Invisible Women Caring For The Independent Person Analysis

As presented in two selected essays from Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild, the influx of immigrant women—both legal and illegal—has altered the guise of the domestic lifestyle. The truth of the matter is that the traditional view of the household is that women, wives more specifically, were charged with the care and upkeep of the household, and men were responsible for income and maintaining the wellbeing of the family financials. However, history has shown us that the image of the perfect housewife was not enough for the upper-class family. Instead, the presence of either a maid, a domestic, or a helper of some sort (almost always female) added not only status
In “Invisible Labors: Caring for the Independent Person,” Lynn May Rivas explores the truth that “what is made invisible is not the labor itself, but the worker” (Rivas 75). In this context, Rivas is referring to the work of personal attendants, those who care for disabled individuals. It must be notes that most often, these caregivers are women since are see as “natural care-givers” (Rivas 76). The job of personal attendants, as described by Rivas, is to provide these consumers with a seemingly independent lifestyle. By providing independence, the job of the personal attendance requires inconspicuousness. This, however, presents a paradox. These women need to be ready for any of their patrons needs, but also, they must often live in the shadows. Some may form bonds with those they work with, but most “recognized and resented the fact that they were unseen and undervalued” (Rivas 79). Like Marx observed, these personal attendants are becoming detached from their work. Rather than being recognized from their work, it is instead their work that is gaining recognition. Since the people who are need of personal attendants long for independence, the acknowledgement of a personal attendant, someone caring for and helping them, would ruin the illusion of
Enhrenreich notes the immediate problem with the idea of hiring a maid: “to make a mess that another person will have to deal with…is to exert domination in one of its more silent and intimate forms” (Enhrenreich 88). Those who hire a maid service completely disavow responsibility for their own messes, but also, ignore the humanity of those they hire to clean the mess up. Like Marx’s philosophies concerning the alienated laborer, the maid merely becomes an object of their labor. The maids themselves are not what is being sought out, but rather the end result. In fact, the maid loses total control over their ability “after a week or two on the job, [Enhrenreich] found [herself] moving robotlike, grateful to have been relieved of the thinking process.” (Enhrenreich 98). Like Marx says, the worker is alienated from their body, and loses their claim to