Paper short abstract:

Fieldwork over many years in Solomon Islands has taught me to value the dirty work of love--the emotionally challenging, physically demanding, sometimes deeply unpleasant labour undertaken by women to care for the bodies of others.

Paper long abstract:

My involvement in the lives of Solomon Islander women over two decades has taught me to value the dirty work of love. I was young when I first lived in Solomon Islands. Unlike all of the young unmarried women my age, I had never nursed anyone who was dying; I had never helped in the birth a child; I had never even been responsible for feeding a large family. I did not value the hard work of caring for the bodies of others—work that is emotionally challenging, physically demanding, sometimes deeply unpleasant, and almost invariably undertaken by women. I did not want to dedicate my life to looking after children, households, and aged relatives; I wanted meaningful work, which I saw as a career outside the home, not the unremarked and undervalued sort of work that structured the life of my own mother. In Solomon Islands, women and girls enjoy far less freedom, can pursue far fewer opportunities, and are subjected to far stricter control than Solomon Islands men or women in much of the 'global North.' At the same time, though, the feminised work of love continues to be valued, embraced, and celebrated.