- Women's vulnerable position in the economy is based on
the sexual division of labor.
* Women's vulnerable position in the
economy is partly determined by her class position but even her class position
is vulnerable since it often depends on her relationship to a man.
* Women's responsibility for the care of children
(and the lack of affordable quality childcare) means women working in the paid
labor force who become pregnant have to make a decision about how and if they
will continue working after their child is born. They may have to work part
time or be under-employed, thus earning less than a living wage, becoming more
prone to lay-offs and cutbacks.
* Many women with
children choose or are forced to choose not to work for pay at all thus
becoming dependent on the state or a partner's income.
- All changes in the economy have different impacts on
women and men.
* When an economic crisis such as a
recession causes a drop in family income, women's household management and
service work increases because stretching the household budget and managing of
family stress is considered women's work.
* The
introduction of micro technology to the workplace specifically changes the
nature of the clerical and service work that is done, due to the sexual
division of labor, largely by women.
* Resource
development such as offshore oil, logging and mineral extraction is often
located away from settlements and family, thus the price of a paycheck for a
man is often separation from family and community
life.
* Wherever or however economic booms and
crises occur, women are responsible for managing its impact in the home and, to
a large extent, in the community as well.
- The family is an economic as well as a social unit.
* Government policies such as taxation,
family allowance, pension and welfare are described as social policies but they
also use the family as an economic unit. They are not static; they develop and
change depending on government's socio-economic values, choices and priorities.
- The work women do to maintain family and household is of
economic value.
* One study estimates that for Canada,
in 1981, the value of household work equaled between 35 - 40% of the gross
national product (GNP: the added accumulation of the value of goods and
services produced in a community) (5).
- Raising children is an economic activity that influences
and is influenced by the economy.
* When there is real choice to have
children the decision is often based on a family's economic security.
* Women's continued participation in the labor
force after childbirth depends on family income, the possibility of employment
and the availability, affordability and quality of
childcare.
* The quality of services affecting
children, such as education, health, recreation and economic opportunity,
varies by region depending on the socio-economic priorities and policies at all
government levels, and many families have to make choices about where they live
based on those quality of service issues.
- Everyone has the right to economic independence.
* The basic components of economic
independence are adequate shelter, food and an annual income above the poverty
line. Equality of opportunity, a basic belief of Canadian society, implies that
men and women have the same opportunities to use the tools needed to reach
economic independence. These include appropriate education, job training, and
support services such as affordable childcare and employment.
We welcome discussion about the use of grounding
assumptions, the process of developing them, and experiences in working with
women on economic development. Please call or write the Women's Research
Centre, #101, 2245 West Broadway, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6K 2E4, (604)
734-0485.
Diana Ellis works as a freelance consultant on
women's issues, organizing skills and social animation and has been a member of
the Women and Economy committee of the Women's Research Centre since its
inception in 1976.
1. Women Against the Budget and Women's Research Centre,", The
Exclusion of Women from Economic Planning", in Drache and Cameron (eds),
The Other Macdonald Report, Lorimer, 1985.
2. Northern British
Columbia Women's Task Force, Report on Single Industry Communities.
Women's Research Centre, Vancouver: 1977.
3. Women's Research Centre,
Beyond the Pipeline. Women's Research Centre,
Vancouver: 1979.
4. Women's Research Centre, Women and the Economy Kit.
Women's
Research Centre, Vancouver: 1986.
5. SJ. Wilson, Women, the Family and
the Economy. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto:
1982, p. 62. |