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The Feminization of Precarious Labor in North America
Meghan Ditta
Elizabeth Dauphine
AP/POLS 4985
Tuesday, March 31st, 2015
211599966
Feminization of Precarious Labor 2
Table of Contents
Introduction: 3
Similarity of Experiences: Gender Norms and Roles in Relation to Labor: 4-6
Gender Division of Labor, Dependence and Male Authority: 4-6
Initial Encounters with the Market and the Double Burden: 5-6
Intersectionality of Gender and Race in the Feminized Workforce during Twentieth
Century: 6-10
Industrialization and Urbanization in North America: 6-7
The World Wars and the Push/Pull Factors of Women In and Out of Work: 7-9
The Post-War Period and the Women’s Movement: 9-11
Towards Neoliberalism: Changes and Continuties: 11-17
Economic and Political Changes: 10-11
Naturalizing Precarious Labor and the Continuity of Women’s Domestic Roles: 11-14
Undervaluing of Gendered Jobs and the Continuity of Gender Norms: 16-17
Exacerbated and Entrenched Inequalities for Racial Minorities and Racialized
Immigrants: 17-23
Class and Racial Inequalities Exacerbated by Changing Economic Norms: 18-19
Retrenching the Welfare State: Gendered and Racialized Poverty: 19-21
Racialized Precarious Labor Limiting Labor Force Mobility: 21-23
Conclusion: 23-24
Feminization of Precarious Labor 3
Introduction
The feminization of precarious labor is something that has its historical roots in capitalist
North American societies and has been politically, economically and socially reproduced over
time; it also affects different women in different ways. This essay will argue that the
feminization of precarious labor and the undervaluing of gendered jobs in twenty-first century
North America is the result of historical and social reproductions that characterize the proper
“female” roles both within the home and successively, the labor force. Despite the many
differences between the experiences of North American-born and immigrant women, as an
overall gender group, they share comparable experiences regarding the social expectations of
female domesticity and male dependency which impacts the type of labor women did when
entering the formal labor force during the twentieth century. However, racial minorities and
racialized immigrant women in North America faced multiple intersecting social and economic
struggles during the twentieth century, in contrast to the position of middle class white women in
the labor force, placing them in a structurally disadvantaged position which was reinforced with
the turn to neoliberalism. Neoliberal capitalism influenced changes in the North American labor
market, as well as social policy, away from the welfare state. This has had major consequences
for women, who make up the majority of precarious labor and exist within undervalued gendered
jobs. More specifically, racialized immigrant and minority women face social reproductions of
their inequalities which have been entrenched by neoliberalism because they were not in a
similar position to adapt to the changes the latter ensued the way white middle class women
were. As neoliberal capitalism continues to be entrenched and naturalized into the social,
political and economic norms of society, women and especially immigrant and minority women
face challenges regarding labor mobility and long term systemic change.
Feminization of Precarious Labor 4
Similarity of Experiences: Gender Norms and Roles in Relation to Labor
It can be said that as an overall gender group, women share comparable social
expectations of female domesticity. These socially constructed ideas were motivated by
capitalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century which led to assumptions about
proper gender roles for men and women. These roles not only influenced the types of work that
women did to uphold the family structure but also reinforced their inferior, dependent positions
on men. The designation of the female to the domestic sphere had further implications for
women who did work, creating the double burden, which undervalues unpaid domestic work
done on top of work done outside the home. The purpose of this section will be to show how
female domesticity has been reproduced over time.
Gender Division of Labor, Dependence and Male Authority
The growth of a capitalist market economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century brought changes to work and labor. The demands for labor during industrialization in
North America pulled men into the formal wage labor force as they could no longer support
themselves off their own land and were forced to sell their labor for a wage. (Thistle, 2006)
Given the changing nature of work for men, women were expected to maintain domestic duties,
based on social perceptions of sex, creating the gendered division of labor within the family
structure. (Thistle, 2006) Susan Thistle (2006) notes this division undermined female autonomy
and independence because the only way the women could access basic necessities for survival
was through the male who sold his labor for a wage or specialized in a craft. Although women
were dependent on men in economic terms, Marjorie Cohen (2003) makes the point that the male
was dependent on the female for domestic subsistence production because alternative sources for
the tasks women performed were not available. However, despite the necessary role for women
Feminization of Precarious Labor 5
in reproducing capitalist production through their supporting roles for men, they were
undermined because their dependency on men normalized male authority and privilege both
within and outside the home. (Ferguson, 2008)
Women during the first stage of industrial capitalism lacked means of economic power
over, or even comparable to men. (Thistle, 2006) As men generally had better access to the
market than women did, and as industrial capitalism made the male breadwinner wage possible,
male domestic authority and privilege prevailed. Men could maintain their authority within the
home because he was the central wage provider within the family. A male’s political and
economic experience was held up within the home and Ferguson (2008) note that politics strived
to support social norms about “proper” gender roles that supported male wage labor and female
domesticity. Women were in subordinate political, economic and therefore, social positions in
comparison to men, thus reinforcing female dependence on the male to sustain a comfortable
living. (Thistle, 2006)
Initial Encounters with the Market and the Double Burden
Although it was the case that the majority of women were tied to the domestic sphere and
did not participate in forms of wage labor during the initial encounters with industrial capitalism,
some women did work. This essay recognizes that not all experiences of women who began
working in the early twentieth century were the exact same. However a common thread of the
double burden highlights how women, from their initial encounters with the market, were in
positions of being undervalued for their work not only outside, but inside the home also.
