Sunday, January 15, 2012

Ecomomic inequality.. A feminist issue

After watching the videos on "people like us" the notion of economic injustice for women was further reiterated.  Through our readings and discussions I presumed that economic inequality was indeed a prevalent issue, but what I saw on the PBS website brought it to a whole different level.  We all know that women are treated as equal to men when it comes to salaries and finding high profiled jobs, but to think that a woman working without help of the goverment to provide for her family is veiwed as "trashy" was simply mind boggeling.   The main reason for the differences in social class between a man and woman is due to a common conformity to male dominance in society as mentioned earlier by Adrienne Rich.

The videos on the website prompted me to reflect on a number of different things.  First, I realized the number of different classes there are in and society and the pressures put on people of a particular class to stick and befreind others of that class while looking down or up at other different groups of class.  I realized that people can judge others just by what that person is wearing and can immediately put a stereotype on a particular individual.  Like Johson mentioned in his piece how it was hard to relate to the African American woman he had lunch with I feel it can be equally hard at times to relate to others who may belong to a different social class.

It is the "privelages" as Johnson mentions that women feminist groups are fighting for.  The overcoming of the truly injustices women face when it comes to beating stereotypes and inequalities when it comes to economics.

My comment for the class is that the women who are hardworking, independent, and employed are some of the greatest examples there are for anyone to follow.  As Martin Luther King day approaches and I remember how he fought to equality for the African American people I can't help but to think of women leaders who have fought for equality for others like themselves.

15 comments:

  1. Women are actually not treated equally when it comes to salaries and jobs. Women are known to make less and have less of an opportunity compared to men. I like your side comment about Martin Luther King Jr, and I agree with your point about people of a certain class feeling as if they need to stick to people within their class. That is another barrier to getting equality among social classes

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  2. yep women make less money than men, read my blog to find out more. I like how you mentioned that it is hard for people to relate to others because a difference in class. But why don't we think on a bigger scale and say, " How does class affect everyday living." Overall though, good post.

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  3. I apologize Kayla and Jose after re reading my post I meant to say "we all know women are NOT treated as equal." It was an honest mistake, but after reading my full post I think its pretty obvious that I was talking about how there is an inequality between men and women when it comes to economics.

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  4. Your comment for class is good! I think that when women are leaders people look at them as special cases. It shouldn't be such a surprising thing when women are good at something or better then men at something. Because our society has placed men to be above women in the workplace and just about everywhere, except girly things, when women do good it's like omg no way! Lol good post though

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  5. Good point about Johnson not being able to relate to his African-American friend. I feel like race, gender, and sexual orientation are in one category of defining qualities, while social class is in another, but I still consider them all forms of barriers. They are barriers in that they separate us via our personal experiences. Being white, I will most likely never know what it is like to be followed around a store with the assumption that I will steal something. Also, having grown up in a middle class family, I don't know what it is like to be on welfare. These aspects of my life create walls between me and people who have shared different experiences due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, and class, and, like you said, this will make it very difficult for us to interact with and relate to one another.

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  6. I agree with Ryland that it is important to note the fact that it can be hard to relate to people of other classes. Although we often say that we shouldn't judge people for being a certain race or gender or class because it has nothing to do with who they are as a person, I think it is important to note that the social class we grow up in CAN help to shape the type of person we are. These websites showed us a lot about how living in a certain social class can completely change the way you live life and view the world around you. Still no reason to judge someone before getting to know them though!!

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  7. I liked how you linked Martin Luther King Day with your blog. I think it's important for people to see our country's past and try to link it to the present issues at hand. I think that social class is a battle with in incomes but also mind sets, just like the African American fight for equality was a battle to change people's mind sets. On a day like today it's great to see how far we have come, but also how much further we could go to get an equal society for all. Great Post! (:

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  8. I like how you mentioned that it can be equally as hard to relate to people of different social classes, just like people of different races. My friend got a hotel room at the Biltmore about a month ago, pretty much just so he could have a party there and feel rich for a night. A few of us went downstairs into the bar and restaurant, and I could not believe how out of place I felt. It honestly looked like a wealthy party scene out of a movie, everyone had on extremely nice suits and dresses, and there were conversations about butlers and Bentleys and it made all of us pretty uncomfortable.

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  9. Nice post. I enjoyed how you related the websites to Johnson and those with privilege. The idea that we need to fight the inequality that we see in our society and try to change it even if it is on an individual scale. I also enjoyed how you connected it to Rich and her fight for women equality.

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  10. I'm glad that you mentioned the problems that women in the workforce face while also talking about the problems of classes that we all deal with. It was also pretty awesome that you mentioned the idea of privilege like I did. I'm glad we made the same connections.

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  11. I like how you said the videos opened your eyes to all the different types of classes there are in society and the pressure there is to stick to the one you "belong in." I never realized that too, Im glad someone else noticed.

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  12. I really like that you included Johnson's work into this blog with this "It is the "privelages" as Johnson mentions that women feminist groups are fighting for. The overcoming of the truly injustices women face when it comes to beating stereotypes and inequalities when it comes to economics". It proves that most writers are aware of this problem and this focus needs to be changed.

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  13. I think anybody that works hard and is honest, is a role model. The person can be a women, man, black, white, latino, gay or straight or anything as long as they try their best.

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  14. As Ryland noted, socioeconomic class distinction seems to sit aside from other classifications in some considerations. As in Johnson's read, he discusses the differences in life experience between himself and the friend he's having lunch with based on race and gender. Though it is possible for many people to interact free of boundaries from race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, etc., class identity can still keep us corralled within relative circles.

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