Sen and Ray: Work Outside The Household and Distribution Within - Tutu

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After reading Sen’s chapter eight and Ray’s chapter one, I noticed that Ray provides some examples that might show flaws in one part of Sen’s argument. These flaws surround the application and accuracy of Sen’s argument surrounding women’s participation in the labor market and the betterment of their relative household position. As explored below, it seems that Ray provides an example on page 30 highlighting that Sen might ignore gender dynamics in his arguments that hold back women. 

Sen acknowledges the power dynamics within the household and the sometimes unfair distribution. Sen acknowledges that women face deprivation due to unfair societal structures. Sen would argue that they face deprivation because the “anti-female bias seems to be influenced by the social standing and economic power of women in general.” (194). He explains further that this anti-female bias (that often prevents them from working or discriminates against them in some form) leads to the perception that the men who work are “breadwinners.” Being breadwinners commands them higher respect; As Sen writes, “Men’s relative dominance connects with a number of factors, including the position of being the “breadwinner” whose economic power commands respect even within the family.” (194)

Recognizing this household versus labor work tension/distribution, Sen outlines his “solution.” Sen argues that as a woman participates in a labor market and contributes to the household, she gains a higher relative standing. He argues against the breadwinner perception/dynamic by stating that once women work in an outside market, they gain a relatively higher standing within the household. (194) He continues, “While women work long hours every day at home, since this work does not produce a remuneration it is often ignored in the accounting of the respective contributions of women and men in the family’s joint prosperity.” (194) In comparison, he argues that when a woman works in the outside market –also known as the labor market–where she can be monetarily compensated, her relative familial position becomes “enhanced.” 

Contrariwise, Ray provides an example of when increased labor participation by women is seen, but due to preexisting “duty” distribution, household falls on the women still. Now, the women of the household work in the labor and domestic market. As Ray writes, often increased labor participation leads to “conflict over the household divided of labor between husband and wife… as several studies show [the women] simply work twice as hard.” (30)

Reading Ray after Sen’s chapter eight showed me he did tackle some of the issues that affect women specifically but did not go far enough. The problem I had was accepting Sen’s “solution” with Ray’s example of how often women who work face more work within and outside the household. If a woman’s relative position is “enhanced,” wouldn’t the work be split? The only remedy Ray provided for the work to lessen was for the family to hire a domestic worker. As the reading said, domestic workers tend to be women, so it seems that it is not the relative position of women that is bettering (which would be signified most presumably by an equal division of household) and instead solved by hiring a female domestic worker.

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