Every single person has relied on another at some point in their life and likely will again in old age. However, the caregiver in these instances is often overlooked and not given enough respect or compensation. Eva Kittay has been and will be a dependency worker for her severely handicapped daughter, Sesha, her entire life. She knows the struggles and labor of what dependency work entails. Her experiences with this lifestyle helped her to write, “Love’s Labor,” in which she describes the role of dependency work, its importance and the way it is viewed in society. Her outlook on the subject truly clarifies the ethical issues surrounding how they are treated. After reading this book, I gained more respect for dependency workers and realized that they do not get enough recognition or opportunities.
Kittay makes sure to refer to caregivers of dependents as “dependency workers” in order to emphasize that they do in fact do labor. However, unlike just about every other person who does some sort of labor, dependency workers are very disadvantaged. Society’s competitive nature has a detrimental effect on these people. As Kittay states, “While we are dependent, we are not well positioned to enter a competition for the goods of social cooperation on equal terms. And those who care for dependents, who must put their own interests aside to care for one who is entirely vulnerable to their actions, enter the competition for social goods with a handicap,”(Kittay xi). The amount and type of work they do sets them up for a lesser opportunity than most, however they are not willing to sacrifice the dependents health to gain equality. Dependency work is a job that must be done, without it society the way we know it could not function. There will ...
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...k for this reason alone. However, she then writes that there is no way it could be eliminated because so many people rely on it (Kittay 95). This point stood out to me because it seems strange that the worker can become dependent on the actual dependent. This makes it apparent that the job has many stressors, their own self-worth beigng one of them.
Eva Kittay’s “Love’s Labor” truly opened my eyes to the profession of dependency work. I realized that there are many underlying ethical concerns of the job and that it is not to be taken lightly. I believe that society should provide more opportunities for caregivers and that more people should take the time to learn in more depth about what the profession requires.
Works Cited
Kittay, Eva Feder. Love's Labor: Essays on Women, Equality, and Dependency. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Works Cited
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