If care work makes all work possible, then why don’t we care more about care workers’ wellbeing? And what if the care industry’s workforce of predominantly low-income women of color would rather stay home and care for their own children and families? One big answer: racial capitalism. Another, more gendered answer: social reproduction.
Those two concepts—racial capitalism and social reproduction—were new to me when I cracked Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Unladylike guest and Barnard historian Premilla Nadasen. But as heady as they may sound, both shed practical light on the class + race + gender layers of paid and unpaid labor, as Premilla explains this week on the podcast:
The care movement, I would say, has had a complicated relationship with feminism more broadly, and mainstream feminists have often pushed for white middle-class women to be able to enter the workforce, and that's because they were prevented and discouraged from entering the workforce…And the women they hired, as we know from what we understand about the paid care labor force, were largely women of color, Latinx women, migrant women. And so in this regard, the liberation of middle class women depended upon the exploitation of poorer women…
ICYMI: Not OK, Man
The drumbeat of Masculinities Crises and Boys, Interrupted is hardly new but IS reaching a decibel where I now ask you:
Should Unladylike investigate? An Unmanlylike podcast miniseries, perhaps?
A while back, I asked the Unladies’ Room if they’d like a bonus ep on Andrew Tate, and the “no” votes narrowly won. In the comments, we hashed out the pros and cons, and the consensus was that his combination of vile + violent + misogynist bozo just wasn’t worth our time and mental space. And I’m honestly thankful for my own mental health that that’s how it shook out. Merely consuming Tate content in order to make the episode would’ve been a loot.
Beyond that ghoul, there’s still a lot of other (gender inclusive) masc/manhood/boy stuff afoot that has my Unladylike wheels spinning. Or am I just Ken pilled?? 😱
Unladies’ Room: Divorce party!
I’m not the only unlady with women + divorce on the brain. Fellow podcaster Donna shared her latest Thread the Needle episode that takes a deeper and more personal look at how the reasons for women-married-to-men divorcing have changed over time. In it, Donna also interviews April White, author of Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.
Divorcetalk seems to have resonated with y’all as well.
Maybe (probably) it was Her-Fault Divorce, or maybe the Unladies’ Room is the new place to be. Regardless, a gaggle of y’all joined the Patreon this week!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU: Amy, Angie, Ashley, Breanna, Denise, Jasmine, Jen, Kaitlyn, Lexi, LH, Rebecca, Rosanna, Sabrina, Sarah K, Sarah S and Z 💗💗
unladies are saying…
I am hoping one day that Fitting In will be released in Australia so that finally I can see myself on screen. (Lowkey terrified to see my teen trauma on screen for everyone to see.. but also SO excited!)
- unlady Tessa, re: MRKH Syndrome
til next week…
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I think that could be interesting. I’ve been exploring it in my own feminist journey. Men don’t seem to have the space or grace to have these kind of conversations, and frankly we’ve (white women) had a feminist revolution, men have not yet had one. And our feminism can always be more inclusive.