Is this a feminist issue?

[mummabearfoyrbabybears]

So I sew my own clothes and am in a few FB groups about it. A lady has posted about a real 'feminist issue' and I'm wondering if it really is?
Ladies post:
"I sew a lot of my own clothes and my next door neighbour has come round to ask if I can hem his trousers for him. Because I'm a home sewer"

"This is a feminist issue because most Home sewers are women"

Men expecting free domestic/emotional/work labour from women is a feminist issue, but I'm not sure this is the example I'd pick out to demonstrate that, since he's her neighbour and some people have neighbourly relationships where a few favours now and then is quite normal.

Is he expecting it unpaid?
Is he just seeing it as her role to fix it for him?

It depends on whether he's expecting an unpaid service with no need for him to reciprocate.

It might also depend on the ages of the neighbours involved. DH and I take bins out, put them back, clear gutters etc. for a few people - by and large they're a lot older. We do do some food-related things as well. None of them reciprocates - I'm not sure what they could do tho' I'd be pleased with a few cuttings of particular plants.

Context might determine whether it's a feminist issue in the OP.

Depends if he expects it to be done for nothing or not and as others say the context of the neighbours' relationship.

Depends on context. I used to do neighbour’s mending as he was widowed in his 80s and tbh it was also just lovely seeing him for a chat and a brew. But he used to help out with the garden, bring round the odd bottle of wine or bits of his (very good) home baking, so it felt reciprocal and normal and not especially gendered.

The type of task may be a gendered issue, but the request as such might not beven. For instance, if he was a car mechanic, and you hadn't a clue, you might ask him to change your spark plugs or something (as you may guess I really don't have a clue) and he might be happy to. So expecting to give and receive free labour from a neighbour might be part of a reciprocity ideal of his which is fine by me.

I'm not sure his asking is the feminist issue or the fact she is a home sewer is the feminist issue.

Yes most home sewers are female because it's an area of life women are encouraged into and men discouraged.

I sew from home too. I had a female manager who asked me to sew the crotch of her trousers that she had split! I did it as she was already my boss. Would I have felt that was sexist if a male had asked me?

It's convenient to know someone who is a home sewer and to ask for freebies, which I can only assume the neighbour is doing, because you can just bring them into a dry cleaners who does repairs for about £5 or so.

But the asking itself is not sexist. Society as a traditional thing looks at sewing=woman.

If your neighbour put fences up for a living and you needed your fence repaired, it would be reasonable to ask them right?
Of course it is.

The question is about whether they should be..
-Paid the going rate
-Paid as 'mates rates'
-Not paid but you owe them a favour, ie a reciprocal arrangement
-Not paid as the job was done as a friendly thing to do, regardless of the work.

As a lot of work done by women is often low paid or unpaid then it's down to the individual to assert the value of their skills to others. This where it becomes a feminist issue, but it is also about the value of different types of work. Hourly rates for solicitors for example, we all need their knowledge and skills at some point. Same for roofers, plumbers, carers and delivery drivers etc.
If we need to get the work done then hopefully somebody will offer, at a price.

I would think hairdressers have this problem where family and friends just assume they can get their hair cut cheaply and conveniently without paying the going rate. Same for ironing, gardening, childcare Etc.
It just gets annoying when someone says 'can you fix this for me' when it is clear they just want it done for nothing.

It is nice to have useful skills and a reciprocal arrangement in the form of informal favours to help people out Is a nice thing to do. We just need to recognise the value of all skills we have and to be assertive.

And I just cross posted with everyone here!

They both look to be early 60s. He did not offer payment but they seemed like there had been friendly exchanges in the past. Been neighbours for a long time. I think this was just overstepping her boundary. I'm on the fence. I don't think asking a favour of a friend who has a particular skill set is a feminist issue though. I'm female, my friend is male and an electrician. I've asked him before to change a light fitting. He has without bother. My husband is a carpenter by original trade. He was asked to fix a table by another male friend without issue. Do we see feminist issues were there is none? If so is that detrimental to the cause?

The way I see it, if someone thinks something is a feminist issue and you think its just, well, an issue, then so long as they set about fixing it in a respectful and helpful way, there's not too much of a problem? Every individual feminist, whether academic/activist/ordinary feminist inclined person will have different areas of "feminism" that they specialise in and focus on, because people only have headspace for so much stuff. And those areas can be really diverse based on people's interests and lived experiences, so I don't think you can really define the boundaries of feminism itself or what a feminist issue is.