It’s Labor Day! Who gets the day off?

Labor Day was signed into law on June 18, 1894 by President Grover Cleveland. It followed many years of struggle by workers to get fair wages and more tolerable working hours, and it was meant to pay tribute to all those workers. Did you ever get breaks at work, eight-hour work days, paid vacation?  If so, you can thank the labor movement and those years of struggle. It’s one of many holidays that now falls on a Monday, giving most of us the chance to have a three-day weekend.  This one symbolizes the end of summer and the beginning of a busy Fall.

But who gets Labor Day off these days? Certainly not restaurant workers or hotel service employees. Meals still need to be served and rooms cleaned, and the burden often falls on women. If you go out to eat today, check out who is waiting on you. Maybe give them an extra tip! If you are staying in a hotel, it’s likely the women who clean your room are working today too, and many people do not routinely leave tips for them.  And don’t forget doctors on call, police and fire workers, and everyone who has to be ready to help in case of an emergency. They all work on Labor Day.

For many women, even if they are not being paid to work, Labor Day still means “work.”  I feel nostalgic when I think of the many Labor Day Barbecues for our family that started for me early in the weekend before, shopping and planning for the celebration and ended up in the kitchen as the evening ended, cleaning up and putting away the food.  If you think about it, who cut up the raw veggies for the dips, made the hamburger patties or marinated the chicken, baked the cakes or pies we all enjoyed. Probably moms or sisters or just the friendly female friend who invited us all over to eat.  Sure, men barbecue, and some men (including the men in my family) are very good at helping and cleaning up afterwards, so it’s not just a “woman thing.” But at the end of the day, when everyone has gone home, who is still in the kitchen washing the dishes?  I will bet you it’s us.

So on this Labor Day, I propose that we celebrate the women who are not able to take the day off – all the women I mentioned above and more. And if the men in your life are sharing these chores equally, let’s celebrate them too! No need to be chauvinistic about it!