The tight grips of sexism and capitalism

Earlier in the semester, I had seen a bit of light shed on the variance of pay between males and females, which, I imagine, is the reason I chose the Family&Friends excursion project. For this assignment, I interviewed four people from four varying lifestyles, age groups, genders and locations. Names have been changed to protect the identities.

Tyra, trans, 21, Black, single, New Jersey
Friend
Tyra is a 21 year-old, black, trans individual living in New Jersey. Tyra's current professional status was as a hair stylist in a high end salon in Hudson County. When I asked Tyra about domestic work, Tyra explained that work was divided quite evenly between Tyra, Tyra's siblings and father with the only variation being that if anyone needed a haircut, Tyra essentially worked for free. Since Tyra does have a car, Tyra will occasionally go on grocery runs at the request of Tyra's father and with his money. Tyra did not at all seem upset about the work, but almost saw it as a duty. Previous to working for $11/hour + commission and tips at 30 hours a week, Tyra dropped out of high school, earned a GED and was soon working as a grocery store clerk and in food delivery to pay for Cosmetology school. Tyra explained to me that work seemed rather light, saying "I work at an incredibly open environment. It's run by a gay friend and the town the salon is at is very accepting of all. I do the same work everyone else does and there's really no difference in division of labor besides the obvious variance of clientele for each individual or employment-time hierarchy."

Brendon, male, 22, White, single, New York
Cousin
Brendon is a fellow college student and family member who lives at home with his father. According to Brendon, his domestic work stretches to shoveling snow, mowing the lawn, doing dishes, general domestic cleaning, laundry for his father and self and taking care of their pets. Because Brendon's father is a carpenter, more construction-based house up-keep is left to him. Professionally, Brendon works as a dishwasher and cook at a family-run restaurant, earning around $8.30/hour with additional "omelet tips" on Sundays. Brendon usually works 20-25 hours a week and has worked here since the age of 16. Recently, Brendon completed an Associates Degree in Media Production and hopes to work in that field in the future. Brendon stated that he felt work had become stale and he was ready to embark on the next level in professional development. At work, Brendon is made to do a large portion of physical work; everything from cleaning unsightly messes to heavy lifting and noted that all cooks and dishwashers are male while most food servers are female. When asked about specific cases of rather obvious sexism, Brendon said, "I feel like he's [store manager] is more lenient toward us than [the men at his job] to them [the women at his job]. He'll scream in the cooler because he has anger issues or something," later adding that at points, the manager would make inappropriate comments to female employees so much so that once, the staff formally met up to discuss and put an end to his behavior.

Ashley, female, 32, White, single, Michigan
Friend
Ashley works as a building attendant for a private park in an affluent community. Being very new, Ashley works hourly and about 25-30 hours a week. Having completed high school and a few years of college, Ashley worked at a gas station and as a customer service representative for several years before losing her job around the time her girlfriend passed away from a brain aneurysm. As a single mother making very little money in a rough neighborhood of Detroit, Ashley had to make a professional shift soon after her partner's passing and now heavily relies on her former mother-in-law to watch her daughter, stating, "She basically lives with me and frankly, I have no idea what I would do without this woman. She does everything for me at home. It's awful though, because I think she feels bound because this is her daughter's child as well. She's a mother all over again."
Ashley disclosed that she is currently receiving some government assistance. When asked about division of labor in the workplace, Ashley said, "If anything, there's more racism than sexism in this place. I often find myself being treated well because of my being a white woman."