During the first half of the twentieth century, there was a significant amount of women
who would enter the labor force, albeit under severe unequal conditions and poorly paid, if they
were not married. (Phillips & Phillips, 2000) This was only socially acceptable because the
Feminization of Precarious Labor 6
stores, offices or factories that women would work in, would let them go, or the female would
voluntarily leave they labor force once she wed. (Thistle, 2006) However, single women were
still expected to maintain her share of domestic duties within the home supporting her family
structure. (Ferguson, 2008) Racialized women faced more complex encounters with the market
during the early twentieth century considering majority of racial groups resided in rural areas.
(Thistle, 2006) Racialized women were forced to do things like farm work to support her
husband coupled with the double work load within the home. Many racialized women had to
leave their families unattended to work or face the consequence of not being able to sustain the
livelihoods of their children. (Thistle, 2006)
Intersectionality of Gender and Race in the Feminized Workforce in the Twentieth Century
This essay will now use the latter conceptualization of gender overall, to understand the
intersectional marginalization’s that women as a gender group, and racialized low class women
faced as more women entered the workforce throughout the twentieth century. The significance
of this section is to conceptualize the development of a feminized workforce and to understand
the positions that different women occupied within it. This is important because the norms
developed during this period set precedence of future positions that different females would
occupy with changes brought forth by neoliberalism which will be discussed later on in this
paper.
Industrialization and Urbanization in North America
Gender
Industrialization and subsequent urbanization occurred mainly in the first decades of the
1900’s (Strong-Boag, 1979). These initial decades saw more women, albeit still not the majority
Feminization of Precarious Labor 7
of women, entering the workforce; however there was politics surrounding this that contributed
to social norms surrounding the types of women who did work and surrounding the types of
work they did. Veronica Strong-Boag (1979) discusses female working experiences in the
1920’s, a decade where rapid economic modernization was spreading across North America.
Interestingly, she notes that women, who worked, usually single and between the ages of 15-34,
were influenced by schools, magazines and employment bureaus to enter a range of “suitable”
jobs such as caregiving, nursing, clerking and telegraph operating. The purpose was to create
female spheres that would offset a trend of women entering masculine fields. (Strong-Boag,
1979) For example, the province of Ontario in 1928 legislated the Apprenticeship Act for male
entry into industry; however the act solely applied to boys. (Strong-Boag, 1979) It is these kinds
of restrictions that reflected the socialization practices which consigned each sex to different
duties. Strong-Boag (1979) states that “higher wage, capital intensive and monopolistic firms
engaged in the production of commodities like cars and electrical machinery, had little room for
women”. (Strong-Boag, 1979: 148) Rarely when women were found in industry in these initial
decades, they occupied their own segregated spheres and lacked union representation because
women were viewed as unorganizable because of common assumptions about women leaving
the labor force after marriage. (Thistle, 2006) These assumptions, patterns and regulations of
female labor exaggerated differences between men and women and reinforced female vulnerable
and subordinate roles in the market place.
