Summary Of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel-and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, she investigates whether welfare reform programs are appropriate in aiding women in poverty and that these institutions will affect their economic and social mobility in the future.
Ehrenreich initiated her research in June 1998, in the form of participant observation. Her experiment was design allowed her to personally experience the hardships of a worker with minimal skills living on minimum wage. Barbara’s poses as a divorced homemaker with experience primarily consisting of housekeeping for private households; ultimately, she is categorized as a mother on welfare. Women in this faction have a monthly income of approximately 50,000. Ehrenreich’s next objective was to look set up her new life - find her basic needs for survival.
The reporter in disguise first sought a place to call her home. With her experience as a housekeeper, she could possibly earn a
Another flaw was that she had no children to pose as part of her family, as she was curious about families living off minimum wage. On her first official day of playing a divorced homemaker, Barbara searched for an occupation in the newspaper advertisements. She manages to land a job at a family restaurant, Hearthside, as a waitress. The restaurant is linked with a well-renowned hotel chain. Phillip is the manager of the establishment and allows Barbara to begin the next day. She is to work for two weeks from 2:00 to 10:00 P.M. for $2.43 an hour (including tips). Gail, a middle-aged waitress, is assigned to train Barbara on her duties, while adding in personal tidbits of her life. Aside from learning where to fill the lemonade, Gail would mention how her boyfriend died in prison. Although Barbara began with a rough start, she finds she’s putting all her genuine effort in maintaining her work