Juana, female, 55, Hispanic, Single, New Jersey
Mother
My mother seemed rather annoyed with my asking her to sit down and talk about work. When I asked her about her housework, she sneered and said, "The kitchen is my domain...I do everything in this house, Jose. When you were a baby, things were much harder. I had five kids to provide for so unfortunately I didn't see you all that much. I'm so thankful for my mother and your older sisters for caring for you guys [my brother and sister that are closer to my age]. When I first got here, my [nursing] degree meant nothing. I had to clean homes for rich women and with no car; I'd walk 5 miles a day. Sometimes in snow. Luckily your grandfather helped out around the house in case things fell apart."
Currently, Juana works around forty hours a week at an undisclosed rate. Before migrating to America, my mother served as a nurse during the Salvadoran Civil War. However, her degree became obsolete during the move and so she worked at different times as a housemaid, assembly line worker for Sears, medical technician and finally a licensed medical assistant and phlebotomist.
"I completed high school in El Salvador and received my degree from a prestigious university in San Salvador. I was horrified when it all meant nothing in America."
In terms of her current work place, Juana stated that she felt incredibly overworked. "The floor is run by women, most of whom are around my age or older so we need all the help we can get because upkeep is up to us as well as all the manual labor. A guy did just transferred to our floor though, but we'll see if he lasts. Sometimes I feel like the only thing we do is clean the bathroom!"
In terms of treatment at her job, Juana stated that generally male patients are extra polite, which she described as "sweet, but kind of annoying." She also said she was used to this behavior in the medical field.
"It [sexism] was much more obvious in El Salvador in the mid-80's."


My discussion with Tyra came to little surprise. Being friend to a variety of trans people, I'm aware that the cosmetic industry is generally very warm and accepting of them and can often be a professional safe haven for many. Having visited Tyra's job before, it came to little surprise that Tyra was paid so well and that the environment was incredibly embracing. Tyra seemed incredibly open to talk about the professional realm. Tyra's family is also very accepting which again, served as no surprise when I found Tyra essentially does the same kind of work as Tyra's brothers. Unfortunately, many transpeople are not given the wondrous luck of a great family and workplace. Out of 50 states, only in California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington is it illegal to fire someone for being transgender.
A red flag came up when Brendon told me about his  sexist manager. The females at Brendon's workplace felt harassed by this man so much so that they considered reporting him if things were not handled soon. In this specific case, 'the boys' were part of something resembling a fraternity while the girls were forced to be made into jokes at the manager's discretion while also being yelled at at the whims of his temper. Many people who work at this restaurant have been grandfathered into their positions and so division of work seems to sometimes be more so divided on levels of physical strength, rather than gender, according to Brendon.
Ashley's particular case is incredibly heartbreaking. The reason for her not finishing college was because her car broke down, and in Detroit, a car is essential. Jobs will not hire one without a car and without a job, one cannot pay for school. However, through connections, Ashley managed to get a job to support her daughter and mother-in-law. Certainly if there were certain spousal benefits for same-sex couples in Michigan at the time, Ashley's situation may have been a bit different after her partner's death. The lack of benefits in same-sex relationships have sexist roots being that homosexuals deviate, in the eyes of the law, from traditional views of marriage and gender norms.  She stated on a later date that one time, a man came into her office and began yelling a range of racial slurs because they allowed a few black youths to play in the recreational center and was responded with Ashley and a coworker's, "kindly get away, sir. We don't appreciate your behavior." Apparently, racism in this town is so outward that there are certain things in place like bus lines from inner-city Detroit not having stops in this town or a rule that police have in place that allows them to stop certain vehicles that appear more run-down and can allegedly indicate someone from Detroit driving.
My mother has seemingly always had the same issue with her job: men being either incredibly warm and treating her like a child or belittling her because of her slight accent and occasional loss for words. Surprisingly in this case, with the exception of one person, everyone on her floor is female. I think my mom really just wants anyone who is lively and strong enough to deal with the heavy lifting on her floor, not necessarily men. I was very surprised in some case and other times not by the results I received from these  interviews. It seems there is a big transition underway in terms of division of labor but they can be largely dictated on field of work and availability of able bodied people of varying genders. I think something that really hit me was the fact that a large portion of the negativity my friends and family faced were derived from social negativity backed up by the legal system of this country. I wonder how many of my mother's tired sighs can be counted back to an extra bit of work she had to do because of systematic inequality.