Racialized Women
Racialized women during the early decades of the twentieth century faced multiple
intersecting oppressions in terms of labor. Racialized women faced gender oppressions that were
Feminization of Precarious Labor 8
fluid with racial and class oppressions as well. Many racialized families migrated to urban areas
for the male head to seek more formal employment. However this migration worked to create
racial hierarchies and subsequent class hierarchies in communities in which many racialized
women faced intersecting exclusions of being a racial minority, in a lower class and of female
gender group. (Sears, 2014) It was mentioned in the previous paragraph that women who were
mainly single participated in a feminized formal economy. For women of racialized groups, not
only did single women participate in the labor force, but many married women were required to
take on precarious wage work because for the most part, black men earned far less than white
men. (Thistle, 2006) The fact that many racialized women were forced to work upheld class
hierarchies and norms surrounding racial poverty because it was generally believed that married
women with adequate resources would not seek work. (Phillips & Phillips, 2000)
The World Wars and the Push/Pull Factors of Women In and Out of Work
Gender
The World Wars had significant impacts on women in terms of labor and also created a
context that would set future precedence for working women but also reinforced their
undervalued and authoritative domestic responsibilities in contrast to men. In times of war in
Canada and the United States, institutions, governments and employers were all very influential
on the population about the roles of women. (Newman & White, 2012) It was during war time
that Newman and White (2012) note that the labor market became highly feminized, as women
faced push factors (from government, institutions and a sense of duty to the wartime effort) and
pull factors (work appealing to women to uphold their families, social expectations) into labor.
However, these push/pull factors were not only existent for female entry into the workforce, but
Feminization of Precarious Labor 9
highly effective in relegating women back into their domestic spheres once the war ended.
(Field, 1980) Despite the large pool of women who maintained industry during both world wars,
there is little evidence that shows these periods were anything more than a temporary, war
induced abnormality. (Feild, 1980) For example, after World War II nearly 80,000 women in the
United States were laid off, the government reintroduced marriage bars that prevented married
women from employment in a wide range of professions as well as the end of government
sponsored child care which further limited a woman’s ability to work. (Newman and White,
2012) Although the war time effort created an unprecedented experience of the majority of
women entering the masculine the labor force, which gave them a sense of what it was like and
what it meant to work, it did not remove barriers of social norms and roles of women. This is
important because as women eventually began to enter the labor force from their own will, the
types of work they would do did not mirror the jobs they did during the war; this will be
discussed in the following paragraphs.
Racialized Women
Men and women of racialized groups were also called upon to participate in the war
effort during the first and second World Wars. Racialized groups participated in labor through
industry, however Eric Hatton (2008) notes that the majority of racialized immigrants were
filtered into industries through ‘padrones’ that placed them in precarious, exploitative and low
wage jobs. This reinforced the marginalized and precarious positions of racialized groups that
would undermine them after the war. Further, many immigrant, non-Anglo Saxon and non-white
women worked in middle and upper class white households as those women entered the
professional workforce during the war; this not only further reinforced class and racial
hierarchies between different groups of women, but it also helped lower the occupational value
Feminization of Precarious Labor 10
of personal service because of the women who provided it. (Thistle, 2006) When the wars ended,
male middle class positions within industry were given precedence over any other worker
(racialized men, white women, racialized women) occupying his position since deployment.
(Newman & White, 2012) This is significant because it reinforced of gender and racial
hierarchies of labor North American industries which reinforced class divisions.
The Post-War Period and the Women’s Movement
Gender
The economic booms experienced in North America during a the second World War
helped pull its economies out of the Great Depression and after the war ended there was a
demand for labor to maintain levels of war time production. (Thistle, 2006) This need for labor
gave leverage to workers and unions to ask for gains from the employer and concessions from
the state because work was so valuable in maintaining high levels of economic activity at the
time. This emerging social democracy and welfare state allowed for the standard employment
relationship where men could work fair hours, in good conditions, for considerable wages and
receive protections against unemployment through social safety nets and forms of unemployment
insurance. (Phillips-Fien, 2007) This had impacts on women because as previously mentioned,
women were rarely visible or valued within unions, therefore the standard employment
relationship really only applied to men. As well, welfare state protections applied to full time
workers, and contributed to the family wage, further upholding social norms about women in the
home because it protected against male unemployment that could force women into work.
(Phliips-Fien, 2007) However, as women began to enter the workforce at their own wills, it was
socially frowned upon for women to take up male dominated positions. The result was a specific
Feminization of Precarious Labor 11
type of work that was used to appeal to women and avoid criticism from unionized and protected
male labor. This type of work was temporary and precarious that allowed a woman to work on
her spare time while not taking away the household responsibilities that were still expected to be
upheld. (Hatton, 2008) Hatton (2008) notes that the temp industry in post war America, while
although positive because women working was becoming more socially acceptable, remained
negative because it reinforced gender stereotypes of labor within the home in the professional
workforce by emphasizing the secondary nature and “femininity” of temp jobs and temp
workers. (Hatton, 2008: 20) The problem however is how this feminizing of part time temporary
work set norms for restriction of women into the full time labor force and also normalized pay
gaps between men and women doing similar types of work in a different form for lower wages.
