Redefining Work - Opening Our Eyes to All of Our Labor
Our current societies are infused with a distorted understanding of what constitutes work and this limited, limiting perspective profoundly hinders our ability to think clearly and flexibly about how we spend our time, how we earn and relate to money - the entire ways we structure our lives and our societies.
There are financial needs and considerations. There are demands on our time. There are widespread systemic oppressive structures that impact us. Yet it is the internalization of the tight, small boxes we are trying to conform to and contort ourselves into that is at the heart of what blocks us from visioning and creating better lives for ourselves that enable healing change for all.
Our narrow notions of work, rooted in histories and systems of oppression including sexism, classism and racism, erase and dishonor huge realms of labor. Some of the most critical labor that supports and sustains individuals and communities is not considered work and is often barely noticed at all. The erasure of labor is especially rampant for women, people of color, people outside the US, working class people and elders.
Our doings are assigned worth, or lack thereof, based on narrow notions of “productivity”. We have collectively internalized the believe that activities are only of value if they are paid. Plainly said - If one is paid to do something, it’s work and if not, it doesn’t count as work. Within this framework the activities that we recognize as work and prioritize tend to be incongruent with and at the expense of those which are essential to our individual and collective well-being.
With a broadened perspective of work, I offer more attuned, accurate language, such as “paid work” and “paid job” to help us recognize all the work we and others do, irrespective of financial compensation. That is not to say that much of the work that is currently unpaid should not be paid. So much of it absolutely should be. But the first step is to notice and recognize that it is work at all.
My heart breaks every time I hear a mother say that she is not working as she is doing the immense labor of raising a child. The role of parent is one of the most difficult that exists, requiring a wide array of complex skills with little to no training or support and no pay. The working conditions are harsh and isolating and the hours have no boundaries. Parents, especially mothers, are subject to constant, uncensored judgment and critique. To say this role is not work is absurd. It is one of the most beautiful, meaningful forms of labor of all.
For years, I worked in a community based organization supporting and partnering with people who were primarily low income, people of the global majority and primarily youth. Most of our staff teams were female. This work was some of the most meaningful, transformative and labor intensive roles I have inhabited. Yet as so much valuable work is, it was painfully undervalued and underfunded. Those of us engaging in this work have internalized the messages making it difficult for me to honor the significance of this work that I poured my heart, soul and body into for decades.
Im addition to my history of paid work, I have and continue to work as many, and likely significantly more, hours of unpaid labor. I’ve played a wide array of “volunteer” roles in numerous groups and organizations. I’ve served on boards. I’ve washed dishes for exhausted friends parenting young children. I spend countless hours connecting people with each other and and with valuable resources. These labors of mine are generally “behind the scenes,” conducted in what is considered “spare time,” mostly invisible, even to me.
There are a multitude of other examples of erasure of meaningful labor - forms of work that our world sorely needs more of. Work that is relational. The work of making art - of creative expression. Work inside homes. Work creating and fostering networks of connection. These are just some of the unrecognized, disrespected, generally unpaid forms of emotional, physical and intellectual labor that hold our world together. Recognizing and resourcing this work and those who do it would open the path to the healing transformation that we are all yearning for. I think its time we do just that.
Walking in the woods has become one of the most important things in my life. By our societal standards, walking with trees is not “productive” activity. Yet I am most generative, creative and inspired when I am with nature. My mind expands and flows as it does nowhere else. My motivation and ability to move into action increases dramatically. Recently I was feeling stuck in the writing of this piece and spent hours making myself sit in front of my computer. It was quite unpleasant and not very fruitful. It was not until I noticed and untangled from the pattern I was caught in and took two consecutive walks in woods that I accessed the clarity and confidence to write with ease and flow. Yet I still often have a nagging feeling that I am doing something wrong each time I take time to walk among trees.
These limiting notions we have understandably, but wrongly accepted is hindering our ability and willingness to make much needed change. What possibilities for your life are you believing are unacceptable, unallowable or impossible? What desires are you suppressing? What actions, thoughts and desires are you not allowing yourself to expresser even allow into your consciousness? Asking yourself these questions, and deeply listening to your answers opens the way for beautifully, powerful change.
Broadening and deepening our understanding of how we spend our time, of all of our work, we can see more thoughtfully and effectively discern what makes sense for us to be doing. We can think and live more flexibly, creatively and boldly, creating new possibility for change in our lives and in our world. We need to do this. We get to do this. You do!
