Compensating Carework: An Activity about Gender Inequality and Devalued Labor

Abstract

Through asking students to provide a salary for cooking, cleaning, and childcare services, the "Compensating Carework" activity focuses the classroom lens on the traditionally unpaid, devalued, female-typed of carework in order to illuminate persistent gender disparities. Although college students may not see carework as a contemporary issue reflecting...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Sex and Gender

Resource Type(s):

Class Activity

Class Level(s):

College 100

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

Although this activity was created for a 100 level Women’s Studies class, it has been adapted for 200 and 400 level Sociology courses. It is also adaptable to large (~100 students) or small (~10 students) classes and can be used as a group activity, although we present it here as an individual and class-based activity. It takes about 20-30 minutes,...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. This activity’s goals include the exploration of: (1) how the unpaid carework of mothering/parenting is devalued; (2) how we define 'skilled' and 'unskilled' labor; and (3) stratification in the labor force by race, class, and nationality.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Students demonstrate acquisition of these goals through reflecting on how carework is socially devalued on a larger scale, as well as how they have benefited from unpaid, devalued labor in their own lives, through an instructor-led discussion.