The work that makes all other work possible | Ai-jen Poo

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2018

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Domestic workers are entrusted with the most precious aspects of people's lives -- they're the nannies, the elder-care workers and the house cleaners who do the work that makes all other work possible. Too often, they're invisible, taken for granted or dismissed as "help," yet they continue to do their wholehearted best for the families and homes in their charge. In this sensational talk, activist Ai-Jen Poo shares her efforts to secure equal rights and fair wages for domestic workers and explains how we can all be inspired by them. "Think like a domestic worker who shows up and cares no matter what," she says.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features activist Aijen Poo, recorded live at TED Women 2018.
0:08.3	I want to talk to you tonight about the work that makes all other work possible.
0:14.9	About the millions of women who go to work in our homes every single day,
0:21.8	caring for children as nannies,
0:25.6	caring for our loved ones with disabilities and our elders as home care workers,
0:31.5	maintaining sanity in our homes as cleaners.
0:35.4	It's the work that makes all other work possible.
0:39.4	And it's mostly done by women,
0:41.4	more than 90 percent women,
0:42.9	disproportionately women of color.
0:45.6	And the work itself is associated with work that women have historically done,
0:50.7	work that's been made incredibly invisible
0:53.8	and taken for granted in our culture. But it's not a lot of it. and historically done, work that's been made incredibly invisible
0:54.6	and taken for granted in our culture.
0:58.1	But it's so fundamental to everything else in our world.
1:02.8	It makes it possible for all of us to go out and do what we do in the world
1:07.6	every single day,
1:09.0	knowing that the most precious aspects of our lives are in good hands.
1:15.1	But we don't think about it that way.
1:17.9	It's almost defined by its invisibility.
1:22.4	You could go into any neighborhood and not know which homes are also workplaces.
1:27.3	There's no sign, there's no list or registry.
	...

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