reparations & exploitation

Catherine Driscoll catherine.driscoll at adelaide.edu.au
Tue Mar 13 05:32:39 PST 2001


All right pay differentials:

let's be honest:

should i be paid more now than i was when i cleaned houses for a living?

yes.

why?

1) because it's harder and it costs me more in the way in which it affects the rest of my life -- if i was paid as much as I was for cleaning houses I would possibly still do it (some days). Perhaps I should take pleasure in this work as some 'just' reward -- but certainly others don't resond to my work as inherently valuable (it's not motherhood or anything) -- and thus perhaps I could be seen to seek validation for long hours and over-commitment in other ways

but however you want to phrase that side of things...

2) i personally want to reward people for undertaking extended education -- which in very pragmatic terms is often unrewarded, and which i think has major social benefits in terms of the 'awareness' of the rest of the world it provides/sustains, and in some respects my kind of job is a material example of why that's worth the effort

I don't think in a perfect world I would have the same approach to differential wages -- but for the moment I do think there's a case, and i'm even prepared to concede I would benefit from it in ways i would be prepared to defend.

I haven't exhausted this, but I've probably been defensive enough.

Catherine



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