week 8 – economics and work

Most of you will be very familiar with the first topic in Chapter 8′s introduction – housework. This is likely one of the biggest changes of the second wave – as feminist consciousness began to grow, the politics of the unpaid labor women were performing at home began to be questioned. Women wanted equality on every level – including housework. How has this affected the third wave? Many contemporary feminists still struggle with this issue. Is it OK that I prefer to stay home and take care of my family? [Yes.] How can I be a strong feminist and yet be in a relationship with a man where I am doing the lion’s share of housework?

Image courtesy Blondie5000

This conundrum also reaches outside the home for middle and upper class women who hire people to clean their homes. Barbara Ehrenreich also does a wonderful job examining these issues by going there. She worked for a maid service and describes her experiences and theorizes why this power differential exists and how it is perpetuated.

Women’s work outside the home has changed a lot from the second to the third wave. Laws have been passed to ensure equality, yet the fight remains for egalitarian pay, treatment and an end to sexual harassment. You have read in other contexts about the differences in the pay of men and women – we will explore that further in this chapter. The Fall 2006 Ms. magazine has an article (Katz & Androcini, p. 63) about women and pay raises:

A study of master’s-degree candidates at Carnegie Mellon University by economist Linda Babcock found that only 7 percent of first-job-seeking women negotiated their salary, as opposed to 57 percent of men. There was no small consequence to this failure to negotiate. In their book Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide (Princeton University Press, 2003), Babcock and co-author Sara Laschever found that candidates who negotiated increased their starting salaries by 7.4 percent (about $4,000), and that the starting salaries of males averaged 7.6 percent higher than the females’.

Babcock calculated that failing to negotiate for a first salary can lead to an overall loss of over $560,000 by age 60.

In other recent news, an update to the Wal-Mart article by Hawkes can be found online at walmartclass.com. Class action status was granted in 2004, appealed by Wal-Wart, but confirmed recently in 9th Circuit Court

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided on February 6, 2007 that several current and former Wal-Mart employees may represent all female employees who worked at Wal-Mart any time since December 26, 1998 in a nationwide sex discrimination lawsuit. Over 2 million women are estimated to be a part of this lawsuit.
~From http://walmartclass.com/walmartclass_casedevelopments.html

The claims against Wal-Mart include that while their hourly workers are largely female, the higher you go in administration, the fewer women you find. This is also true in most fields. The higher the prestige, higher the percentage of men. Think about education – early childhood care is not highly esteemed in our society – and it is almost exclusively women. Elementary school has a bit more status, though not much, and is still largely female (except in administration). As you go higher in education – junior high to high school to colleges and universities – the status of teachers increases, as does the percentage of male teachers.

A largely female dominated type of work is sex work. Third wave activists are much more aware of women’s rights in this line of work. While there are still disagreements among feminists about the stance that should be taken, the notion is no longer hidden. Prostitutes and call girls are rallying for more respect and safety. The Fall 2006 issue of Bitch magazine features an interview with the founders/editors of a new sex work magazine, $pread.

Image courtesy frecklescorp

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these issues.

Chapter 8 readings

Textbook readings:

• Chapter 8 introduction, 3rd ed.: p.429-450; 4th ed.: p.426-447
• Reading 59 “The Politics of Housework”, Mainardi, 3rd ed.: see online link below; 4th ed.: p.448-451
• Reading 63 “A Black Woman Took My Job”, Kimmel, 3rd ed.: p.465-468; 4th ed.: not available
• Reading 64/61 “Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women’s Work”, Ehrenreich, 3rd ed.: p.468-474; 4th ed.: p.464-470
• Reading 65 “Globalization and Its Discontents”, Hu-Dehart, 3rd ed.: p.474-480; 4th ed.: not available
• Reading 62 “Surviving Globalization: Immigrant Women Workers in Late Capitalist America”, Hu-Dehart, 3rd ed.: not available; 4th ed.: p.470-482
• Reading 66 “What Wal-Mart Women Want”, Hawkes, 3rd ed.: p.481-483; 4th ed.: not available
• Reading 67/63 “Power Plays: Six Ways the Male Corporate Elite Keeps Women Out”, Burk, 3rd ed.: p.483-486; 4th ed.: 483-485
• Reading 69/65 “Prostitution, Humanism, and a Woman’s Choice”, Klinger, 3rd ed.: p.498-501; 4th ed.: p.493-497

Supplemental readings:

• The Politics of Housework Mainardi. Redstockings. 1970 http://www.cwluherstory.org/classic-feminist-writings/the-politics-of-housework.html (Note: this article is in the 4th edition of the textbook, but not the 3rd edition.)
• Women’s workplace. Scarlett.  The Journal Gazette. June 10, 2009.  http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090610/FOOD/306109937
• An Outline of the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Controversy. George Mason University. http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/hillframe.htm
• Lilly Ledbetter. 2-minute bio. Pickert.  Time.  January 29, 2009.  http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1874954,00.html
• Welfare to What? Nanos. Mother Jones.  September 13, 2004.  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/09/welfare-what
• How America Criminalised Poverty.  Ehrenreich.  The Guardian.  August 10, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/10/america-poverty-criminalised
• Earnings of a Lifetime: Comparing Women and Men with College and Graduate Degrees. InContext.  Mar-Apr 2009. http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2009/mar-apr/article1.asp
• AUDIO Claire Shipman & Katty Kay: “Womenomics” [11:00 program]  The Diane Rehm Show.  June 4, 2009. http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/06/04.php   Listen via Real Audio or Windows Media
• A Volkswagen master.  Slater.  The Journal Gazette. September 5, 2007.  http://fortwayne.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/JG/20070905/BIZ/709050406
• Patterns of Gender Bias.  Gender Bias Learning Project.  http://www.genderbiaslearning.com/stereotypes.html
• Sex Workers Are Different — Similar – The World Over (photos).  June 23, 2009.  http://jezebel.com/5300330/sex-workers-are-different—similar-+-the-world-over/