Blog 6

Question 1:
hooks states, “…as feminist movement progressed and privileged groups of well-educated white women began to achieve equal access to class power with their male counterparts, feminist class struggle was no longer deemed important” (hooks, 2000, p. 37) and “From the onset of the movement women from privileged classes were able to make their concerns “the” issues that should be focused on in part because they were the group of women who received public attention” (hooks, 2000, p.37).

If working class women had received more attention from the media and made their struggle known, how do you think this would have impacted the feminist movement? Do you think this would have allowed women to gain equality in areas such as household duties and wage?

I think this would have had a positive effect on the feminist movement. The media is capable of bringing to light many issues that never would have been thought of or acknowledged otherwise. It’s almost frightening, the extent to which the media is able to influence society. However, in this case, the media’s heavy influence could have been a good thing.

The only issue is that there will always be people who will chose to believe whatever they want to, regardless of what is placed right in front of them.

As far as household duties and wage go, I think they are two different issues. Household duties are a much more personal and micro-level topic that should be left up to the individual. I don’t think it’s sexist for women to do the dishes and men to mow the lawn, as long as both are okay with those chores. I have no problem doing dishes or other typically “female” house roles, but I respect that some women wouldn’t want to be limited to only these tasks. Work wages should be equal for women and men who hold the same positions. I think more attention needs to be given to this issue, because I think many people are still in the dark that this is a situation at all.

Question 2:
Even though the global feminist movement has traditionally been headed by white, privileged women, it is important to note that women of the United States have helped lower rates of sexism and sexual exploitations in some nations. Through enforcing “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” many women in the feminist movement were silenced. What types of women do you believe were silenced? If these silenced members’ opinions were voiced what effect do you think they would have on nations struggling with sexism, sexual exploitation, and oppression? Would this change the global interactions we see today, or would the world function similarly?

I think that the women who were silenced were any women who weren’t members of white upper-class society. I think those voices are especially important, because members of privileged society can’t possibly have the same empathy or understanding of underprivileged ways of living as those who have experienced such situations. I think it’s extremely important for everyone to have a say, and I’m not suggesting that those of upper-class white society can’t have a positive influence, but it shouldn’t simply stop there with those voices. Regardless of race, class, or any other demographic, every voice should be speaking out for those who can’t speak for themselves.

Question 3:
In bell hooks book she says “in many college classrooms today students both female and male will argue that feminist movement is no longer relevant since women now have equality.”

Do you think when women stay home and do the household work, do you think they get depressed because they aren’t making any money to help out in the family?

I don’t think it’s generally the case that women get depressed because they aren’t going out and getting jobs. I think that if women are able to stay at home while their husbands go out and earn the money, they should be thankful that they have that opportunity. There’s a difference between choosing to have a job just for the fun of it and actually being forced to go out and get a job because of economic needs.

Blog 6

Question 1
First of all, it would have made the working class the "public" demographic of women instead of the upper class. This would have maybe been more detrimental to the feminist movement. In a time where etiquette and aristocracy were respected traits, showing the working women could have given a public image that would not gain support from the masses. People always seem to listen more when socially respected people speak out - as seen with movie stars today who voice their opinion and support for various global causes. It seems that people really don't want their figurehead to be an "everyman", but instead a figurehead that everyone should strive to be like. If the working class women were the most represented in media instead of the upper class, it could have turned the public away from the feminist movement, thereby harming the cause and possibly stopping the movement before it had any legs.
I  think this would have allowed women to gain some equality in areas such as household duties and wage. This was a time when society was extremely patriarchal, with men dominating the workforce, social scene, and politics. Men were still the main breadwinners, and if this working class became the public group of feminist women they would first voice their opinions in the home. So, women could have been trying to make the men take a more active family role in the working class home, but with a majority of jobs needing men it would still be very difficult to get them to be more domestic due to the fact that they were the ones working a majority of the time.


