Feminism 'has failed working-class women'

[alp227]

Do you buy this study, or do you find it a distraction from the many other issues affecting the working class? The Guardian (UK publication) reports:

Feminism has failed working-class women by focusing too much on gender equality in high-profile roles, according to new research.

While the average gap between the earnings of men and women has narrowed in the last 50 years, differences between professional and unskilled women are significantly higher than those between the same groups of men, a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has found.

With or without a university degree, men continue to earn more than their female counterparts. But researchers found that women with a degree born in 1958 earned nearly three times as much (198%) as women in unskilled jobs born in the same year – compared to a difference of less than half (45%) between men in the same groups.

Dalia Ben-Galim, associate director of the IPPR, said: "While feminism has delivered for some professional women, other women have been left behind. Many of the advances for women at the top have masked inequality at the bottom.

"The 'break the glass ceiling' approach that simply promotes women in the boardroom has not been as successful in changing family-friendly working culture or providing opportunities for other women to advance.

The IPPR describes itself as "the UK’s leading progressive thinktank" that produces "research and innovative policy ideas for a fair, democratic and sustainable world."

In the UK, membership in trade unions (British English for labor union) declined 2.3% from 2008 to 2009. The Thatcher administration busted unions in the 1980s decade that also had conservative presidencies in the US (Reagan) and Canada (Mulroney).

The feminism being researched here is about equality in the workplace, not culturally so let's not get into tangents i.e. chivalry and who pays in dates, etc. But the working class in ANY country is generally going to subscribe to mainstream cultural values that tilt towards social dominance/patriarchy.

[Warpy]

1. Yes and no. Certainly the focus on tokenism at the top is damaging

the movement and is a huge turnoff to most of us, but feminism has also kicked open a lot of doors to jobs women were formerly excluded from, jobs that pay enough to support their kids after a man bails on them.

What hasn't been addressed fully is the huge drop in wages that necessitated mothers going to work, removing the choice of whether to go for a paycheck or stay home with the kids from women. Feminism told us it was going to be a choice. Thanks to 40 years of low wage conservatism, it hasn't worked out that way.

[redqueen]

2. Well said.

I find that pointing the finger at feminists for failing to reinvigorate the labor movement or fight conservatives and neo liberals to be entirely disingenuous and possibly yet another attempt to divide feminists.

[Starry Messenger]

3. I'd say that capitalism failed feminism and women in general.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. +1

[seabeyond]

5. i would think that obvious and couldnt figure how we were pinning something like this on feminism.

thanks.

[LadyHawkAZ]

6. I would agree

I would go farther and say that under-regulated capitalism has failed the better part of humanity.

[socialist_n_TN]

7. Yes. Of course, capitalism has also failed most men too........

It's the nature of the beast. It's going to fail 99% or more of the people. Scientific socialism (also called Marxism) is what will lift ALL boats, except the yachts of the ownership class.

[Starry Messenger]

12. It's not good for most living things.

It's just absurd to see someone assert that feminism was the root of a much deeper problem. Feminism isn't perfect, but it is fighting something huge and destructive. If it is so easy to fix than there wouldn't be so many working class men also suffering.

[HiPointDem]

28. to the extent that mainstream feminism has focused on the pay gap (& imo exaggerated the

extent & clouded the causes of the gap, and where the biggest gap actually is) while ignoring the decline in both women & men's wages for the bottom 50% of the population, in effect separating itself from working-class issues, I think it's indictable.

and so are feminists like some seen in this thread claiming that it's men who keep women down, not the few (the 1%), and all men must be held accountable. speaking of dividing the 99%.

[Starry Messenger]

31. We are just going to have to agree to disagree.

Feminism didn't cause offshoring and the decline in union membership. Are there things I disagree with in feminism? Of course. But I don't see how providing a voice for women is the material cause of the decline of living standards for working class women. I can tell you from my own institutional experiences, that even the most well-meaning guys just have blinders on when it comes to finding time to examine what women of the 99% face that might be different from what is affecting men. Not all men, of course. But enough that if women don't speak up in coalitions, there are issues that never make it to the table.

