You will need to write an essay on paid and unpaid work. The purpose of this essay is to present facts and arguments from the course readings in a succinct way. This includes providing precise definitions of the key concepts that you use in your essay. Remember the textbook concentrates on Canada, and so should your facts.
The essay should answer the following questions:
Why is labour market access different for men and women?
What are the relations between paid and unpaid work?
What are the peculiarities of caring work?
Notes from Professor:
-In dealing with this assignment, students will talk about the gender division of
labor and how women were often excluded from industrial employment at the
beginning of the industrial revolution while male workers sought a family wage, that would remove the need for married women to work. It is one thing to mention this, but the course materials emphasize the last half century when the most egregious restrictions on female employment were removed, and employment equity programs were introduced. This is the period students should concentrate on and discuss how labour market access is still different for men and women.
-One should distinguish between various aspects that show how labour market access differs by gender (vertical and horizontal gender segregation, the gender pay gap), and what explains those differences. That is a separate question that deserves some thought. If you are going to argue that discrimination is a major problem, you need to give some thought as to how that happens and how one would show that. (That there are discrepancies does not necessarily show this: one could argue that there are other causes for them.)
-Keep in mind that while unpaid work and caring work have much in common, they are not identical. While reading the relevant chapters of the textbook, keep in mind examples of each, and pay attention to specific facts about them.
– Textbook used: Krahn, H. J., Hughes, K. D., & Lowe, G. S. (2021). Work, Industry, and Canadian Society (8th ed.). Nelson Publishing. Focus on Chapters 1-7
One source must be this textbook.
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