Fw: An Article From Slate

[Brad De Long]

>  The "dean of feminist economists," the thoroughly bourgeois Barbara 
>Bergmann, said:
>
>>Somehow, nobody ever talks of exploitation of ethnics by 
>>"professional white couples" when the husband's mowing is replaced 
>>by a  Hispanic gardener, or when they eat in a restaurant and are 
>>served by a Hispanic waiter. But when the wife's housecleaning is 
>>replaced a Hispanic or African American cleaner, that is for some 
>>reason considered a terrible
>>sin. The professional wife is passing on "her" shitwork to a 
>>minority person, and gets hell for it. And this goes on among 
>>people who consider themselves feminists!
>>The people who are sinning are those who refuse to hire qualified 
>>minority (and female) labor for the better-paying jobs, which 
>>requires them to accept low-paid work, not those who hire them for 
>>the latter.
>
>Apparently the existence of low-paid work doesn't trouble her, just 
>its raced and gendered slotting.
>
>Doug

That's not fair to Barbara Bergmann. She would say that low-paid work 
is better than zero-paid unemployment, but that high-paid work is 
much much better than either...

Brad DeLong