(Newman & White, 2012)
Racialized Women
Many racialized women still faced multiple intersecting oppressions during the post war
period, despite the gains being made in wage labor industries for white men. The standard
employment relationship excluded a host of gendered and racialized occupations. For example,
Leah Vosko (2006) notes that the Unemployment Insurance Act (UEI) in Canada legislated in
1940 works to protect male workers in industry from “the ills of unemployment”. (Vosko, 2008:
15) However, UEI worked to exclude as it did not cover female oriented jobs or
precarious/temporary work which the majority of racialized women were within. (Vosko, 2006)
Further, many racialized women in much of the post-war period remained in undervalued
domestic positions in private homes because the temp industry discussed in the previous
paragraph attracted many white middle class women because they attached themselves to the
Feminization of Precarious Labor 12
respectability of white middle class “ladies” to make clear how far removed they were from
other work agencies that employed non-whites and non-white immigrants who worked under
harsh conditions and petty wages. (Hatton, 2008) This highlights the intersecting oppression of
being a racialized woman who faces limitations within the market because she is a woman, and
because of her skin color, inevitably regulating her to a low class position. Too make matter
worse, the women’s movement, dominated by liberal white feminists, which at the time was
working to politicize private issues and emancipate women from her societal expectations
through things like more access to government programs, left the intersecting problems of
racialized women off the table. (Janovieck, 2006) Bell Hooks (1992) notes how capitalist
consumer societies, in which lower classes are excluded from, subjects racialized groups to
social marginalization and poverty. It has been discusses thus far how racialized groups in large
part were excluded from the benefits of the standard employment relationship and the welfare
state and therefore many remained in positions of social inferiority.
Towards Neoliberalism: Changes and Continuities
This section will seek to use the analysis made in the previous two sections to
conceptualize the contemporary contexts of women in labor, considering the changes ushered in
by neoliberalism in the 1980’s still dominate the economic, political and social structures of
North America. The purpose of analyzing women in the context of neoliberalism is to understand
how neoliberal capitalism changed labor but reinforced the continuity of the forms of labor
women did, naturalizing the feminization of precarious work; this has had significant
consequences because it places these women in socially subordinate positions and makes labor
Feminization of Precarious Labor 13
mobility very difficult. This naturalization of feminized precarious work has also reinforced pre-
existing gender norms that undervalue more formal gendered jobs.
Economic Crisis and Political Changes
As social democracy continued into the 1970’s, businesses and governments alike
became wearied over the fact that excess capacity, industrial capacity exceeding the level of
demand and the decrease of profits being made for business, was undermining capitalist
production. (Phillips-Fien, 2007 ) The result was the emergence of a new right within North
America, guided by the Conservatives in Canada and Ronald Reagan in the United States in the
early 1980’s. (Sears, 2014) Alan Sears (2014) conceptualizes this new right and the changes in
economic policies as ‘the lean state’. (Sears, 2014: 85) He notes that the social policies of the
lean state were meant to form a population that was solely oriented around the market. (Sears,
2014) This process of economic restructuring and in many ways political restructuring, as the
state facilitated the changes, made way for policies that removed labor market rigidities (such as
social safety nets) and allowed the market to function without state interference. (Bowles &
MacPhail, 2008) Things such as the reform of employment security and the reduction of state
spending was meant to foster more efficiency in terms of labor that would allow business to
maximize on profits and lift North American economies out of a crisis. (Bowles & MacPhail,
2008) With economic restructuring occurring, businesses sought the cheapest and most efficient
forms of employment to increase capitalist growth. That being said, the standard employment
relationship that existed in previous decades saw itself eroded as businesses prompted lay-offs,
decreasing wages and less security as a way to reverse the trends that led social democracy into a
crisis in the first place. (Phillips-Fien, 2007) Susan Thistle (2006) notes by the mid 1990’s all
means of government support for women’s unpaid household work, such as government
Feminization of Precarious Labor 14
assistance or the family wage, was gone. Further, Vosko (2006) mentions by the early 1990’s full
time permanent jobs became much less common, making it harder for women to integrate into
such occupations. All these changes had significant long term economic and social
consequences for women generally.
