women's work

The New York Times writes that our country is in such economic peril that men who used to be able to work respectable white collar positions or even blue collar ones are now intrepidly and patriotically finding honor in the lowly positions of women. Apparently it has been this dire for at least a decade. A Times analysis showed that occupations that are more than 70 percent female accounted for a third of all job growth for men between 2000 to 2010. Equal Opportunity Employment now extends to white college-educated men. Congratulations, ladies, your work is so easy men can do it and get paid more while taking your jobs.

A recent Catalyst survey of Fortune 500 companies found that in 2011, women accounted for 14.1% of executive officer positions. They are just 7.5% of top earners in those position, but there are apparently a lot of women being groomed for leadership in the "corporate pipeline."

February 3rd, 2010 marked the 116th birthday of Norman Rockwell. Google’s clever inclusion of his art among the letters of the search engine’s logo alerted me to the historic date. Oh Google! You went and did it again with your clever intertextuality.

Rockwell rose to artistic fame with his Americana paintings depicting everyday life and its sentiments. On May 29th, 1943 The Saturday Evening Post ran as its cover Rockwell’s painting of "Rosie the Riveter." Norman Rockwell’s painting was the first widely publicized visual representation of Rosie the Riveter. Rockwell’s Rosie was a commanding figure decked in overalls and a matching work shirt. She is confident as she gazes out into the distance, all the while using as a foot stool a bruised and battered copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Rockwell’s Rosie is undeniably a more potent image than that which has come to culturally represent Rosie the River, J. Howard Miller’s "We Can Do It."

Fem2.0 Blog Carnival: For Women, the Other Side of Work Is NOT Play… It’s Caregiving

Women take care of children, spouses, parents, family members, friends. We dominate the caregiving professions, like nursing or social work. Ask anyone receiving care of any kind and he or she will most likely tell you that the primary caregiver is a woman.

Caregiving is a job for which women usually don’t get or expect monetary compensation. It is a critical aspect of work/life and healthcare issues. How can caregiving be made easier to make our lives easier?