Questions for Kessler-Harris

1) How do you think matriarchies affect the dynamics of the family and of the community? If the social roles that you mention are reversed and men were to become the primary caretakers of the family and the household, (while women assumed political and economic authority), would they feel as exploited by an unbalanced distribution of domestic labor as women generally do? And with women occupying the seats of power as legislators and employers, would you predict that there would be the same degree of labor segmentation? In other words, is this stratification a product of a purely male or purely female social dominance, or can it be attributed to human nature in general? Do you think it is a natural instinct for the stronger gender (whichever that may be at any particular point in time)to allocate the most unfavorable conditions and most undesirable jobs to the weaker gender? Or are there certain qualities in males and females that make one gender more prone than the other to enforce the division of labor when it is in control?

2) You mention the protective legislation that reduced “the economic desirability of female employees” (Kessler-Harris, 111) by placing restrictions on the conditions within which women were allowed to work. Although you state that it first appeared in the US at the start of 1900s, do you feel as if there are forms of protective legislation (not necessarily for factory workers but for more white-collar jobs) that are a hindrance for either male or female laborers today?

3) Which do you think is currently the most significant and prominent factor in the segmentation of labor - gender, class, or race?