Week 11 Work and Play
Tutorial Presentation Summary
By Carmen Lam, Charlotte Lam & Oscar Kwan
Our group has decided to choose “Work” as the theme of our presentation. The presentation is mainly divided into three main aspects to examine the women in workplace in terms of flexibility, work-style and work choice.
To start with, with the development of our society, it seems that the new technology can liberate the women’s sense of self and gender identity in work. In terms of flexibility, it can blur the binary of “private” and “public” as well as “work” and “home”. For example, there is an increasing number of media and advertisements which emphasize women can work at home nowadays. However, does it mean another kind of exploitation to women rather than being flexible for them?
According to the reading written by Gregg (286), for women, the home has so often been the very site of their labor, whether as home “makers” or in the case of the working women’s “second shift”. Moreover, the notion of flexibility seems to be ideal to the women. Yet, this so called “ideal” actually reinforces the gender role of women. They have to be a primary care-giver in family. At the same time, they have to work for support the family. Then in fact, they have to take the dual responsibility.
Secondly, our media and society encourages a new concept of work-style. By consuming through and at work, people can be more fashionable. For example, working by the laptop in café and using Skype to hold a meeting. This leads to a new class which named “creative class”. It implies that women do not only can participate in the traditional occupations. They can choose to do some freelance job so that they can “enjoy” this work-style. However, it means that they are working under the unstable condition such as unknown wages, working hours and duties. In additions, this leads to the problem of taking the responsibility. As she decided to take this kind of unstable career choice, if anything goes wrong, she has to blame herself only. Frankly speaking, moreover, this definitely interrupts our leisure time. Thus, this only lets women have the freedom to work, at times and locations rather than freedom from work.
In terms of work choice, as women still have to take the role of care-giver, it limits the work choice of them. Though some upper class can access the internet and so to do some creative jobs, lower class females are still suppressed in our society. They are hard to be flexible due to lack of education and belonging to the non-White group. Therefore, choice reinforces rather than challenges traditional assumptions about and practices of gender division of labor in family and society.
Thus, to conclude, work is still limiting women’s roles by reinforcing their inferior images in terms of flexibility and work choice.
After the presentation, we are going to hold a discussion of this issue. Overall, there are three questions will be discussed.
1. As you are going to be graduated, do you prefer working as a freelancer/ working at home in the future?
2. Ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiXqwsqYKrc
After watching this part of TV program, do you think that in our HK society, female still have to take the primary care-giver role in family?
3. Hong Kong is an egalitarian city, so do you think that there still are the problems of gender division of labor?
In our opinion, we also agree the reading that work indeed limits women’s role. Though contemporary society encourages egalitarian, status of women in workplace is still very low. The development of society and technology seems to improve the situation of their workplace. In fact, this more exploits women in terms of their live and time. Also, social norms are still very rooted that females should take the primary care-giver role in the family. Thus, for the independent female, they receive a high pressure from the society that they do not have a family while the working mothers have to do the part-time or inferior occupations in the job market. Thus, we believe that work definitely is limiting women’s role rather than liberate them.
We are going to present this thursday, hope that everyone can enjoy our presentation.
Thank you!
i think technology has provided more flexibilities to human in life. however, i do not think women wirk at home can let them to have more freedom. in one hand, she can manage her time to be more flexible. in the other hand, i treat this as another way to trap women at home. As there are not many jobs can let you work at home, if we suggest this way for women to let them work at home so that they can take care of her family and job at the same time. is it mean we are emphasizing women should take the responsiblity on domenstic work? so, i do not think technology cannot really help to liberate women. but i think this is a very interesting topic to point out the social pressures that all independent women are facing.
ReplyDeleteWith a kind of dejected ending of discussion last Thursday we had on this topic, I really do agree that in some way, our developing society with new technology don’t really seem to advantage women who are self-dependence. In a traditional thinking, women are meant to be staying at home, taking care of children, doing domestic work, however, due to the reality of modern life, women have to work in order to shoulder the family bills. And what’s the most ideal solution would be women working at home, taking good care of home and on the other hand making money. To put it nicely, flextime and freedom are no doubt the biggest benefits, but honestly it is just another way to trap women. Nowadays, we always emphasize on equality of sexes, fair and equal treatment at work place or life, but does our society manage to accept this concept sincerely? Maybe the younger generation does but for sure not the senior one who keep their feudal mindset no matter that women now may actually have higher education than men in this generation. I hope one day, as the society fully developed with technology, when we touch on this topic we won’t be that dejected anymore, women and men are both responsibility for everything especially housework.
