Last year a video interview for the “World’s Toughest Job” went viral. As the candidates are informed the position would be unpaid, the hours would be constant, there would be no holidays or breaks and that the demands would be endless, they are naturally aghast.
Reasonable working hours? How does 24-7 sound?
Annual leave? No.
A weekend? No.
Freedom from harassment, intimidation or generally unsavoury behaviour? Unlikely.
A work environment free from hazards? Cannot be guaranteed.
A stress-free working environment? Occasionally but chances are you’ll be sleeping through those moments.
Noise pollution? Considerable.
Reasonable remuneration? No.
Any remuneration? Afraid not.
Bathroom breaks? Not alone.
A lunch break? Not alone.
Reimbursement for expenses reasonably incurred in this line of work? No.
Any recourse to a manager, an HR representative or an ombudsman to report unsatisfactory or inappropriate treatment? No.
Who would sign up for such a role?
Mothers do. Technically, parents do but as it stands around the world mothers do the bulk of this unpaid labour.
The uneven division of paid and unpaid work between men and women is well-documented. Women do an additional 139 minutes of unpaid work a day compared to men. It is not difficult to understand how and why this perpetuates the economic inequality between men and women. Until men and women share the unpaid labour more evenly it will be difficult for men and women to participate in paid work more evenly.
If there is a single silver bullet to narrow the gap between men and women in Australian society, in my view, it is the more equitable distribution of unpaid labour between the sexes.
Looking after children is not the only source of unpaid labour – looking after elderly relatives, tending to household administration, cooking, laundry, cleaning. The list is long regardless of whether you have children or not.
But the arrival of a child has a very real impact on the division of duties in many Australian households. In her book Annabel Crabb outlines research that shows the arrival of a child causes the number of hours of unpaid work a women undertakes to spike almost permanently. Fathers’ unpaid work doesn’t change much but they usually undertake an additional few hours of paid work each week.
Anyone familiar with caring for small children will understand the additional work is substantial albeit “free”. Seeing what is actually entailed in his wife’s capacity as a stay at home mum prompted an American father, Steven Nelms, to do a few sums. His calculations have gone viral.
He estimates that the cost of his wife’s labour is about $USD73,960 a year ; a fee he can’t afford. It’s double his actual salary. In Australian dollars it’s roughly $96,700 a year. His calculations are specific and cover everything from childcare, laundry, cooking, cleaning, financial services and administrative tasks.
Aside from the monetary figure Nelms attaches to his wife’s work, his sentiments are worth noting. He hadn’t fully appreciated the fruits of his wife’s labour. She expends as much energy and effort as he does in his paid job, if not more, and if she were doing it as an employee she’d be earning more than he is. But she isn’t. She is doing it for her own family and she isn’t paid a cent. It’s a stark discovery for Nelms that he wants other fathers to consider.
It’s not new but it’s a point that needs a wider audience. Women do an awful lot of work that they’re not paid for. Do we start paying them a fair wage for the work they do or do we share the unpaid load more fairly?