Naturalizing Precarious Labor and the Continuity of Women’s Domestic Roles
This essay recognizes that not all women occupied positions of precarious labor and that
women did make several gains in the second half of the twentieth century in terms of breaking
down the female domestic economy, and gaining economic prominence to access more
professional, formal jobs. However, the reason for discussing and focusing on precarious labor is
to show how that specific form of labor is feminized and why it has remained as such. Leah
Vosko (2006) describes how precarious employment during the 1970’s began to be associated
with part time or temporary wage work, solo self employment or multiple job holding. The
changing demographics of the labor force in North America was encouraged by employers, via
pressure on the state, to view of precarious employment forms and work arrangements as the key
to flexibility. (Vosko, 2006) At the time of neoliberal transition it was mainly women who filled
the void of flexibility in work. Many women who were not working up until the time of the
1980’s crisis found themselves pushed into work because the standard employment relationship
that existed under social democracy was increasingly eroded, forcing women to bring in a second
income. (Cranford & Vosko, 2006) As precarious employment became more widespread across a
range of industries and defined new types of work in a neoliberal society, such as telegraphic
work from home or part time work within the service industry, women found themselves
occupying the majority of this kind of work; Vosko (2006) notes that in 2003 women accounted
Feminization of Precarious Labor 15
for over 6:10 ratio of those with part time temporary or solo jobs and accounted for three fourths
of the part time permanent labor force. It can be said that because precarious work became so
normalized for women in the second half of the twentieth century, this social construction
reproduced itself in the neoliberal era. Given the overall context of neoliberalism for labor, as
was discussed in the previous paragraph, it became difficult for women to escape their precarious
and gendered positions considering structural limitations that existed, squeezing the pool of
secure formal employment for both men and women alike. (Phillips & Phillips, 2000) Hence, the
problem lies in the fact that women are increasingly forced to take on precarious employment
when full time work is not available or if employers find it more profitable to employ part time
workers to evade granting job security or promotion ladders. (Phillips & Phillips, 2000) The
growth of non-standard employment created a dichotomy between formal, well paid, legally
protected jobs and tenious, less compensated and less secure jobs, in which women occupied the
majority of the latter. (Vosko & Cranford, 2006)
The naturalization of precarious and gendered work resulting from neoliberal capitalist
transformation in North America has had a dual marginalization effect on women as unpaid
domestic work is still maintained by women. According to Vosko (2006) women are more eight
times more likely to take on forms of precarious work for child caring responsibilities compared
to men. This trade off contributes to the entrenchment of precarious labor among women and the
betterment of men’s labor market positions. (Vosko & Cranford, 2006) The double burden that
was discussed in the first section of this essay has manifested across time as women throughout
the twentieth century were presumed ‘natural’ caregivers, and even as neoliberalism changed
labor market relations, the social constructions of women as caregivers has been maintained.
This is a big problem for women because not only does this social norm limit her ability to move
Feminization of Precarious Labor 16
up the latter in more formal professional jobs, it also works to create other social norms where in
marriage, a males career is presumed to take precedence over his wife’s. (Grose, 2014) Even
though employment rates of women with children have risen dramatically over the past thirty
years, women’s share of unpaid domestic work remains constant with women upholding two
thirds of unpaid work; unchanged since the 1960’s. (Vosko, 2006) To add to this, Phillips and
Phillips (2000) note that statistically, women are more likely to leave or quit a job for family or
personal reasons and this has led to a resistance of women occupying highly skilled, formal
secure jobs.
At this point it is also necessary to conceptualize which types of women are more likely
to occupy precarious positions based on their historically constructed social stratums. Joanne
Naiman (2012) discusses how positions occupied by all workers in society can be categorized by
the ‘working class’ and social positions, whether identified by race, ethnicity or income, should
be terms a social stratum. (Naiman, 2012) This distinction is important because it will be used
here to show how women are divided in terms of their labor and why some women occupy
professional or formal types of employment. Cynthia Cranford and Leah Vosko (2006) note how
the feminization of employment norms result in heightened inequalities among women along
social locations of race. They mention that racial minority and racial immigrants are more likely
to occupy positions of temporary wage work than non-visible minorities. (Cranford & Vosko,
2006) This can be said to be an extension of the intersections experienced by racialized groups
throughout the twentieth century. For example, the standard employment relationship which
existed throughout the twentieth century was a male norm and has historically relegated
racialized groups to precarious forms of employment characterized by poor working conditions
and wages. (Crawford, Vosko, 2006) This gives insight into existing social norms that allow
Feminization of Precarious Labor 17
some groups more opportunities. White middle class groups have long experienced higher social
stratum positions throughout the twentieth century, so women who existed within these groups
had better long term outlooks if they wanted to pursue education to enter the professional, secure
labor force. (Naiman, 2012) Racialized women were not in similar economic or social positions
as their non-visible minority counterparts and therefore when the shift to neoliberalism occurred,
they were not able to adapt similar to white middle class women. The consequences of such and
future outlooks for racialized women in the current North American labor market will be
discussed in the next section.
