[lbo-talk] Servant culture

[Diane Monaco]

Brian Siano wrote:
>Diane Monaco wrote:
>
>>Women produce most of our global output.  Women provide almost all unpaid 
>>production; almost all social reproduction; and a good portion of all 
>>paid production.  Suppose we attempted a little experiment and sent all 
>>the men on earth for year long vacation (all expenses paid and no work to 
>>do) to planet x3pz in 2004.  Then we did the same for all the women on 
>>earth in 2005 (sent them to planet x3pz that is).  My question is what 
>>would the planet EARTH be like in 2004 and 2005.  How would the economic 
>>dependency conditions differ from those in 2003 and how would they differ 
>>from each other?
>
>I'm wondering who'd be building the spaceships required for this 
>experiment-- men or women?

Visit any assembly lines in the last few years: durable goods, auto, 
aerospace?  Women workers account for around 25 percent of these assembly 
line workers.  So since the spaceships required for this experiment would 
have to be built on earth in 2003, I'd have to say both men and women would 
be involved.


>And let's ask the obvious question: If we ship the men off to another 
>planet, will the women remaining behind be _capable_ of building the next 
>set of ships needed to perform the _rest_ of the experiment?

Yes, why not if we use women's "real" contribution in the "real" aerospace 
industry as a guide.  And while we're on the obvious, the same spaceships 
that returned the men to earth could be used to transport the women, yes?


>Oh, now don't get all goop-eyed and angry that this is "sexist." After 
>all, Diane's experiment is testing an hypothesis over whether men or women 
>get more done in this world, so it's _already_ a sexist question.

How so?  Are you saying that it is sexist to attempt to understand gendered 
economic dependency and relations in the world as they exist????

Diane

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