Blog Post due Tuesday 11:59PM or in class on Wednesday at 9:05AM

Homework due Tuesday Nov 30 11:59PM:

Read Barbara Ehrenreich's “Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women's Work” 479-495 and compose a blog response based on ONE of the following prompts:

1. Consider what audience this piece was written for. What assumptions does Ehrenreich make about this audience?

2. Consider Ehrenreich's ethos. What is the central argument of this piece? In what ways does her personal experience build her case?

3. Ehrenreich incorporates a range of research and statistics into her essay. Which statistical examples surprised you? Which are most persuasive? Least persuasive? Why?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Q #1 Audience

Within the biographic information, readers learn of Ehrenreich's intent for her audience: "This is a portrait of 'other women's' labor." Women professionals will read this and have a reaction similar to, "What does she mean, the 'other women'? What woman does that make me?" Ehrenreich has decided to shine the spotlight on the women who have not had the same distinction as the women with a job that is more recognized as credible. Ehrenreich speaks for the maids primarily within the reading, but Ehrenreich has experience as going undercover as a "waitress, hotel maid, Wal-Mart employee, nursing home aide". These jobs usually are scoffed at or analyzed critically by others, from the "male exploiters" to other women. Ehrenreich addresses "Maid to Order" to the women who may think they are above the "other women".
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2 comments:

  1. Emily NorthupDecember 1, 2010 at 5:22 PM

    Valerie,

    I would have to agree with you about Ehrenreich directing this piece towards women of higher social status than those who may work at Wal-Mart, or as a waitress. Even though I probably should have realized it earlier, reading your response really drilled it away that the title points it out sharply that some women see fellow women as "the others". She uses different job statuses to portray her opinions while she herself was working as a Maid.

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  2. SamanthaDecember 2, 2010 at 2:01 PM

    I would also agree with you that Ehrenreich is directing this piece towards women of higher social standing than the women who work at the lower income jobs. In the last sentence of the very last paragraph Enrenreich states "The feminists of my generation tried to bring some of it into light of day, but, like busy professional women fleeing the house in the morning, they left the project unfinished, the debate broken off in midsentence, noble intentions unfulfilled." This shows that the professional women do not really think twice about the women who are working paycheck to paycheck on their hand and kness to just get them and maybe their families by, they are just in their own little bubble.

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