In your lead story [see October, pp. 6–8], the interviewee says, "Many women [in Indonesia] carry heavy loads of firewood or vegetables to the market in slings on their backs. That's the traditional way. Other women must work cutting stones at the riverside. They crush the stones with a hammer, and the stones are then used to build roads and other construction projects. It's very hard labor for very low pay. ... there are still women who must do this kind of work."
So what is this kind of work to men? Are they sitting home taking care of the family, cleaning and cooking as do some of the Australian aboriginal tribes? Would this be worse than our frequent United States arrangement of having men go out and do the difficult work and women sit home and clean and take care of the children? Or are Indonesian men likely doing equally low wages? So the real question is probably bad pay for hard work and its converse, outlandishly high pay for relatively easy work or for some sinecure—something we still need to correct in many parts of the planet, including the United States.
Shelter Island
New York
