In a world mostly driven by competition, the work we do is usually defined not so much by the effort we put in it, but rather the level of financial gain or status it results in. I'm not entirely sure whether it's our capitalistic ideals that give a specific kind of work its meaning, the specific kind being an office job or others that put the worker in a routine of tasks which results in him regularly receiving money in return. Maybe it's simply the obviousness of a nine to five job being seen as traditional labour, that makes us think that this is the only category we define as work. It's not the truth about this indeed being work that I'm confused about, but rather why we discredit other work that doesn't fit into this particular category. And is work always defined by its economic or social gain?
We've come a long way with acknowledging other types of job positions, whether that'd be freelance workers or even mothers, but it doesn't seem as if they're equally appreciated as workers in traditional job roles such as teachers, policemen and doctors. 'Working from home' is often easily misunderstood with 'not working at all'. Perhaps because freelancing and not being part of an office is seen as too unstable, insecure and not "proper". Neither do we fully acknowledge the hard, however unpaid work of full time parents, which is nothing less but a 24 hour job. What about those people trying to make it in the creative sector, who work, very often unpaid, only to set foot into the industry - editing, writing, composing, designing, all tasks that take up hours and days of their time and concentration? Is this still not considered work although there lies a potential future reward in their dedication to their tasks?
The list of alternative types of work could go on forever. I haven't even mentioned those who work in preparation for what is defined as their actual work, such as teachers preparing for a lesson or giving students support and advice outside of school. In some ways, we can be glad this list is so long, and that we've managed to develop in a way that we constantly create new, alternative job roles, grow in different sectors with different positions and responsibilities. However, the more nontraditional they get, or even worse, the less financial gain one receives from it, the less credit they are being given for their work. Take a very usual example, like a couple who had just become parents to their first child. When has there ever been a case where the parent staying at home with the child, perhaps even working part-time as soon as the child gets to a certain age, has been given more, let alone the same credit for the work and effort they put into their day, as their counterpart? Does this mean that work is synonymous to wage, rather than the actual task itself? By no means am I trying to discredit people who work traditional job roles. What I'm trying to understand, or at least have a discussion about, is whether it seems fair to show less respect to those who work in a nontraditional way, or unpaid, simply because they don't receive a regular, monthly pay slip?
The way our society has developed a set definition of the term ‘work’ is not necessarily a legal issue, but rather an attitude problem. Redefining the value and meaning of work is about not setting ourselves limits and boundaries to what kind of work we should or could do, and about having a discussion that could potentially make us look at the term ‘work’ in a more respectful way. Are we perhaps limited by our common view, choosing job roles that instead of fulfilling us, make us be prisoners of a routine that consists of sleep and work only? Should we keep the same priorities and principles when it comes to choosing what we want to fill our lives with? Do we want to have people who live to work, or rather have motivated people who work to live? Is it emotional, social, and personal fulfillment we’re looking for in a job, or should we keep prioritising the amounts of digits we see in our bank accounts? Perhaps in the future, we will live the Utopian dream of doing exactly what we are driven to do, without having to put our financial or social status in danger. Perhaps in the future, we won’t just work to pay some bills before we die, but rather work to live, before we do the latter anyway.
