The False Escapism of Soft Girls and Trad Wives’Links to an external site. by Vanessa Scaringi? ch9 attached ? ‘Gender and Work in the U.S.’Links t

9

Women at Worl(

More than half of all women in the United States are in the

workforce. When contemporary feminist movement first began the

workforce was already more than one-third female. Coming from a

working-class, African-American background where most women I

knew were in the workforce, I was among the harshest cri tics of the

vision of feminism put forth by reformist thinkers when the move­

ment began, which suggested that work would iiberate women from

male domination. More than 10 years ago I wrote in Feminist Theory:

From Margin to Center. "The emphasis on work as the key to women's

liberation led many white feminist activists to suggest women who

worked were 'already liberated.' They were in effect saying to the

majority of working women, 'Feminist movement is not for you.' "

Most importantly I knew firsthand that working for low wages did

not liberate poor and working-class women from male domination.

When reformist feminist th!nkers from privileged class back­

grounds whose primary agenda was achieving social equality with

men of their class equated work with liberation they meant

high-paying careers. Their vision of work had little relevanee for

masses of women. Importantly the aspect of feminist emphasis on

work which did affect all women was the demand for equal pay for

equal work. Women gained more rights in relation to salaries and

48 DOI: 10.4324/9781315743189-9

2 0 1 4 . R o u t l e d g e .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

EBSCO Publishing: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) printed on 5/19/2025 8:32:47 PM UTC via CERRITOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE 864857; bell hooks; Feminism Is for Everybody : Passionate Politics Account:ehost.

49 WOMEN AT WORK

positions as a re sult of feminist protest but it has not completely

eliminated gender discrimination. In many college classrooms today

students both femhle and male will argue that feminist movement is

no langer relevant since wamen now have equality. They do not

even know that on the ave rage most women still do not get equal

pay for equal work, th at we are more likely to make seventy-three

cents for every dollar a male makes.

We know now that work does not liberate women from male

domination. Indeed, there are many high-paid professional women,

many rich women, who remain in relationships with men where

male domination is the norm. Positively we do know that if a

woman has access to economic self-sufficiency she is more likely to

leave a relationship where male domination is the norm when she

chooses liberation. She leaves because she can. Lots of women en­

gage feminist thinking, choose liberation, but are economically tied

to patriarchal males in ways that make leaving difficult if not down­

right impossible. Most women know now what some of us knew

when the movement began, that work would not necessarily liberate

us, but thatthis fact does not change the reality that economie

self-sufficiency is needed ifwomen are to be liberated. When we talk

about economie self-sufficiency as liberating rather than work, we

th en have to take the next step and talk about what type ofwork lib­

erates. Cleàdy better-paying jobs with comfortable time schedules

tend to offer the greatest degree of freedom to the worker.

Masses of women feel angry because they were encouraged by

feminist thinking to believe they would find liberation in the work­

force. Mostly they have found that they work long hours at home

and long hours at the job. Even before feminist movement encour­

aged women to feel positive about working outside the home, the

needs of a depressed economy were already sanctioning this shift. If

contemporary feminist movement had never taken place masses of

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50 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

women would still have entered the workforce, but it is unlikely that

we would have the rights we have, had feminists not challenged gen­

der discrimination. Women are wrong to "blarne" feminism for

making it so they have to work, which is what many women think.

The truth remains th at consumer capitalism was the force leading

more wo men into the workforce. Given the depressed economy

white middle-class families would be unable to sustain their class

status and their lifestyles if women who had once dreamed solely of

working as housewives had not chosen to work outside the home.

Feminist scholarship has documented that the positive bene fits

masses ofwomen have gained by entering the workforce have more

to do with increased self-esteem and positive participation in com­

munity. No matter her class the woman who stayed at home work­

ing as a housewife was often isolated, lonely, and depressed. While

most workers do not feel secure at work, whether they are male or

female, they do feel part of something larger than themselves. While

problems at home cause greater stress and are difficult to solve,

those in the workplace are shared by everyone, and the attempt to

find solutions is not an isolated one. When men did most of the

work women worked to make home a site ofcomfort and relaxation

for males. Home was relaxing to women ànly when men and chil­

dren were not present. When women in the home spend all their

time attending to the needs of others, home is a workplace for her,

not a site of relaxation, comfort, and pleasure. Work outside the

home has been most liberating for wo men who are single (many of

whom live alone; they mayor may not be heterosexual). Most

wo men have not even been able to find satisfying work, and their

participation in the workforce has diminished the quality of their life

at home.

