Domestic sphere and public sphere

Domestic sphere and public sphere

Paolo Groppo, Laura Cima, Marco D’Errico 

Carole Pateman summed up the issue thus: “The dichotomy between the private and the public is central to nearly two centuries of feminist writing and political struggle; it is, ultimately, what the feminist movement is about.”[1] In the 1970s, starting with the Lotta Femminista group in Padua, important lines of research on this topic emerged. The first elaboration, by Mariarosa Dalla Costa, integrated by Selma James and Silvia Federici, introduced the notions of domestic work and social reproduction[2], questioning the Marxist position according to which domestic work was not “productive”. From there emerged the campaign for the house wage which remains relevant to the present day.[3] Another line of thought was developed by Antonella Picchio who, starting from the same foundation—namely, the importance of unpaid care work performed by the majority of women—and sharing the same criticisms raised by Dalla Costa against the left (from which they came) that "has never understood the social importance of unpaid work and has turned its gaze away from everything that is not paid work," placed at the center of her reflections a vision of the economic system capable of containing both the process of capitalist production and the process of social reproduction of the population. 

At the World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, Picchio proposed including domestic work in the national GDP, thus highlighting its importance. From her perspective, which is extremely relevant today, the reconciliation of living conditions and paid work is not a women's issue, but rather a problem for the production system as a whole.[4] For this reason, equal opportunity policies, to be effective, must involve a change in the fundamental rules and relationships that structure the labor market in general, with respect to time, space, wage adequacy, stress, and security.[5]

Building on previous work,[6] together with a mixed group of people from various backgrounds, we have promoted a reflection that aligns with Picchio's proposals: namely, a change in male-female relationships within the domestic sphere, to ensure that the latter shoulder their share of tasks, thus freeing up women's time. A reflection, therefore, not focused on the value of unpaid labor in the reproduction of the capitalist system, but on the question of time, which must be distributed differently and more equitably.

On this basis, considering a whole series of tasks necessary to sustain a couple/family, we have developed a proposal for a Domestic Equality Index (DEI). This index is initially designed for a limited audience: groups, associations, and/or movements that express public positions in favor of gender equality. The DEI will highlight the coherence between discourse, words, and concrete actions undertaken within them, to stimulate a process of change toward true equality. However, to achieve its real and shared value, it is essential that the partners we work with are involved and take a leading role in its construction and subsequent monitoring, so that the IPAD becomes "their thing" and demonstrates how its value improves over time. In fact, the DEI will serve, initially (T°), to highlight the real balance of power within couples/families and, consequently, what and how much effort is needed to align public discourse with concrete internal practices. The purpose of the initial dialogue and negotiation will be to increase explicit awareness of how many activities are necessary to keep a couple/family together, so that the personal will of the less involved partners increases. 

The conceptual framework we propose is organized around three perimeters:

A narrow one: which contains the "core" activities of housework.

An intermediate one: to the first list are added those that we are more likely to do purely for pleasure and therefore last longer than strictly necessary.

An extended one: to the first two are added travel times, car trips, and, for example, walking the dog.

To this basic framework, we add mental load, as described in the work of Ana Catalano Weeks.[7] For each perimeter, initial dimensions (thematic areas) will be proposed, followed by specific variables (example: dimension: Housework; Variables: Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, etc.).

Regarding the weighting of the various activities, we have chosen to give them all the same weight, without distinguishing between more or less expensive, more or less tiring, or more or less time-consuming activities. Starting from an indicative list that will be completed through initial negotiation between the parties, we obtain a total of X activities, which are assigned a value of -1 if they are performed only by partner A; -0.5 if they are performed primarily by partner A; 0 if they are performed equally by both partners A and B; +0.5 if they are performed primarily by partner B; and +1 if they are performed solely by partner B. For the interviews, we will use a statistically representative sample of the study population.

The average of the set of values found will allow us to establish a starting value at time T°. Using the average is standard practice in statistical inference. In the case of the IPAD, since it requires subjective interpretations of each individual's time use, using the average meets two needs: to purify the data from the cognitive bias that each of us would put into our responses; and to provide a sense of how aligned and aware the couples we are addressing are. The IPAD will then be measured multiple times over time, because the most interesting part is seeing how the balance changes. Therefore, the initial values at T° take on their full meaning in periodic monitoring (how has the value changed at T1 and T2 thanks to the specific actions implemented by the leaders of the association, movement, and/or party?) rather than in spatial analysis (comparability within the same year across various institutions), which is not the core of the problem we wish to address.

In a society that has given a key role to indexes, we believe that supporting grassroots lobbying, involving both men and women, for a genuine sharing of time within the domestic sphere, so that men can assume their share of responsibility and free up women's time for any other use, is an interesting proposal worth discussing. 

[1] Pateman, C. 1983. Feminist Critiques of the Public/Private Dichotomy, in S.I. Benn - G.F. Gauss

(edd), Public and Private in Social Life, Kent 1983

[2] Daniela A.; Stagno, Ch. 2021. Lo chiamano amore, noi lo chiamiamo lavoro non pagato In: Contratto o rivoluzione! L’Autunno caldo tra operaismo e storiografia[online]. Torino: Accademia University Press

[3] Rosa, K. S. 2022. The Wages for Housework Campaign is As Relevant As Ever. Novara media 

[4] Picchio, A. 2003. Political economy and a life research. Salute Mentale Donna - http://www.salutementaledonna.it/09_2003_reversibita_HTM_file/Picchio_ita.pdf (accesso 17 gennaio 2024)

[5] Picchio, Ibid.

[6] Groppo, P., Cangelosi, E., Siliprandi, E. Groppo, Ch., (prefazione di Laura Cima), 2023. Quando Eva bussa alla porta – Donne, terre e diritti. Ombre Corte, Verona

[7] Weeks, A. C., 2022. The Political Consequences of the Mental Load