Episode 173: A Nanny Speaks Up (re-release)
/“I really ask for what I want now. I prepare a questionnaire when I go for interviews...This is an irregular situation that you’re in. Somebody’s home becomes your workplace. It’s not like walking into an office. ”
“Professional women need somebody to look after the house, and that hasn’t gone away. But it is something that makes many people very uncomfortable.”
Jennifer Bernard
The pandemic has hit those with the most precarious jobs, worst. According to a survey by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, at the peak of Covid in New York City in May of 2020, 40 - 60 percent of domestic workers there were out of a job. That includes nannies, housekeepers, and home health aides.
This time we re-visit an episode I first produced several years ago where a nanny and a labor market expert are the stars.
Alison Wolf's book has a provocative sub-title: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World. First I talk to Alison, a professor at King's College London (and, since I first talked to her, a member of Britain’s House of Lords). Then we spend the rest of the show with Jennifer Bernard, a Trinidad-born, New York-based nanny. We hear about the unequal work environment that is the home, how she began to gain confidence on the job, and what makes her feel successful.
You can also read a transcript of the show.
The Broad Experience is currently featured on London-based Oriel Partners’ website. They’ve produced their own podcast for executive assistants, or PAs, in British parlance.
This month the show is being sponsored by the podcast Remote Works, which focuses on the worldwide shift to working remotely. Great stories here.