The Problem with Work by Kathi Weeks short book report & some quotes I like
“...the demand for shorter hours is conceived here as a demand for, among other benefits, more time to imagine, experiment with, and participate in the relationships of intimacy and sociality that we choose. This account thus understands the movement for shorter hours in terms of securing the time and space to confront and forge alternatives to the present structures and ethics of both work and family” (page 34)
This book examines some 60s & 70s feminist demands, predominantly Wages for Housework and the more current demand for a Universal Basic Income while looking at the work ethic (and it’s history) that drives capitalism.
I'm a big fan of Utopias, or I obsess over them frequently. In the fifth chapter Weeks examines utopia and manifestos. She goes into both their role in creating an imaginative space for revolution and their impossibility. Most interesting is how somewhat pragmatic demands fit into this. While at one point Feminists had entertained the utopian idea of a future beyond gender, family, and work, as time went on and we entered into new political contexts (think Reagan in the 80′s, 90′s welfare reform) efforts to move beyond gender moved to “efforts to secure the recognition and equal treatment of a wider variety of the genders...in favor of achieving a more inclusive version of the still privatized model.”
This is pertinent now as we are the closest we have ever been to electing a female president and the arguments over Hillary being status quo or a step in the direction of breaking down gender barriers. I would argue that while Hillary exists in the pragmatic realm and operates very much within it, she is the product of a utopian way of thinking and will inspire further generations (iterations) of utopian thought on gender and power.
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Back to the American capitalist work ethic. We use it to value people in a way that (I think) is a tool of race, class and gender discrimination--the idea that someone doesn’t deserve care because they aren’t working hard enough, and how arbitrarily we pass this judgement. Maybe this is what feminism is today, valuing everyone regardless of their productive value.
“Does time ‘for what we will’ refer to time for what we want, or time for what we will to be?”
“Beyond creating time for people to fulfill their duties to the family as it is presently conceived, a feminist time movement should also enable them to imagine and explore alternatives to the dominant ideals of family form, function, and division of labor.”