Question 2
I think the types of women that were silenced were the minority female demographic of every global culture. An example would be that the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is suppressing black and Latino women and their voices because the white women are the visible figureheads of the movement. So, the image of a white women and her struggles overshadow those of minorities. If these silenced members' opinions were voiced, I think that it could really progressively confront problems with sexist, sexual exploitation, and oppression in nations. The oppressed minority would actually be represented on a national level , but it needs to be represented by a female of that group, not a white woman. This could help us understand, by first hand account, what is really happening with these other types of women instead of just taking someone's word for it. This would definitely change the global interactions we see today - it would make people more conscious with what is happening elsewhere and how we need to recognize their struggle. Even though it could shed light on the situation, the world could still end up functioning the same way if people choose to hear the message but not act on it.


Question 3

Do you think when women stay home and do the household work, do you think they get
depressed because they aren’t making any money to help out in the family?
I do not think that it really is a state of depression that they would feel if they are not contributing to the family. Maybe they would feel feelings of incompetence or less important to the overall family structure if they are not bringing in money. But, on the other hand they could have a high level of self satisfaction knowing that they are the backbone of the family providing structure and overall helping everything run smoothly at home. So, it depends on the point of view the woman has. Either way, it needs to be realized that she is helping out the family in any situation., If ours was not a capitalist culture so obsessed with the idea of obtaining money, maybe the position of homemaker would become a little more respected and valued.

Blog Post 6

RESPONSE QUESTION 1:

I think that this definitely would have been the case. So much of raising awareness and getting your voice heard is through the media. Often times unless enough awareness is raised and you are able to get people’s attention nothing is done! Enough people have to show that they take this issue seriously and care for a prominent change to be made.  I think that if many more women would have received more media attention then these issues would have been taken much more seriously. Why? Because people would know that women really took seriously and cared about this discrimination.  And more than knowing that they cared about this discrimination, people would no longer be ignorant to the understanding that this is ‘normal’, but would be challenged to question their own perception of equality in household duties and wages. I just watched a video clip recently about a movement to raise awareness of one of the most terrible warm criminals in the world, Joseph Kony. The goal of the video was to bring to light how he is affecting Uganda and other nearby countries with his inhumane tactics to sustain his power. This question made me think of this clip because it drives home the point that often the greatest problem is that it’s difficult for people to recognize and acknowledge that there IS a problem.  Publicity and media coverage helps to highlight the importance of an issue and ban the fellow supporters together. Most importantly, it allows you to no longer choose ignorance as a justification to do nothing. Below is the video clip.

RESPONSE QUESTION 2:

This is a very interesting point. I think that there is definitely a distinct separation in the feminist movement in regards to race. I think that people often overlook this separation solely because they figure that any step taken in the feminist movement is better than no step at all. I definitely think that there have been women silenced due to the ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ take on feminism.  Some of the women that I would argue have been silenced are those of a Hispanic, Latina, or African American identity. I think that if the movement consisted of women of all race, color, and ethnicity banning together to fight for the feminist movement the oppression of women in foreign countries would be taken a lot more seriously.  The United States especially is such a melting pot, to raise awareness and include ALL WOMEN in this movement would touch on so many different women, with so many varying nationalities. I think it would definitely change the global interactions that we see today because women especially would feel more united with one another. They would see another woman as someone who they can relate to who are fighting for the same things as themselves. Race and Ethnicity shouldn’t separate us, but should help us to look deeper into what defines a woman and her inherent dignity that she possesses. These are the things that should link us together to make us stronger as a united force.

RESPONSE QUESTION 3:

In response to your statement above I would say that this varies depending on the context. My mom is a stay at home mom and absolutely loves it. She is a mother of six and fortunate that she has the privilege to be at home. However, it must be understood that my dad provides enough to support our family so that she doesn’t have to work a full time job to support us. Women who do want to work but are forced to stay at home to take care of the children, while their true desire is to be successful in a career, could definitely become depressed. Children can be a very stressful part of one’s life, especially if taking care of children wasn’t something that a woman planned for. Depending on the atmosphere of the home and the relationship with a partner determines how a woman views her work at home.  If they feel fulfilled in taking care of their children and being able to sustain a household that is comfortable and don’t feel guilty by way of their partner, then they will feel fulfilled. On the other hand, if they don’t feel that they are being successful in the home and their partner isn’t supportive and affirming, then it would be easy to become depressed and feel as though one is failing. The following clip is a trailer of the move Cheaper by the Dozen. The stay at home mother misses being at home after she goes on a book tour to promote her new book.