Undervaluing of Gender Jobs and the Continuity of Gender Norms
The purpose of this sub section will be to analyze how gendered jobs are precarious in
that they are undervalued. Labor characterized as ‘women’s work’ remains undervalued
considering it embodies domestic responsibilities. As this paper has discussed, historically and
contemporarily domestic work remains unpaid which in itself undervalues the domestic work
females do and because so much of domestic personal service was largely occupied by racialized
women throughout the twentieth century, these kinds of positions in the formal labor force
remain undervalued. (Thistle, 2006) As well, not only is ‘women’s work’ undervalued but, as a
result of social discrimination of what constitutes proper female roles, women have been
channeled into a narrow range of occupations which puts downward pressure on wages
considering the overcrowding of a female reserve labor force. (Phillips and Phillips, 2000)
Occupations commonly known as women work or ‘pink jobs’ range from clerical and
telework, personal service, teaching, nursing and ancillary work. To use ancillary work as an
example, Pat Armstrong and Kate Laxer (2006) note how women have struggled hard to have the
Feminization of Precarious Labor 18
work of care recognized as both valuable and skilled, yet their work still remains invisible and
undervalued in terms of their capacities and contribution to health work. (Armstrong & Laxer,
2006) Ancillary work is services such as food preparation, cleaning, maintenance but also
clerical services that is not necessarily direct care. Armstrong and Laxer (2006) show the
significance of ancillary work when they note that “social, physical and psychological
environments are critical for those that are ill, frail or suffer from chronic conditions that make
them vulnerable”. (Armstrong & Laxer, 2006: 117) Ancillary work is thus necessary to maintain
these kinds of environments and temporary workers which crowd this field can lack full
knowledge and experience that could lead to critical errors. Thus, the lack of security of these
jobs leads to less commitment and less quality. (Armstrong & Laxer, 2006) Therefore, not only
does precarious labor in ancillary work problematic for those occupying positions but also
impacts those receiving such services.
Exacerbated and Entrenched Inequalities for Racial Minorities and Racialized Immigrants
The purpose of this section will be to show how racial minorities and racialized
immigrants face both social and economic inequalities that have been exacerbated and
entrenched in the labor market as a result of neoliberal transformation. Class and racial
inequalities in North America have been exacerbated by changing economic norms created
through neoliberal capitalism that reinforce the underprivileged position of racialized precarious
working women in society. Further, as a result of neoliberal policy changes, poverty has become
gendered and racialized. This will be shown by looking at the disadvantaged positions of
racialized women facing the retrenchment of the welfare state while continuing to occupy
precarious forms of work. The final subsection here will look at the politics surrounding
Feminization of Precarious Labor 19
racialized precarious labor that limits labor force mobility and thus reinforces and further
entrenches inequalities faced by racialized women.
Class and Racial Inequalities Exacerbated by Changing Economic Norms
An individualized culture has been brought forth by neoliberal capitalism in that the
social policies of the neoliberal state oriented solely around the market; the sale of one’s capacity
to work and purchase commodities to meet their wants and needs. (Sears, 2014) This
individualized culture places the responsibility of maintaining a good standard of living directly
on the backs of workers. In other words, barriers surrounding the labor market are depoliticized.
(Sears, 2014) This is especially problematic because this individualized culture reinforces fluid
class and racial inequalities that existed throughout the twentieth century that were political
issues. Sears (2014) notes that the regime of market discipline is coercive in that those without
means to enter the formal, secure labor force are deprived of equal goods and services despite
their needs. However, it is also consented by many non-racialized middle class groups of society
who view the market choice as a desirable alternative to state administered services that have
been socially degraded. The neoliberal state thus focuses on the ethos of the lean person and lean
principles avoiding dependence on the state. (Sears, 2014) Sears (2014) interestingly notes that
the shift to neoliberalism divides residential spaces between classes in society and as racialized
groups have historically held lower class positions, this division has ‘hardened into a politics of
refusal to pay for government services that were rendered to those living elsewhere’. (Sears,
2014: 96) Thus, it is clear that individual motivation currently drives neoliberal capitalism but
this exacerbates inequalities for racialized women in precarious employment who face barriers to
taking advantage of market choices in ways non-racialized women could.