ReplyDeleteThe traditional division of labour in a Chinese family was divided by gender. This can be seen from the Chinese old saying, ‘men are responsible for the outside while women are responsible for the inside.’ That means men should go to work and earn money for the family while women should stay at home and do the housework. It limits one’s gender to a place.
ReplyDeleteThe ads celebrating the idea that technology brings flexibility for women to work at home, indeed, are telling people that women now have greater ability to work at home and do the housework. With great power comes great responsibility. This, therefore, only add pressure on women.
Home is no longer a place of rest for working women when pressure from family and stress from work is put on them. I do think that the financial burden and the housework can be shared by both females and males. It is unnecessary to fix one’s responsibility to a place or a gender. In this way, women can truly enjoy the freedom that technology brings.
Thank you so much for the fantastic presentation! And I do agree with your opinion that work does not help female. Particularly with the new technology.
ReplyDeleteIt does not bring flexibility, which is defined as ability to choose between working and resting and to decide the working style. There are two reasons: 1) It combines "work" and "home". 2) The growing trend of freelance due to the technology enhancement causes women unlikely to choose when to work and when to rest, but only how to work.
Gender stereotype is not solved by the image of working women, and their situation just becomes worse, as they now have to take care of their family and their work. Nothing has improved but increased their workload.
It even worsens the social hierarchy in capitalism. Since poor women have little access to education and new technology, their hope to change their life through working is not achievable. They remain to have little opportunity to change their destiny from being lower class in the society.
However, there are some improvements. For example, some men are now willing to be househusband, instead of the past when there was even no such word.
Afterall, when I was thinking about your first discussion question, I expect myself to take freelance job after marriage. Because I do want to take good care of my family, especially my children, without the domestic helper, so that I can have a very close relationship with my husband and my children.
Very agree with your point that the advanced technologies provide us a more convenient and wonderful life, however, at the same time, blurring the boundaries of public and private space of human. The practice of “working at home” is a typical example that since the increased using of computers, we could finish our work at everywhere including our home, the place we used to take rest and enjoy leisure only.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the technology could benefit women in this case. Though they could have more flexible time managing their work as well as the housework like taking care of children, what the women facing are even more than that of the past. Since the work types that could be “work at home” are often freelance and do not guarantee that there are fixed salaries. Women have to worry about both financial as well as the pressures from the housework. What even worse is that it seems the advanced technology are somehow forcing women to stay at home so as to doing the housework in a more convenient way.
Therefore in my opinion the advanced technology may not offer a better lives for women in this case.
i agree with your point that technology did provide a more convenient life for both male and female, it also provide another option for working women. Technology allows them to work at home, so that they can take care of their family at the same time. It also creates a excuse for women to convince their husband and provide a way to liberate them.
ReplyDeleteBut i think that in this case, women use the advantage of technology to work at home may brings out more problems, like maybe they are too concentrate on some thing while ignore others, for example, they may focus on work but ignore their child's needs, or they may ignore some domestic danger. It may also lead to more
arguing at home. Since it blur the boundary of public and private, and women may bring the working pressure home and lead to more conflict between work and family.
For me, the technology did provide a possible option for women, but is not without consequence, whether it worth it or not, it depend on what you want.
Thank you for presenting how technology has changed the women's flexibility, working style and the choice of work.The presentation was quite informative with relevant examples.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that technology do bring some liberation to women at a certain level compare to the past.I am really agree with the point that this kind of change is actually another form of exploitation on women rather than a liberation. As our society and social practice was embedded with the patriarchy system for a long time, that the changes of the gender situations are always proceeded under the shadow of it. It will be difficult for both male and female to get rid of the gender role and the stereotype, as we are all constructed by the society we engage in and gaining certain benefits from the current gender inequalities status quo respectively.
For the discussion part, I think it had put more focus to the gender and cultural aspect than the technological one. But it was still an interesting discussion which can also help to look more in-depth to the topic.