[johnp3907]

8. That sums it up nicely!

[LiberalLoner]

9. +1

[The Straight Story]

11. Pretty much

Women and many others are kept down by the few who hoard power for themselves.

They rage wars, destroy the environment, steal our money, and want to keep folks under their control.

But it is not just capitalism, there are plenty of countries where people want to run things based on their religion.

When we the people control things the world be better off.

Until then, the 1%, will use their privilege over the 99% whilst we fight amongst ourselves.

[Gravitycollapse]

14. Women are kept down by men, not "the few." Where socialism has flourished, women are still oppressed

[The Straight Story]

15. Um

In most cases the few are men. That 1%? Mostly men.

But I could care less which sex they are, people at the top keeping other people down sucks and is wrong.

Let's fight them and not each other.

[Gravitycollapse]

16. Men must be held accountable. Not just the wealthy ones.

Regardless of what you think feminism is, it's not a big old love parade. And it's not some romantic revolt against "the few." It is a vicious battle against "the many" who oppress women.

[Helen Reddy]

27. On Point! TY n/t

[snooper2]

29. how do you pull that one off?

[JI7]

24. this is why many women's groups led the anti capitalist protests in Egypt and Tunisia

[Starry Messenger]

26. Correct!

"Everyone who knows anything of history also knows that great social revolutions are impossible without the feminine ferment."--K. Marx

[Moonwalk]

10. Yeah, getting maternity leave for most women in most jobs really is a failure...

If one is going to take what feminism has done for working women, one does have to take more than wages into account. And that maternity/family leave often extends to dads as well. And do we forget that feminism was behind and has always been behind the ERA which seeks to make sure equal pay for all women at all levels? Is Lillie Ledbetter not a feminist?

This reads to me as the usual scapegoating of feminism which always aims to make women afraid of it rather than joining it--thus weakening its power to change women's lives no matter where on the ladder they are. And when the feminists are gone, exactly who is going to be fighting not only for equal pay for women, but also their right to contraception, family planning, etc?

[liberal_at_heart]

21. We still have much work to do when it comes to expectations

Many new mothers feel pressured to come back to work as soon as 4 to 6 weeks after delivery, and many men only spend a couple of days off of work for the birth of their child.

[Gravitycollapse]

13. I do not buy into the post-feminist drivel. Feminism has not failed. We have failed feminism.

Feminism has not failed anyone. It is the people who have failed.

The same goes for the labor movement. Both were destroyed by being divided and conquered. And there are plenty of feminist theorists who will vouch for that argument.

[Comrade Grumpy]

17. I hope feminism forgives you.

[Gravitycollapse]

18. Feminism is not a being. It is an ideology. A collection of prescriptive theories.

It is never mad nor content. It does not win nor lose. It cannot succeed nor fail it's followers. It simply is. And we must use it to the best of our abilities.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. well put. It simply is.

Just like the labor movement, the feminist movement seems dead in the water mainly because of what capitalism has done to them. But they have not failed. They are not dead. They are ideas of which at any time can be used by the people to organize and fight.

[seabeyond]

19. We have failed feminism. It is the people who have failed.

excellent. you are saying what i was searching for even more. you are right on.

[frazzled]

20. Tell that to Lily Ledbetter

Who the hell said feminism is about gender-equality in high-profile roles?

[kiva]

23. There have been schisms within the feminist

movement since Reconstruction. Women are not a monolithic block, issues like race, class, and culture impact the movement because the movement is so broad.

That doesn't meant that feminism has 'failed' anyone, it just means that it has succeeded more in some areas than in others.

[liberal_at_heart]

25. good point.

There is no group of people on Earth that are all in agreement. No group is monolithic. No group is united. I hear this from my father who claims that because we're not a united Christian country that is why we have so many people fighting against each other and not working together.

[Sheldon Cooper]

30. lol