The main aim of the essay is to discuss the struggle of the domestic housewives who are striving to rise out of socio economic and cultural injustice imposed on them by the society.

Silvia Federici in her manifesto speaks about women who are burdened with extensive household work and are rewarded insignificantly. They are manipulated by the society to consider their housework worthwhile. Appreciation is the best they can expect from the society. Asking for wages for the housework is considered abnormal . This is the issue that Federici talks about in her manifesto leaving the readers open to interpretation whether wages for housework is justified or not.

This essay includes maldistribution leading to misrecognition. “ Maldistribution is socioeconomic injustice which is rooted in the political-economic structure of the society. For example economic marginalization which means poorly paid work or denied access to income generating labour.”  Women does most of the unpaid work which people call it as an act of love and they are not even being recognised for all the work they do. Starting right in the morning till night, an unwaged mother and wife performs her role striving for recognition. 

It includes misrecognition which is “cultural or symbolic injustice and it is rooted in social patterns of representation, interpretation and communication”. An example of misrecognition is non recognition which implies “being rendered invisible via the authoritative representational, communicative and interpretative practices of one’s culture”. In any case, being provided with wages perceives or recognises you as a worker but in case of women housework has been forced on them as well as it has been changed into a characteristic quality of our identity. Housework had been changed into a natural attribute. A wife is meant to have an equal place in a marriage but she doesn’t play any role in decision making until and unless she earns money. Women works really hard and her efforts are noticeable . Despite the fact that the work is that of labour, it is not recognised because it’s unpaid. Another example of misrecognition is disrespect which means “ being routinely maligned or disparaged in stereotypic public cultural representations and in everyday life interactions”. It is rightly said by Federici in her essay that “ the unwaged condition of housework has been the most powerful weapon in reinforcing the common assumption that housework is not work, thus preventing women from struggling against it, except in the privatised kitchen- bedroom quarrel that all society agrees to ridicule, thereby further reducing the protagonist of a struggle”. Members of the family does not value housework and consider it as a necessity and responsibility. Also as mentioned above most of the housework is done by women. Violence and discrimination against women revolves around their status in the public eye and in the families. Women face this oppression because they are considered as of lower status than males. The non recognition of their contribution towards the housework leads to disrespect which further results in violence and discrimination. Also Neglecting to include all the housework would imply undermining the women’s contribution towards the economy.

Also, the essay talks about bivalent collectivities which means both, socioeconomic and cultural, forms of oppression are present simultaneously. Gender is one kind of bivalent collectivities. We live in a patriarchal society in which women are considered inferior and are associated with the domestic work. The societal norms that are framed by the society expects women to confine within the household work, this creates a disparity between the gender leading to socioeconomic oppression. It is in the culture of the society, people have a mindset that males will go out and earn money, on the other hand women need to take care of the household work which results in male dominated society, which therefore becomes another reason for women not being recognised for all the housework they do.

Talking about remedies, the remedy for maldistribution is redistribution. Women must be provided with a certain amount of money by their husband in the form of wages which constitutes redistribution of money and wealth. In addition to wages they should have a share in their husbands property. This type of remedy is affirmative remedy ( affirmative remedy attempts to correct a form of injustice without changing the structure of society in any fundamental way). Also, the wages received for housework should be included in our country’s GDP. The remedy for misrecognition is recognition. By recognising women for their work will not only make them independent but will  also empower them in a way and help them live a life of dignity. It will help them build confidence and stand for their rights.  They will no longer be considered as inferior and victims of discrimination, oppression and violence. 

The social structure of the society does not permit women to do her own thing, even after the industrial revolution men used to go out and work and women stayed at home doing all the household work but men were being paid in cash unlike women, whose work is not less than that of a labour and also not being recognised by the society. Women comprises of almost half of the population in our country and most of them are housewives. It is high time we take into account the issues and injustice faced by them. A salary to their work would establish them 

Into a stronger person and would make them feel like a part of this society. It will also not only make them independent but it will also help develop the economy as a whole.

References-

 Nancy Fraser redistribution recognition dilemma

 Silvia Federici wages against housework

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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