What is reproductive labor?

Answer 1

Reproductive labor refers to labor that pertains to the day-to-day (e.g., child rearing, housework, cleaning, cooking, etc.). Thus reproductive labor has been labeled within a feminine-gendered sphere and, as a result, reproductive labor has been rendered invisible in the sense that it is an underpaid profession that is often times not paid at all. Despite the fact that the housewife is contributing to the family, her work is not paid and is therefore invisible.

Radical feminists have tried to argue that all reproductive labor should be paid.

Globalization has shifted the burden of reproductive labor from the working middle class mother onto the immigrant nanny.