As I was reading Mignon Duffy's, "Doing the Dirty Work," I was able to relate to how there is a hierarchy for staff in hospital's and nursing homes. I am currently interning at a nursing home and everyday that I am there I see the inequalities that the workers face. Each staff member has their assigned tasks to complete and there is an order to which staff member are assigned to. The people who think they are above other staff members will not help their co-workers complete their tasks if asked because that is not their job or because they're on a higher level. Personally, I think this is a terrible way to treat another person. Everyone needs a helping hand from time to time and we all should there for each other. I do realize that this is not the way the world works and that everyone is out for themselves.
A janitor is a male cleaner and just listening to the sound of the word it sounds more masculine than the female version of cleaning lady or housekeeper. Both titles include similar chores but are viewed very differently. Visually when I think of a janitor I think of a man sweeping and mopping a school hallway and when I think of a cleaning lady I visualize a lady sweeping and mopping an office building. They are both are the same jobs just different titles.
What this story and the storm that is brewing outside has got me thinking about is where does a doorman or doorwoman fit into this domestic labor? They care and attend to the needs of the residents in a building, taking care of your mail, packages, deliveries when you're not home and so forth. They also have demanding jobs that they have to sacrifice their won personal time to be better at their jobs. Especially yesterday, today, and tomorrow. In my building, my doorman was on his shift when they evacuated Zone A in Manhattan, now all the trains, buses, and subways are suspended and he cannot leave his job until someone can come relieve him. This is not his choice and his work is spilling over to his personal time.
LIVED DOMESTICITIES
This is a great post,and thank you for sharing the example from your internship at the nursing home. Do you think work at a nursing home is a type of "nurturant care work" or "work of health care" (Duffy 113, 126)?
ReplyDeleteThe example of a doorman, especially in the context of the storm Sandy, is very interesting. Personally, I've never encountered a doorwoman? I guess due the fact that the job of a doorman, aside from all the tasks you list which make it a form of care work or "nurturant work", requires watching and preventing non-residents/undesirable people form entering a building(a residential building or a professional building), to me is associated with men/masculinity.
The idea of "work spilling over to [one] personal time" is very important. What does Duffy say about this? What does Duffy say about domestic and care workers and the relationality of work(120-121)?