the woman, the woman is contributing the to the surplus value of capitalism. Rubin's argument further explains that within this exchange of goods lies the kinship system, in which marriage is understood as an institution and women are recognized as a transaction, or gift, rather. Through the ideology of a kinship system, proposed by Claude Lévi-Strauss, the argument becomes one in which women are objects of exchange, and families become institutions. This argument supports the concept of cheap labor, in which the ability for men to be wage earners in the public sphere is enabled by the unpaid labor that women produce in the home.

Gayle Rubin explains this is stating,

"It has been argued that women are a reserve labor force for capitalism, that women's generally lower wages provide extra surplus to a capitalist employer, that women serve the ends of capitalist consumerism in their roles as administrators of family consumption, and so forth"

The labor division of the private sphere and public sphere, or home and capitalist society demonstrates further constructions of a social division between the sexes, and the cultural impact. He supports this argument with the example that women are the gifts and men are the givers, allowing for the organization of such exchange to be controlled by men. This perpetuates both women's oppression and a woman's status within the home. Angela Davis offers a different view of domestic work by stating that the domestic labor performed by the black woman was the only useful labor, and was essential to the survival of the rest of the community. Davis also noted that the the black woman was not excluded from the outer world because she was also in the fields working with the man, and thus, was not considered a form of kin exchange. Davis reinforces the notions of the reproduction of labor and offers a different perspective from the white "housewife" and the lower wages. She demonstrates that capitalism was entangled with enslavement and the reproduction of the worker.

Patriarchal System Benefits

Heidi Hartmann, a socialist feminist made the argument that the problems within society and the economy are not solely a result of the division of labor, but are also a result of the division of men and women that places women in a subordinate position to men. Her argument is supported further when she claims that not only are capitalists benefiting from a women's place in the home, but also the her husband is benefiting. Hartmann argues that the husband is receiving personalized services from the housewife, reinforcing the capitalist system. Dalla Costa argued that the capitalist system is perpetuated by the necessity and importance of unpaid housework, thus, perpetuating the structures in place.

The ERA and Household Labor

To eliminate the oppression and exploitation that women face, the Equal Rights Amendment would be instituted in the constitution to provide equal protection under the law. Specifically, in regard to household labor, the ERA proposes to “recognize that the homemaker’s role in marriage has economic value and that marriage is a full partnership.” The ERA may also help to achieve a more fluid labor system that deconstructs divisions and specified “women’s work,” which may also eliminate the patriarchal notions of domesticity within the home. Additionally, supporters of the ERA have argued that ratifying the ERA may assist in eliminating the gender pay gap, which holds that women earn 79% of what men earn. Paid domestic work would also help to close the wage gap, as women are mainly the ones completing the housework within the family. Dalla Costa made the argument that the importance of housework and its benefits to the capitalist society should allow for the work to be considered legitimate, and thus, should be paid work. Legitimizing women's work in the home and having it gain value may support and increase a woman's valued wage within the public sector. Through ratification of the ERA, the aforementioned have the potential to be accomplished to eliminate women's oppression and work towards equality. However, the ERA has currently not been ratified, and women are not recognized as equal citizens within the Constitution.