The Value of Work

Form groups that contain both men and women. Select a recorder to take notes in the blue book and present to the class. The first task is for each member of the group to calculate the cost of running his or her current household. That is, we are going to try to put a dollar amount on each kind of activity needed to run the household, such as cooking, cleaning, child-care and so forth. After each student has calculated the household economy for their household, each group should come up with a common household economy (by averaging, or by combining the most typical elements, etc.). Next, imagine that you were going to set up this household as a business; devise a strategy for minimizing the cost of running the household. Who would you hire for the various tasks?

After groups have completed the task, we'll discuss as a class the results.