Monday, April 12, 2010
Power
One of the main connections that I found in reading all of the articles this weekend, was that the people in the stories were being exploited in some ways by our current patriarchal system. First example look Ann speak about the burdens that babies put on mothers once they have them. Women cannot have kids and become economically stable because, one they cannot get paid and keep the benefits they once had and second, because our country places to much emphasis on making money. I find this strange because that is what all the underlying assumptions are about people in America. Can people be controlled and can the dependency of mans system create equality for all people. The Barbra Enhrenriech article speaks about our system in ways that many Americans wouldnt believe. Is house work for the poor and not the elite? She suggest that it is because workers of upper middle class don't clean or rather do lower middle class work. One could agree with this after reading Knowledge is power. Maria makes a good argument that knowledge is power by explaining my connection as to how people are being exploited by our education. Although she was trying to recieve an education she did not have the money to do so. Maria shows me that she was exploited by the system because she believed in it. Although she received her education she did not receive her diploma and because she still lived in poverty. In America it does not matter if that empowered you, getting the diploma mailed to you by paying the debt back does. I like her will to survive and fight, very empowering. Last but not least, the article called reality check displayed a woman's ability to not be exploited by the system while at the same time allowed for the system to program her into not being a go go dancer because of the image society had created for her. She was very poor and needed money and she would not dance because she would feel less of a human. Society as create restraints that either exploit you as a person or makes you adhere to the culture of power. I feel that there are less people being created to do their own things in life. I wonder what a place would look like if people were allowed to just act and not think?
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i think that the arguments regaurding women in the workforce and among stay at home mothers very interesting. A lot if published work discusses the problems with successful women who go to college that end up "opting out" and becoming stay at home moms because they cannot handle the burden of both taking care of their children and working a full time job, and how many jobs dont accommodate for women in this position even though all the burden is unevenly places on their shoulders. yet it is interesting to look at this becasue we think, a lot of families are able to do this so why is it only affecting some women? yet it is not that we have come up with any sort of solution, some women just have enough money to pass down their house work and childcare onto another woman who is less priveleged that she is. continuing the patriarchy that so strongly exists. There is so much we need to fix within this system because there are some women who cant afford to opt out and stay with their children becasue their income is crucial so in these instances the work force is often a terrifying place and this is when women are forced into jobs they would not necessarily want to have but what are you supposed to do if you are a single mother with kids and bills. its hard to find a stable job with an employer who understands that if ur kid is sick or needs to be picked up from school or anything that you can just leave. the only hope for a woman in that situation is to have a family member babysit but then again why do we put all women in these situations? why in a equal home do women have to be the only ones responsible for a child? in the workforce why is a man more likely to get a stable job if he has a child and a woman less likely? and why do we rely on other less fortunate women to help with these situations and then think its a solution?
ReplyDeleteI think that both Amanda and Charles bring up really good points and that reading through these articles and essays for today was a rather frustrating experience. The rather common complaint is, "That's not fair!" but whether or not it is fair, it still continues. The simple fact that Rangel could go so far as to beat the odds and earn an education while struggling so much, then be refused her diploma, seems completely ridiculous. The university obviously knew that she was struggling financially--that's who the program she was in was targeted towards, wasn't it?--and yet they still make things as difficult as possible for her. It's hard to hear about things like that. It makes me wonder how Colgate would react in a similar situation. I would like to think they'd be understanding, but somehow, I don't think they would.
ReplyDeleteThe other article that caught my attention the most was Barbara Ehrenreich's on the domestic cleaning industry. For me, it hit a bit closer to home because I spent most of my teenage years with a "cleaning lady." However, I resent the fact that Ehrenreich makes all those upper middle-class families who have such people come clean their houses seem like snobs who don't acknowledge the women (or men) or, when they do, are superior and dismissive. My family may be the exception instead of the rule, but the women who used to come clean my house was like part of the family. When she was seriously struggling, she even came to live with us for awhile. And while I know that cleaning houses wasn't her dream job by any measure, I also know that she wasn't degraded--at least by us--for doing so. I think that there are other sorts of stories for these people that Ehrenreich is talking about that she doesn't account for.