Intersecting inequalities of gender and care under COVID-19

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THE INTERSECTIONAL APPROACH
An intersectional approach is designed to understand the common ground of the many aspects of humans’ social and political interactions. It is used to analyze how the relationship between people work by incorporating the various forms of discrimination and privilege (Shields 2008:301-302). This paper aims to critically analyze the intersectionality between gender and factors such as class, race, indigeneity, immigrant status, disability, and work age. Moreover, the author shall associate the intersectionality of these concepts with the crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gender and Class
The beginning of industrialization divided families based on social standing, and the responsibilities became delegated based on gendered spheres. The majority of employers belong to the upper-class, while most of the employees belong to the lower-middle-class. Because the industrialization period created a hostile environment, most employees sought comfort in domestic labor where servant-keeping became a highlight. During this period, “domestic help” was abruptly femininized because housework is marked as a woman’s sphere. Hence, the majority of the domestic helpers, if not all, are female (Arat-Koc 2014: 431).
The importance of social classes was also emphasized during the industrialization period. The master-servant relationship became widely separated, where the servant became at the lowermost portion of the society’s ladder. Two factors have contributed to this phenomenon. First, the increase in privatization of the family, where the servants are branded as strangers, and second, reduced the bourgeois mistresses against the domestic workers, thereby removing their responsibility to manual work (Arat-Koc 2014: 431).
Gender, Race, and Indigeneity
The relationship between gender and indigeneity is almost exclusive to women. In Canada, indigenous women are often subjected to domestic labor; most of them are displaced to serve in the fur trade during the 18th to 19th centuries. This practice continued in the Canadian North in the 20th century. Moreover, indigenous women served as the bridge between the native tongue and the investors because they serve as interpreters. Additionally, indigenous women provided vital food in Canada’s food industry, such as pemmican, rice, maple sugar, fish, small game, and berries. They also created clothing, snowshoes, and moccasins. Therefore, the service of indigenous women in the industry was extremely significant. Without the indigenous women’s help, these industries would have failed (McCallum 2014: 22).
Gender and Immigrant Status
A reduction in the demand due to the domestic workers’ oversupply has been observed in Canada at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is especially true for live-in jobs. Due to this, the Department of Immigration has promulgated a new regulation after the war to bring the domestic workers to Canada to maintain their domestic helpers’ status. The act aided in importing domestic workers from the Caribbean region to Canada in 1955. The following are the criteria to be hired for the new r...