So what I'm wondering two things. First, what are the best feminist works on this, and (if not the same) what are good feminist takes on this with strong intersectionality (race & class)? Second has anyone done work specifically on how gendering of housework affects respect or lack of respect for this kind of work, even when it is men who do it?
I have a hypothesis and I'm looking for either support or refutation (or mixed evidence or lack of evidence of that is how it goes). I'll outline facts and the missing pieces:
1) Fact I have support for: lots of energy and resources are wasted in industrial processes that could be saved by simply applying the knowledge from housework. Sometimes it is literal lack of housework where workspace are allowed to get dusty and damage delicate equiipment and result in higher defect rates. Sometimes is just strong parallels to housework, where bath processes (process where parts are immersed in liquid) use too shallow vessels resulting in more frequent overflow accidents. And so on.
2) Fact I have support for: Designers of Industrial processes are overwhelmingly (though not exclusively male.
3) My speculation. Probably designers of industrial processes have less knowledge of housework than they would if it was a field with gender equality. But it is highly unlikely that nobody in the field does their own housework or that nobody in the field knows how to do housework well. Growing up in apartmentsI knew a fair number of working class single men who kept their apartments clean because they did not want to live in a mess, and also because single guys with clean apartments had better luck getting second dates. So some of the designers of such processes did have knowledge they could have applied. And the gender balance is skewed, not zero in any case. (Not that I have not know woman slobs as well. Again slob skews male, but not 100%.)
4) My Hypothesis: Even the substantial minority of designers of industrial processes who understand housework don't respect it, don't think of it as valuable work and especially don't think of it as having an intellectual component. So even those who had the skill did not think of applying them to designing industrial processes. I suspect the macho atmosphere in manufacturing industry may contribute to this. I would love to get data and analysis that supports this, or rebuts this. So any suggestions would be welcome.
Also it occurs to me that for a personal take on this maybe I should review some of what Dennis Perrin has written. Dennis: care to point me some of your old posts, and published articles and books? -- Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow Grist Blog: http://www.grist.org/member/1598 Static Web Page: http://www.nohairshirts.com