03.02.2022 Josephin Hartmann 15897

"We need the care revolution"

A few weeks ago, your latest book "Die Erschöpfung der Frauen: Against female disposability". In it, you shed light on how diverse the social causes of women's stress are. Where does the exhaustion come from?

Franziska Schutzbach: An important aspect of this effort is the invisible work. In my book, I also call it relationship work, and women do this both in families and private contexts as well as at work among team colleagues. They feel responsible for relationships, for ensuring that everyone is doing well, that contacts with relatives are maintained and that their colleague gets a birthday cake. Women often don't even realize how many of these invisible tasks they take on and consequently don't notice that they need breaks. They automatically take care of the needs of others because they have learned to do so and it is part of their everyday life.

Historically, this has to do with the fact that in the course of bourgeois society, the role of women has been equated with that of the giver - masculinity, on the other hand, is associated with publicity and success at work. This is so ingrained that people feel that their right to exist as men depends on them fulfilling these roles well. In fact, women, for example, have to expect sanctions and massive hostility if they are not "good givers" or "good mothers", if they are "unsympathetic" or cool.

When do women realize that they are exhausted?

The symptoms are not always uniform. But one sign can be when private relationships suffer from exhaustion and there is no energy left. Constant tiredness ensures that even the smallest tasks drain all energy. In extreme cases, this can even lead to real burnout symptoms. Very often, women wait far too long and try to keep going. They push themselves beyond their physical and mental limits. This also has to do with the fact that the caring activities that women are often responsible for cannot simply be interrupted, left undone or put on strike. If we leave this kind of work undone, people suffer immediately. This makes it difficult to set boundaries and take breaks. People who take responsibility for care work are more susceptible to exhaustion.

To what extent does the capitalist system support women's exhaustion?

The image of the giver naturally benefits society. If it is claimed that women do this by nature, it can be inferred that they can do care work unpaid or poorly paid and out of love. The economy benefits from the fact that women are ascribed this role, that women often take on these attributions themselves and perform billions of hours of unpaid care work worldwide every day. We really need to understand that certain Christian role models have a lot to do with economic interests.

In your book, you don't talk about women, but about the exhaustion of different women. What do you differentiate between, and how differently are they affected in this system?

Yes, absolutely. There are not women who are exhausted. They are affected by exhaustion in very different ways. It depends very much on their social background, educational privileges and financial situation. In this context, I think it is important to shed light on the extent to which this exhaustion is inevitably passed on among women. In some cases, privileged women buy the care work of less privileged women. This conceals the problem that the economy classifies care work as unimportant and irrelevant.

This fundamental problem of capitalist society is ultimately passed on to the even weaker members of society, who are poorly paid for their work and are stuck in employment relationships that are not protected by labor law. These women in turn leave large gaps in their countries of origin, which then have to be filled by their mothers, grandmothers and aunts. It is therefore important to think globally about the issue of female exhaustion.  

To what extent do women suffer from poor self-confidence?

Women suffer from poor self-confidence. Of course, there are also men with poor self-confidence, but this tends to be the case - and there are reasons for this: Women are taken less seriously than men, they are trusted less and they are often devalued. They are also seen as having less expertise, for example. Studies also prove this. For example, it was shown that women's CVs were rated lower even though they had the same qualifications as men. Nevertheless, in this case they were considered to have less leadership skills.

Why do men have an empowering effect in groups and women tend to divide?

People who belong to marginalized or oppressed groups often criticize each other, devalue each other or fight each other. Always in the hope that they will then get a place in the sun with those in power. This is a fight for recognition. People who experience discrimination do not automatically show solidarity with each other, but often behave in favor of the power structures.

In addition, the evaluation of women is an inherent part of patriarchal culture. Women themselves have also strongly internalized this logic, so that they often look at themselves and their gender peers in a kind of particularly harsh self-objectification. This form of mutual evaluation is reflected particularly strikingly in Instagram culture.

How can women's relationships be strengthened?

Girls and women have such a strict view of themselves, but also of other women, because they are so used to it. Women have grown up always being judged particularly harshly. We can only change this by developing an awareness of it and breaking down misogynistic prejudices as women ourselves. I think this is very important work against sexist structures. It's not just about men having to change, but also about women reflecting on their own role as accomplices. This helps to develop solidarity and clear relationships with others, but above all with themselves, and to take a softer and less perfectionist view of being a woman.

In the private sphere, women still bear the main responsibility for housework, childcare and caring for relatives. With increasing employment, they are often at their limits. How much longer can this go on? Why don't men feel responsible?

There are numerous disadvantages to taking on care work. Doing unpaid work has a negative economic impact. This is precisely why women are more often affected by poverty in old age. Being responsible for other people also prevents people from making a career start, care work lacks prestige and is not compatible with neoliberal demands for permanent availability. Many men shirk because it is clear that they would really have to cut back if they took on the same amount of care work.

As already mentioned, the image of men has also grown historically. Cooking and wiping children's bottoms are not part of the male concept. Masculinity is connoted with professional and economic success, with strength, with politics, with publicity and with achievement. However, the image of men has already changed. Today, men actually do more housework than they did 50 years ago. But they mostly remain assistants. They don't go into the cockpit. That's where the women sit and have the main responsibility. They know where the ski clothes are in the cellar, remember the children's doctor's appointment and check the homework. That's why they are more affected by mental overload, because they are constantly taking on this management.

In your book, you argue that work should serve to meet people's needs. And not, conversely, that people's work should meet the needs of the financial sector. To achieve this, we need a paradigm shift: a care revolution. What does it take?

It is important for me to emphasize that the proposals in my book are not just mine. We have been talking about this unpaid care work and the fact that the economy exploits this care work and defines it as private and women's work for decades in feminist theory and in the movements.

We should finally place care work at the center of economic theories as an important part of society and the economy. Until now, it has always been invisible, its share of the economy has been completely negated. This must stop, instead it must be recognized: It is of great economic and social value to provide for people. Without this work, no economy can function; care work is the prerequisite for a functioning economy. It must therefore be upgraded. If we don't do this, it will lead to exploitation in the long term, and the market will undermine its own foundations. It is the same with our ecological resources. If we only ever exploit them and don't ensure that these resources can recover properly, the system will collapse at some point.

Therefore, when it comes to care work, we must ensure that everyone has enough time and resources to carry out these activities. Ultimately, this means reducing paid work. The entire orientation of our lives must no longer depend solely on gainful employment, i.e. work that generates short-term profits and wages. There is more to being human. And that is that we care for the sick, look after children and nurture relationships. If we care for each other more, are not exhausted, but have strength, this is a good basis for a healthy economy.

When was the last time you said "yes" when you were actually thinking "no"?

I feel like this actually happens to me all the time. I often tend to say 'yes' out of fear that I won't live up to certain expectations from other people. It's that pressure of having to please others. Having this feeling was a motivation for me to write the book. I've since learned to say "no" better, but the guilty conscience is still there.

​​​​​​​Dr. Franziska Schutzbachborn in 1978, holds a doctorate in gender studies and sociology, is a publicist, feminist activist and mother of two. In 2017, she initiated the #SchweizerAufschrei and has since become a well-known and sought-after feminist voice beyond Switzerland.

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