Almost all the artifacts that we value as a society were made by or at the order of men. But behind every one is an invisible infrastructure of labor—primarily caregiving, in its various aspects—that is mostly performed by women.
Debbie Chachra, “Why I Am Not a Maker,” The Atlantic, January 23, 2015.
This particular passage grabbed my attention, because it references something I’ve always been peripherally aware about, but have never properly paid attention to. Society historically has celebrated big inventions, advancing science, and the process of creating in general, yet all of the other crucial areas of labor are completely overlooked.
Something this article touched on that I’ve noticed in the past is the high amount of value that we place on the tech field and creating code. Given the high salaries these jobs offer, students are flocking to study computer science more than ever, further cementing the author’s point that society places on making. With the ability to create something that isn’t even physical right at our fingertips, humans are able to “make” things at an increasing rate, yet what’s created isn’t devalued. It’s no surprise that the tech industry is largely male, and that these are the jobs we view of valuable and in need of a high paying salary, while fields that have historically been predominantly female are valued less. Something I had not previously considered was that we emphasize women entering roles that have been predominantly male, yet not the opposite. If we continue valuing tech as heavily as we do without promoting the value of non-maker jobs, we will continue enforcing the idea that making is somehow more important than other roles within society that are just as necessary. This also made me consider the types of jobs I hope to pursue in the future, and what role they would fall under. While analysis is crucial to work in statistics, so is writing code, yet I don’t want to be grouped with CS-related jobs. But at the same time, if traditionally female roles don’t pay as well, pursuing such a job could be contributing to the cycle of only valuing “making”.
Under the large umbrella of Digital (Arts &) Humanities, I’m eager to pursue data visualization and maps. Given my interest in statistics, these areas fit right in line with this, so I’m excited to pursue these topics from a different angle than I previously have.