Feminization of Precarious Labor 20
Racial and class inequalities have been reproduced through generations through
precarious forms of labor for racialized, lower class groups. When comparing racialized females
experiences throughout the twentieth century, one can see that there are continuities in the
current neoliberal era. For example, as racialized women made up the majority of extremely
precarious work and lacked (as a group) similar education or formal experience levels as their
non-racialized counterparts throughout the twentieth cenutry. (Newman & White, 2012)
Neoliberal transformation worked to deteriorate employment opportunities for those with less
education and thus left many racialized women in the unpaid domestic spheres, only being able
to turn to precarious work. (Thistle, 2006) For example, Marjorie Cohen (2003) notes that the
structural underpinnings of unemployment for lower class racilized women, such as lack of
formal job training or childcare responsibilities, marginalizes them in the workplace and it is the
individual who is blamed for not acquiring the skills they need to find a job in the formal
economy. (Cohen, 2003) Thus, many racialized women are subjected to precarious employment
and make up a disproportionate amount of females constituting the feminization of precarious
labor. (Tastsoglou & Miedema, 2005) Too add to this, Susan Thistle (2006) notes that racialized
women are twice as likely as non-racialized women to occupy poorly paid service positions and
because women are socially constructed as care givers, single racialized mothers are twice as
likely to end up in poverty than single non-racialized mothers; a rate that has not changed since
the 1960s. (Thistle, 2006)
Retrenching the Welfare State: Gendered and Racialized Poverty
Neoliberalism brought forth significant policy changes that will be analyzed here to show
how they have not only reinforced gendered, but more importantly, racialized gendered poverty.
One of the most significant changes that affected racialized women is the drawback of social
Feminization of Precarious Labor 21
services and government programs, resulting from government deregulation. For example, Lea
Caragata (2003) notes that social welfare programs, once intended to protect against fluctuations
in the labor market and foster employment especially for single mothers, has been regarded as
fostering dependency and facilitating government deficit; hence contributing to the social
degradation of such services also. In order to reduce debts, North American governments have
reduced public sector expenditures and interventions, such as the implementation of social safety
nets. (Caragata, 2003) As was mentioned, as a result of continuities in the expectations of female
domestic responsibilities, the burden of child care responsibilities are increasingly placed on the
backs of mothers. Phillips and Phillips (2000) discuss the implications of this, especially for
single mothers, because having to take on child care responsibilities places women in an inferior
position in the labor market and subject these women to take on part time jobs. Thus, this social
conditioning of women as mothers relegates single moms into a small number of jobs that lack
wages to maintain a good standard of living. (Phillips & Phillips, 2000) If one looks at another
neoliberal policy change, privatization of the majority of industries in North America, one can
see how women who occupy precarious positions in privatized industries lack social benefits or
coverage. Racialized women in low class positions are especially impacted by this because they
have to work to maintain the household, but the wages they pull in is not enough to suffice the
costs previously covered by the government, and therefore deals with the burden of having to
raise her family in poverty. (Janovicek, 2006) These positions are further reinforced by the
barriers that limit these women from being eligible for government spending programs that have
lasted throughout the neoliberal era. (Fuller & Vosko, 2008)
The drawback of government spending and services has had significant impacts on
racialized women in terms of the barriers to access services and transfers that still exist. Not only
Feminization of Precarious Labor 22
does this impact racialized women, but these barriers reinforce their marginalized social
positions because of the social norms associated with neoliberalism surrounding government
spending and social services. Some examples to highlight these barriers include the changing
conditionality’s of the Employment Insurance Act in Canada, 1996 and the abolition of the
family allowance. Some reforms of EI include eligibility requirements, such as the candidate
must be actively searching for work, and abolition of benefits for those who voluntarily leave
their jobs for things like pregnancy or bad working conditions. (Vosko, 2006) Further the Family
Allowance, an independent source of income that women were entitled to, has been abolished as
a means of drawing back public spending. Julie Ann McMullin et al (2002) notes that these
policy changes retracting government spending reflect dependency on government programs and
thus constructed and fueled ideas that social program recipients are undeserving. In turn, these
policy changes also give the assumption that everyone is on an equal playing field, rather than
accounting for historical systemic barriers, such as the crowding of precarious labor, that place
racialized groups in marginalized social and economic positions because they cannot make
enough money to supplement for previous income transfers. (McMullin, 2002) This contributes
to the disparity of income equality and social opportunities to move out of precarious labor and
into formal types of employment.
