I worked at RMIT as a research assistant for 5 years, the link below is something I came across in my travels. My bosses at RMIT were all feminists; we were wearing our jaws on the floor reading this.
‘It is clear from these data on labour inputs that the three largest industries in the economy are not in the market sector but are in the everyday household activities of (1) preparing meals, (2) cleaning and laundry and (3) shopping. Each of these activities absorbs about 70 mhw of labour time; the three largest market industries require rather less labour: wholesale and retail trade 55 mhw, community services (health and education) 47 mhw and manufacturing 42 mhw.’
These are Australian government statistics as well. We spent a lot of time looking at the devaluation and invisibilisation of domestic work, even as it is the single biggest contributor to GDP the last time anyone checked. It’s almost as though the DARVO tactics of domestic abusers also governs the value (or not) of gendered forms of work. Maybe there’s something in that.
My two cents is, domestic care work is the biggest and most structurally critical industry in the economy. Domesticity should be unionised. Cooperative domestic unions could, if nothing else, be one way to develop support networks for women needing to escape domestic abusers. The Domestic Care Worker Underground Railroad maybe.