Trickle Down Feminism

[das_nut]

If you read what is popularly known as the feminist press, you’ll notice a focus on the “glass ceiling” that excludes much else. Feminist writers are found celebrating the achievements of Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandburg, cheering Christine Lagarde’s position at the International Monetary Fund, wringing their hands over Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s refusal to call herself a feminist, or asking, as Anne-Marie Slaughter did in the pages of the Atlantic, whether (white, well-off, educated) women can “have it all.”

While we debate the travails of some of the world’s most privileged women, most women are up against the wall. According to the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, women make up just under half of the national workforce, but about 60 percent of the minimum-wage workforce and 73 percent of tipped workers. In the New York area, a full 95 percent of domestic workers are female. Female-dominated sectors such as retail sales, food service, and home health care are some of the fastest-growing fields in the new economy, and even in those fields, women earn less; women in the restaurant industry earn 83 cents to a man’s dollar.

This is where most women spend their time, not atop the Googleplex. This is where feminists should be spending their time, too.

- Dissent Magazine

 

[Mischief]

I don't think you can really separate one from the other, since both the glass ceiling and the wall derive from the same attitudes. Both are part of the same structure, to continue the metaphor.

 

[das_nut]

I don't think you can really separate one from the other, since both the glass ceiling and the wall derive from the same attitudes. Both are part of the same structure, to continue the metaphor.

So you kind of agree with the metaphor that focusing on more privileged women will trickle down to the less privileged women?

 

[Mischief]

I think that any time a woman is respected for the work she does, no matter where in the chain of command she does that work, it benefits all women to some degree. IOW, it trickles down, up, and sideways

 

[das_nut]

I think that any time a woman is respected for the work she does, no matter where in the chain of command she does that work, it benefits all women to some degree. IOW, it trickles down, up, and sideways

Reagan would be proud.

But snark aside, I could see this. First wave's women suffrage did benefit all women. However, as someone with wobbly tendencies (I like those folks), I do think that empowering low-wage workers directly is far more helpful to them then talking about glass ceilings.

 

[Mischief]

Reagan would be proud.

But snark aside, I could see this. First wave's women suffrage did benefit all women. However, as someone with wobbly tendencies (I like those folks), I do think that empowering low-wage workers directly is far more helpful to them then talking about glass ceilings.

Well, the difference between my viewpoint and Reagan's is that respect is not a limited resource, while monetary wealth is, at any given time and within any given group.

I don't think it should be all about glass ceilings or all about empowering low wage workers directly. Both issues need to be addressed. Low wage workers are in greater need, but as long as glass ceilings exist, those low wage workers will be part of a group whose work is valued less, not because of lack of skills, education or social class, but because of the bodies into which they were born. It's a double whammy against them.

 

[das_nut]

Well, the difference between my viewpoint and Reagan's is that respect is not a limited resource, while monetary wealth is, at any given time and within any given group.

Except that fiat currency is not a limited resource. Not only can it be created or destroyed, but its availability can be changed through how fast money travels through the economy. Trickle down economics basically states that by increasing the wealth at the top, it trickles down to the bottom. I disagree with it, but not because monetary wealth is limited.

I don't think it should be all about glass ceilings or all about empowering low wage workers directly. Both issues need to be addressed. Low wage workers are in greater need, but as long as glass ceilings exist, those low wage workers will be part of a group whose work is valued less, not because of lack of skills, education or social class, but because of the bodies into which they were born. It's a double whammy against them.

But it appears that a lot of the emphasis is at the top, and the vocal support of those at the bottoms, and institutions that can help them, is very lacking.