Getting Me Cheap

All too often we think about, or more accurately don't think about, the ripple effects of low-wage work on families beyond the thought that things must be tight. In this conversation, based on their important book, Getting Me Cheap: How Low Wage Work Traps Women and Girls in Poverty, Lisa Dodson, Amanda Freeman, and I discuss the implications not just in the present but in the future for those trapped in this deeply unjust cycle.

When we think about who is providing the childcare, the elder care, the cleaning services and more that we rely on to keep life functioning in the ways we are accustomed to, it is often women being paid unlivable wages. But many of these women themselves have families and if they aren't there to fulfill the adult role because they are, often, working multiple jobs to make ends meet, the brunt of filling that gap falls to their children, usually the girls. 

Dodson and Freeman explore the stories of the women they met, their realities, struggles, and aspirations, as they challenge us to confront and change what is a deeply unjust and flawed system in order to break the generational cycle of poverty and of parents who, as Dodson and Freeman describe, can't afford to buy their children a childhood. 

This conversation made me think in deeper and different ways about the impact of societal inequities and, once again, made me question whether these are bugs or features. 

It's an important book that leads us into an important conversation, one that challenges us to live into our oft-stated values around cherishing our children, not just some of them, all of them.

About Amanda Freeman and Lisa Dodson:

Amanda Freeman is a sociologist with research interests in poverty, social policy, gender, family and education. Her current work explores work family conflict for low income mothers. At the University of Hartford, Professor Freeman teaches a variety of courses including Social Welfare.

Lisa Dodson is Research Professor Emeritus at Boston College. She's the author of the books, The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy, and Don't Call Us Out of Name. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Items: 

From Amanda:

1) If you have people working in your home become aware of their lives, their struggles, and just engaging with them as fellow human beings.
2) Join organizations that advocate for domestic workers.
3) Challenge inequitable policies in your workplace that treat salaried and hourly workers differently when it comes to issues such as parental leave.

From Lisa:

1) Have conversations about how these workers are compensated and treated in the workplace.
2) Listen to what these women have to say about their lives and the challenges they are facing and then do what we can to address the inequities that they are facing. 

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.