In December last year, a young, social-media influencer provoked a firestorm when she declared that she would not consider having a child unless her partner committed to paying her a specific sum annually. Her statement drew lots of mostly negative comments about what was referred to as her ‘mercenary approach’ to motherhood. Two years prior, a woman whose common-law husband shared online that she had asked him to pay her for the earnings she would potentially lose during pregnancy, childbirth and unpaid maternity leave was similarly ridiculed. This was the case even though he had admitted that they were making basically the same amount of money and splitting expenses evenly.
It was clear from the vitriol directed at both women that many people automatically assumed they would prove to be uncaring parents, simply because they had monetized the work they figured they would put in. This could not be further from the truth as history has shown us – for example, during the 400 years of slavery – that women’s often built-in ability to nurture has nothing whatsoever to do with financial gain.
In fact, the knee-jerk reaction to what is perhaps an unorthodox approach to an issue begging for wider discussion, is due purely to socialisation. We have long been hard-wired to believe that women should consider it a privilege to take on the physical and emotional task of childbearing regardless of the situation.
This is essentially the premise of the reversal of Roe v Wade in the United States, which has effectively reduced, and in some cases removed, women’s autonomy of their own bodies. The very idea that because of their physical makeup women should mutely submit to having children under all and any circumstances is preposterous, yet it is legal in the US. This is even more outrageous considering that according to the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, some 800 women die daily from preventable causes relating to pregnancy and childbirth.
Beyond childbearing, there are at least 18 years of physical, emotional and financial responsibility that fall under the heading of child rearing. According to the UN Women organisation, worldwide, there are some 101 million women single-handedly performing these important tasks and another similar number flying below the radar, uncounted by official statistics.
Meanwhile, in the instances where they are part of a nuclear family, women who work outside of the home are also inevitably doing a double shift. Necessity, culture, or socialisation (or any combination of these or all three) demands that they segue smoothly into the roles expected of them; mother/housekeeper having left their paying office, factory, hospital, security guard – the list goes on – jobs for the day. Wife, mother, housekeeper, problem solver and general dogsbody are the roles for which women are not paid, and far too often, not even thanked. It is not far-fetched to imagine the absolute chaos that would result if all women were to ever stop performing those tasks; signalling how utterly important they are to equilibrium in the world. This being the case while gender equality is still over 280 years away speaks volumes.
Further, a BBC report published on March 14 refers to copious research which reveals that women are invariably the ones taking on invisible and uncompensated workplace responsibilities. This emotional labour can involve tasks which require empathy like unofficially refereeing office antagonism, but also extends to organising office parties, holiday potlucks, and team and community-building exercises. In mixed-gender workplaces where these sometimes ad-hoc events do not feature in employee contracts, women are expected to take them on for no extra pay. Often they will even do so without being asked.
As if all of the above were not enough, a recent report by the WHO delves into the “vicious cycle of unpaid health and care work,” which it said lowers women’s participation in paid labour markets, harms their economic empowerment and hampers gender equality. The “Fair Share for Health and Care: Gender and the Undervaluation of Health and Care Work”, published last Wednesday, noted that in this sector, women perform an estimated 76% of unpaid care activities. This is among the issues being discussed at the 68th Commission on the Status of Women currently underway in New York City, which ends tomorrow. The objective is to push governments to value caregiving in order to see increased or gender-focused investment. It is more than disheartening that in 2024 policyholders still need to be pushed to recognise the full value of what women bring to the table and ensure they are adequately recompensed. We still have a long way to go.