Groups of highly educated privileged women previously unem­

ployed or marginally employed were able through feminist changes

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51 WaMEN AT WORK

in job discrimination to have greater access to work that satisfies,

that serves as a base for economic self-sufficiency. Their success has

not altered the fate of masses ofwomen. Years ago in Feminist Theory:

From Margin to Center I stated:

If improving conditions in the workplace for women had been a

centra! agenda for feminist movement in conjunction with efforts

to obtain better-paying jobs for women and findingjobs for un­

employed women of all classes, feminism would have been seen

as a movement addressing the concerns of all women. Feminist

focus on careerism, getting women employed in high-paying pro­

fessions, not only alienated masses of women from feminist

movement; it also allowed feminist activists to ignore the fact that

increased entry of bourgeois women into the work force was not

a sign that women as a group were gaining economie power. Had

they looked at the economie situation of poor and working-class

wo men, they would have seen the growing problem of unem­

ployment and increased entry of women from all classes into the

ranks of the poor.

Poverty has become a central woman's issue. White supremacist

capitalist patriarchal attempts to dismantle the welfare system in our

society wiIl deprive poor and indigent women of access to even the

most basic necessities of life: shelter and food. lndeed a return to

patriarchal male-dominated households where men are providers is

the solution offered women by conservative politicians who ignore

the reality of mass unemployment for both women and men, and

the fact that jobs simply are not there and that many men do not

want to provide economically for women and children even if they

have wages.

There is no feminist agenda in place offering women a way

out – a way to rethink work. Since the co st ofliving in our society is

high, work does not lead to economic self-sufficiency for most

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52 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

workers, wamen included. Yet economie self-sufficieney is needed

if all women are to be free to ehoose against male domination, to be

fuUy self-aetualized.

The path to greater economie self-suffieiency wiU necessarily

lead to alternative lifestyles which wiU run counter to the image of

the good life presented to us by white supremacist capitalist patriar­

chal mass media. Ta live fuUy and weU, to do work which enhances

self-esteem and self-respect while being paid a living wage, we wiU

need programs of job sharing. Teachers and service workers in all

areas wiil need to be paid more. Wamen and men who want to stay

home and raise children should have wages subsidized by the state

as weU as ho:ne-schooling programs that wiU enable them to finish

high school and work on graduate degrees at home. With advanced

technalagy individuals who remain home should be able ta study by

watching coUege courses on videos augmenting this with same pe­

riod of time spent in classroom settings. If welfare not warfare (mili­

tary spending) was sanctioned by our government and all citizens

legaUy had access to a year or two of their lives during which they re­

ceived state aid if they were unable to find a job, then the negative

stigma attached to welfare programs would na langer exist. If men

had equal access ta welfare then it wauld na langer carry the stigma

of gender.

A growing class divide separates masses of paar wamen from

their privileged counterparts. Indeed much of the class power elite

groups of wamen hold in aur society, particularly those who are

rich, is gained at the expense of the freedom of other wamen. AI­

ready there are smaU groups of wamen with class power working ta

build bridges through economic programs which provide aid and

support to less privileged wamen. Individual wealthy wamen, par­

ticularly thase with inherited wealth, who remain committed to fem­

inist liberation are develaping strategies far participatory ecanomics

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53 WOMEN ATWORK

which show their concern for and solidarity with women who lack

class power. Right now these individuals are a small minority, but

their ranks will swell as their work becomes more weil known.

Thirty years ago contemporary feminists did not foresee the

changes that would happen in the world ofwork in our society. They

did not realize that mass unemployment would become more of a

norm, that women could prepare themselves for jobs that would sim­

ply not be there. They did not foresee the conservative and some­

times liberal assault on welfare, the way that single mothers without

money would be blamed for their economie plight and demonized.

All these unforeseen realities require visionary feminist thinkers to

think anew about the relationship between liberation and work.

While much feminist scholarship tells us about the role of

women in the workforce today and how it changes their sense of self

and their role in the home, we do not have many studies which teil

us whether more women working has positively changed male dom­

ination. Many men blame wamen working for unemployment, for

their loss of the stabIe identity being seen as patriarchal providers

gave them, even if it was or is only a fiction. An important feminist

agenda for the future has to be to realistically inform men about the

nature of women and work so that they can see th at women in the

workforce are not their enernies.

Women have been in the workforce for a long time now.

Whether we are paid weil or receive low wages many women have

not found work to be as meaningful as feminist utopian visions sug­

. gested. When women work to make money to consume more rather

than to enhance the quality of our lives on all levels, work does not

lead to economie self-sufficiency. More money does not mean more

freedom if our finances are not used to facilitate well-being.

Rethinking the meaning ofwork is an important task for future fem­

inist movement. Addressing both ways women can leave the ranks

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54 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

of the paar as weil as the strategies they can use to have a good life

even if there is substantial material lack are vital to the success of

feminist movement.

Early on feminist movement did not make economie self­

sufficiency for wamen its primary goal. Yet addressing the eco­

nomie plight ofwamen may ultimately be the feminist platform that

draws a coilective response. It may weil become the place ofcoilective

organizing, the common ground, the issue that unites all wamen.

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