Blog 6

1. I think that this would have had a positive influence on the movement. I think it is silly to only focus on one group of women, especially women who are already well to do, even though these women are oppressed, they are still considered "privileged" due to there class status. Personally I don't want to listen to the privileged complain about anything being "unfair". I think the movement would have benefited from the voices of the working class much more than it did from the upper class. I would sympathize much more with a working woman who is treated unfair in the home and work place/society, than non working upper class women complaining about inequality, who wants to hear the rich complain about anything? Not me.
Personally I am not sure whether this would change anything at home or in the work force. The public might hear their cries and notice that an injustice is being done, but there are still husbands/employers who are stuck in their ways and aren't going to change the routine because their wives/employees received some attention from the media. Unless  their was some kind of government interaction forcing employers to raise wages and husbands to switch up the routine at home.
2. The working class and the colored were the women who were silenced. Honestly I don't think we would see much international/global changes. I am not a fan of interfering with other countries issues, we have enough issues here to be dealt with and I see it as wasting effort and resources that could be spent fixing things on our own soil, maybe the movement would have worked better here if we didn't spend time worrying about other countries problems.
3. I don't think that women who stay home and take care of the household chores get depressed, unless they are being forced to do it. Maintaining a household can be one of the toughest, most time consuming jobs out there, especially if there are children involved. This job requires women to be the chef, housekeeper, disciplinarian, and if the kids are below school age or home schooled she is also the teacher and caretaker. If you took all of these jobs being preformed, and put a job title on it along with a wage, these women should be getting paid more than most men. This might be depressing for them if they do all of the work and the husband shows no appreciation, but I do believe that women who choose to do this, take pride in it and hopefully it is rewarding for them.
In regards to the issue of men and women's pay, I'm pretty sure that the issue isn't that women get paid less then a man doing the same job, but women tend to work in jobs that aren't as high paying as jobs that men typically have. To me this isn't an issue of unequal pay, but maybe an issue of men dominating certain career fields that women could be involved in, but instead are somewhat "forced" into jobs that pay less. The issue of lower wages for women might have been prevalent in the past but I don't think that is the problem now.

Blog 6

1. If the media had been more involved in the working class women's lives, I think the feminist movement would have taken advantage of this resource. They would have used the media to do more to gain awareness of what they were struggling for. As far as impacting the movement, more women would have jumped on the band wagon with it. They would have been able to get across more ways for women to get involved. I am not sure what duties women would have been able to gain by using the media, but I think they would have been able to get more of the messages across they were trying to, not just the  messages they got across by word of mouth. I am curious to see not only how it affected the women during this time, but more of how it affected the men and how they thought of it. I also think it might have been over played to where when people see that commercial they change the channel because they've seen it so much they've memorized it.

2. Women that could have been silenced could have been women who didn't push the envelope enough to get their own message out. I know some people who will so persistent to the point of annoyance, but in the end I remembered them. I think women in the feminist movement who were that persistent saw results they wanted to. I think if the voices of those women who were silenced were heard, more awareness could have been made. not necessarily changes made but more ideas put into more peoples heads and if in the right minds, thoughts could have been put forth to make changes. I think as far as communication goes, women around the world would be able to relate and put forth the same message and possibly work together to make a change. Maybe women's rights wouldn't be as strict in places or as lax in others. There might be more of a mix of rights, but for some countries that plays into religion as well.

3. I do not think women get depressed because they are not helping out the family. Without them doing their job at home, the family wouldn't be able to function. I feel that, not just in domestic work, that mothers are the glue to a family. I do not know if it is a biological or societal thing, but mothers in every experience I have been close to, the mother's have been the glue making sure the family runs smoothly. Not that fathers don't care because they do, but mothers have gained the instinct, no matter how much the father helps out, to do everything in their power to perfect her family in her own eyes.

Media Illustration - Sara Weeldreyer

Sara Weeldreyer

Gender Comm.

