The materiality of difference: Domestic work

1. The materiality of difference: Domestic work Diversity Literacy Week 11/ Lecture 1 Prepared by Claire Kelly

2. Prepared by Claire Kelly Different membership confers different opportunities i.e. difference access to resources Materiality of constructions of difference

3. Prepared by Claire Kelly • Insert: Just one cap! Omo advertisement with white “madam” • “Just one cap! – OMO” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lssAj9sEp-A&feature=related

4. Prepared by Claire Kelly • Insert: Just one cap! Omo advertisement with black“madam” • “Just one cap! – OMO” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-op35cJtAA

5. Insert:Makro advertisement with both black and white women in domestic work uniforms • http://www.africancrisis.co.za/images/Love_The_New_South_Africa_White_Maids.jpg Warning: The website above is deeply afro-pessimistic and racist, and in may places amounts to hate speech. It’s the only place we could find an electronic version of this adverstisement.

6. Domestic work: Site of intersection Prepared by Claire Kelly • What axes of difference are at work when we consider domestic work? • Class • Gender • Race • Ethnicity • “Nationality” • Colonialism • How do the various axes intersect?

7. Prepared by Claire Kelly “Gender, race and class divisions have always been instrumental in determining who performs both paid and unpaid domestic work, and today nationhood and citizenship are also increasingly central issues.” (Moras, p. 237)

8. Domestic work, gender and migration (Ehrenreich & Hochschild) Prepared by Claire Kelly “The lifestyles of the First World are made possible by a global transfer of the services associated with the wife’s traditional role – child care, homemaking, sex – from poorer countries to rich ones.” (Ehrenreich & Hochschild, p. 4) “…international transfer of caretaking” (Parrenas 2001, cited in Moras, p. 237) “… the presence of immigrant nannies does not enable affluent women to enter the workplace;it enables affluent man to continue avoiding the second shift.” (Ehrenreich & Hochschild, p. 9)

9. Domestic work & race (Moras) Prepared by Claire Kelly “The racial and ethnic stratification of domestic work persists today and privileged women’s displacement of housework has always been intertwined with racial politics” (p. 234) Changing structures of white supremacy > changing structure of ideology holding it together “Immigration does not trump race, but combined with the dominant ideology of a “colour blind society, manages to shroud it.” (ibid.)

10. Domestic work, gender, race & colonialism (Cock) Prepared by Claire Kelly • Entry of Xhosa women into colonial society through direct coercion, increasing socio-economic pressures and missionary education. • “…linking of the civilizing role of the missionaries to the government’s programme of social control…”; “industrial education” (Cock, p. 90) • “The school for the children must eventually be of advantage to us, as they teach them to speak, read and write in English. They will, if taught industrious habits, be useful servants…” (Phillips, 1825 cited in Cock, p. 89)

11. Domestic work, gender, race & colonialism (Cock) Prepared by Claire Kelly • Education of Xhosa women for domesticity • as domestics workers in white households • as Christian wives • “… the educational objectives were defined and evaluated in terms of their appropriateness to a colonised race, subordinate class and female sex.” (Cock, p. 91) • “The clean, coloured print dresses of the pupils of the Girl’s Institution, their upright bearing, graceful carriage and general look of intelligence, seldom fail to impress the casual observer, in striking contrast to the condition of the female natives in their heathen state” (Young, 1902 cited in Cock, p. 91)