week 11 – the state, law & social policy

Chapter 11 deals with what is often jokingly referred to as “The Man”. The ways our government is organized, its makeup, and the policies it creates and enforces have a huge effect on the day-to-day lives of women.

Image courtesy the Library of Congress’ American Memory Project

Women who have become part of “The System”, whether via welfare or jail/prison, are at a crossroads. Many times they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Women on welfare are encouraged to get jobs, but if they get a small pay increase, it may actually bump them into the next pay bracket and their benefits go down significantly. There are some encouraging examples in this chapter of women working against the negativity, notably the activists in Robin Templeton’s article on prison, and the women in Cockburn’s piece who formed a Gender Coordinating Group.

The bootstrap myth is a notion firmly entrenched in the minds of many Americans: that those who need assistance, or who desire affordable health care, housing, equal rights to a job, are looking for hand outs. Two of this week’s articles address what it is really like to receive financial assistance. Some of you may have your own experiences to share.

Unfortunately, too many people do not see voting as relevant to their lives. As Jason DeParle relates in his Mother Jones interview, “[T]he poorest people are disenfranchised from the [political] process. Technically they can go to the polls and vote, but women I followed rarely — if ever — did; they felt [politics] to be unrelated to their own concerns.”

This chapter usually falls near elections in the fall semesters. During last year’s presidential primary races, ground was broken with the possibility of either a female or African American US president. Many feminists wondered if they should back Hilary Clinton just because she’s a woman.

Chapter 11 readings

Textbook readings:

• Chapter 11 introduction, 3rd ed.: p.615-636; 4th ed.: p.611-632
• Reading 88/85 “Constitutional Argument”, Anthony, 3rd ed.: p.637-638; 4th ed.: p.633-634
• Reading 90 “Flat Broke with Children”, Hays, 3rd ed.: p.641-647; 4th ed.: not available
• Reading 86 “Law in the Everyday Life of Women”, MacKinnon, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.634-641
• Reading 91/88 “She Who Believes in Freedom: Young Women Defy the Prison Industrial Complex”, Templeton, 3rd ed.: p.649-655; 4th ed.: p.650-656
• Reading 87 “What This Nation Really Thinks of Motherhood: Welfare Reform”, Bravo, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.641-649
• Reading 89 “The Talibanization of Iraq”, Fang, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.656-658
• Reading 90 “Demilitarizing Society in a Globalized World”, Enloe, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.659-6667
• Reading 92 “Gender, Folklore, and Changing Military Culture”, Burke, 3rd ed.: p.655-660
• Reading 93 “The Postwar Moment: Lessons from Bosnia Herzegovina”, Cockburn, 3rd ed.: p.661-664

Supplemental readings:

• You be the Jury: Does This Woman Deserve To Be Locked Up for 24 Years? David France, GLAMOUR, June 1999. http://www.hr95.org/glamour.htm
• What Makes a Presidency Feminist-Friendly? Latoya Peterson, September 14, 2009.
• Hillary Clinton Has a Vagina and So Do I Barnett, The Stranger, October 30, 2007 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=428389
• The Afghan women jailed for ‘bad character’ Lyse Doucet, BBC, June 29, 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8771605.stm
• Sarah Palin: When Choosing A Woman Might Not Be Choosing For Women Jezebel.com August 29, 2008 http://jezebel.com/5043669/sarah-palin-when-choosing-a-woman-might-not-be-choosing-for-women
• Goodbye To All That (#2) Robin Morgan, Women’s Media Center, February 2, 2008. http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
• The Welfare Monologues Maureen Lane, DMI Blog, May 24, 2007 http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2007/05/the_welfare_monologues.html