Racialized Precarious Labor Limiting Labor Force Mobility
It may seem that temporary or part time jobs constitutes a way for women to integrate
into the professional labor force, however workers increasingly find it as a dead end rather than a
path towards satisfying employment. (Fuller & Vosko, 2008) As racialized women face
marginalized and unequal positions in the neoliberal era as outlined the previous subsection, it is
difficult for them to afford and have time to participate training programs to allow them market
Feminization of Precarious Labor 23
ready skills; especially if a racialized woman is raising a family on her own. (Janovieck, 2006)
Considering these women crowd precarious employment, they also find their work deskilling
and thus does not allow them to learn a wide range of skills that could be applied across different
sectors. (Creese & Wiebe, 2009) As a result upward mobility is limited and thus entrenches the
systemic inequalities faced by racialized women who do not have opportunities to escape
poverty or move up the job ladder. (Creese & Wiebe, 2009) This is not to say that all racialized
women face labor market marginalizations or that all racialized women occupy low class
positions. The point is to show those racialized groups who are in lower class positions,
occupying the much of the feminized precarious labor force, face entrenched limitations in
escaping these positions once they are occupied.
It is necessary to analyze here the experiences of racialized immigrant women in the
current neoliberal era because the politics surrounding their labor market experiences contributes
to the social marginalizations and economic inequalities experienced by racial minorities as a
whole. By looking at their voided education credentials or experiences, coupled with the rising
level of precarious jobs across a range of sectors, females are in subordinate positions to
maximize on the experiences available for non-immigrants in North America. Further, when
analyzing the experience of racialized immigrants before the shift to neoliberalism and those
immigrating after, one can see how neoliberalism has entrenched inequalities in this new era.
In recent decades, racialized immigrant women have found themselves being forced into
low wage, deskilled and insecure precarious jobs as a means of integrating into the Canadian
labor force. (Buzdugan & Halli, 2009) Gillian Creese and Brandy Wiebe (2009) note that
immigrant post-secondary credentials and professional skills are largely discounted by employers
and these practices of deskilling result in a downward social mobility for highly skilled
Feminization of Precarious Labor 24
immigrants. Interestingly, Creese and Wiebe (2009) also note that this is happening in Canada
despite the fact that the points system of immigration selection is designed to recruit skilled and
professional labor. They use a recent Canadian immigrant names Yalala, a former Nigerian CEO
with a degree in Business Administration and was forced to work low wage, odd jobs that made
her survival hard and undermined her social status having to work jobs occupied by deskilled
workers. (Creese & Wiebe, 2009) Also, having to work precarious jobs makes it difficult to
obtain a Canadian education which further undermines a women’s ability to facilitate full time,
secure labor market integration. (Buzdugan & Halli, 2009) It is also necessary to look at the
performance of immigrant racialized women in the short and long terms. Lori Wilkinson et al
(2006) notes that racialized immigrants arriving after total neoliberal transformation in Canada
and the United states had poorer performances in their long term integration than those arriving
before. This is because those arriving after have had increasingly limited options of labor force
integration because precarious labor was spreading across industry for both men and women.
(Wilkinson et al, 2006) It is shown that racialized women especially have fared worse
considering they immediately integrate into occupations such as low status clerical jobs with low
long term prospective earnings; compared to men who are more likely to integrate into trades.
(Wilkinson et al, 2006) Being in a position where it is difficult to balance work, education or job
training, it makes it very difficult for these women to move out of these precarious jobs into
more formal ones. These struggles reinforce the inequalities between gender, race and class
groups and further reinforce the feminization of precarious labor for racialized women.
Conclusion
This essay has sought to conceptualize the development feminization of precarious labor in
North America and how it has impacted different women in different ways throughout the
Feminization of Precarious Labor 25
twentieth century and subsequently into the current era of neoliberal capitalism. By looking at
the similarity of gender experiences during the initial years of industrial capitalism in North
America one can see how ‘proper’ gender roles developed and the implications this had for
women once they began to enter the labor force during the twentieth century. Throughout the
twentieth century, social norms regarding women impacted the types of work they did once
entering the labor force and fostered intersecting oppressions for racialized groups. The turn
towards neoliberalism and the changes it ushered in naturalized feminized precariousness in the
labor force while also exacerbating and entrenching the inequalities racialized groups faced
throughout the twentieth century. As neoliberal capitalism continues to be entrenched into the
social, political and economic norms of society, women and especially racialized immigrant and
minority women face significant challenges regarding labor mobility and long term systemic
change. This essay has attempted to explore these issues and does not seek to make the claim that
all women face the same issues or that women have not made progress in terms of labor. Rather,
this essay has sought to understand the inequalities that still exist and the fluidity of those
inequalities that exist for certain groups, and the barriers for overcoming them.
Feminization of Precarious Labor 26
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