Media Illustration
P. 207 - End of Chapter

Due: 3/12/12

Gender Performance in the Workplace

            Any person that partakes in any form of society knows that women are paid less and promoted less often than men in the workforce. Because this is so well known, I decided that it wasn’t the most interesting concept to cover for my media illustration from my section of chapter 9. Instead, I thought the most significant concept to cover would be the idea that the workplace is not gender neutral, and in fact, masculine.

            As stated in the chapter, scholars started to see that how organizations are structured produced gender differences instead of individual features of men and women. The following quotes from the book explain this concept exceedingly well. “It is the man’s body, its sexuality, minimal responsibility in procreation, and conventional control of emotions that pervades work and organizational processes (Acker, 1990). “Women’s bodies are ruled out of order, or sexualized and objectified, in work organizations” (Martin, 2003). “Despite the clear evidence of gender and related inequalities in work organizations a vision of the abstract worker persists – a bodiless, sexless, emotionless worker who does not procreate. This sex- and gender-neutral worker is not actually neutral but instead is a man” (DeFrancisco &Palczewski, 2007). The technique that ender is completed in organizations resumes the restriction of women as how men and women socially construct one another at work affects their work experiences. This tends to damage the identities and confidence of women workers.

            Although intersectionality is extremely important, especially in workplace settings, I’m only going to focus on the concept of gender for this specific assignment even though the clip I am going to share shows more than just gender discrimination. Thinking about gender discrimination and a media example, without a doubt, I knew The Office would have an example for sure because they have examples of every type of workplace “no-no.”

*Clip* (The Office - "Basketball" episode - (5:30-8:30)

Discussion Questions:

-       Do you think gender discrimination still occurs in the workplace? Why or why not? If so, how do you think it is performed?

-       How do you think these inequalities can be eliminated? What changes would need to take place?

Media Illustration: Work Constructs (and Constrains) Gender

A few weeks ago I purchased a new television which had several “apps” on it.  Shortly after, I found myself signing up for the one month trial to Netflix in order to max out my tv viewing experience.  Since then I found several tv series to begin following.  30 Rock became my favorite and it became evident that gender inequalities in the workplace were seen throughout the series.  Since chapter 9 is focused on work and the effects of gender/sex in the workplace this seemed a fitting media example to use.    

In the series 30 Rock there are numerous example of class, race and gender/sex issues of inequality in the workplace.  The text highlights that there are certain perceptions in organizations which lead one to believe that a sex/gender neutral, abstract worker is still envisioned as a male.  This can cause issues in organizational structures and policies which tend to focus on advancing the traditional, male worker.  The most obvious discrepancy among workers is unequal pay.  Women and minorities are seen to earn less than white males in almost all industries.  It is not argued this finding is incorrect, but there is not one method which has been able to successfully rid of these pay discrepancies.  

Joan Acker presents 5 reasons why gender is given attention in organizations, and in doing so came to the conclusion that they are “intersecting processes that make issues of power, control, and dominance gendered” (p. 208).  These qualities are associated with males and it is no surprise that with their strength and power men would objectify sexuality in the workplace.  I have found that men are typically portayed in the media as being sexually harassing towards women and this mentality is then reflected in the workplace.  Some quotes from the text I found interesting were:

• “the way in which gender is done in organizational work settings continues to constrain women insofar as the way in which men and women socially construct each other at work affects their work experiences, and this tends to impair women workers’ identities and confidence” (p. 208)
• “multiple masculinities and femininities exist, and people practice, and are held accountable to, specific kinds depending on their bodies (health, attractiveness), class, race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, nation, and other social statuses” (p. 208)

After reading the Work Constructs (and Constraints) Gender section of chapter 9 it was evident I should use a clip from the 1st season’s 4th episode of the show 30 Rock.  In this episode Cerie’s wardrobe choices are questioned by Liz, but the males in the office are okay with her skimpy clothing.  They also show their power over Liz in handling the situation through using attractiveness and age as factors which they use to maintain control of the office.  This is seen through their negative responses to Liz’s make-over at the end of the episode.