Thursday, January 12, 2012

PBS,CWCS; Why and how is economic inequity a feminist issue?

Websites: www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus, http://cwcs.ysu.edu
    
These two websites were very helpful to me when it came to understanding the seriousness social class has on our everyday lives.
On the PBS website I found lots of valuable information. I learned a lot about their documentary project called “People Like Us”. This project is going to show society how powerful social class is on an individual’s life. I got a sneak peak at a few stories featured in the documentary film. One of the stories that caught my eye was by Ginie Sayles. Sayles is a woman that seemed to only be attracting men with no car or no money. Ginie, let me just say, it is not only you girlfriend… anyway, at first I figured this woman was a gold digger, looking for a man who can take care of her financially for the rest of her life. But then I realized this woman has potential, and in all honestly if a woman has potential of her own, then she deserves much more than financial backup. But if a woman is just looking for money, then she deserves whatever is totally coming her way. As a woman, I love the fact that we can be sexy and smart, and it’s okay. I have high goals and I plan on achieving them, so I never have to look to not only a man, but anyone for financial assistance. So Ginie ends up marrying a millionaire and has to learn all these new ways to live. The fact that she has to act different now that she has money, just proves how much impact social classes have on our life. I think this was a good story to show how much social class effects our everyday life.
The website on the CWCS (Center of Working Class Studies) was also very informative. I like the goals they are working towards and also the way they are approaching things. They have some very creative ideas as well as projects. As their mission is to spread awareness of the working class, I would assume not only do they want to prove to people how important our social class is but they want people to acknowledge how hard some people are working to maintain the lifestyle they have. This is a good promotion and reality slap for the people who were born into money, or “trustfund babies”. Some people get lucky from point A and don’t have to work hard, they were born wealthy. But it is important that they recognize the people who do work hard. The working class is not a bad class. They are people like you and I who endure struggles every day to make a living. Honestly, the working class are some of the strongest. Money does not always come easy.
Now for the big Q! Why and how is economic inequity a feminist issue? The first thing that comes to mind is how is economic inequity not a feminist issue? To me it is a feminist issue in every way. First of all, it is unfair. Feminism is all about how this whole gender thing, this is not fair, and there is no reason for it! Women are not only responsible to cooking and cleaning.. women are making huge successes in the world today. Men have more power in the work force. Men get most jobs easier than women do, they normally get paid more than women do, and most of all they have dominance over women no matter what. The point is that women are less than men in the economy, when in all reality women and men are starting to equal out.
My POINT TO SHARE in class on Wednesday will be about the question above. Why and how is economic inequity a feminist issue?  Some women let men take care of them financially, whether she takes care of the man’s children or if she is strictly in it for the money, it is time for it to stop. Women have a lot of power and potential, especially if they are beautiful and intelligent, which most of us are J.  Does every one agree that the whole women leaving the money making to men is what caused this predicament most women are experiencing?

15 comments:

  1. I have not looked at the websites yet but I'll be sure to keepmy eye out for Ginie Sayles. Also I liked your answer to the question with that question. I was thinking the same thing!

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  2. I liked the video you put up! And Ginie Sayles story was really interesting... To answer your question, I think the predicament we are in now where women leave the money making to men is caused by society and media... It's everywhere, on tv shows like Love & Hip-hop, mob mives, almost all the housewives shows.. EVERYWHERE. So growing up, kids see movies and shows where the dad comes home from work and the mom is cooking and taking care of the kids and they see that all their lives so when they grow up, that's what they know.

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    1. Your right. I agree that the media is the biggest problem when it comes to stereotypes with women and men.

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  3. I think the argument over women letting men make the money is a little more complicated. There is also a growing issue over the raising of children these days. It has to be accepted that in some families the choice is made for one parent to stay home. This doesn't have to be the mother, but society....and many women for that matter seem to feel that a mother's better suited to attend to children. Believe me, I'm not saying that it's a woman's place to be home, that's not even close to my position. My mother took care of my sister and I as well as working her ass off sometimes at more than one job at a time. I believe that everyone should earn their share whether that be working, taking care of a family, or going to school. The days of a woman sitting on the couch and eating bon bons while a man's away at work is long gone....at least I would hope. Besides, in this economy who the hell could manage that? Great post.

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    1. Thanks for this comment..many things have changed over the years with the women's role. I think as time goes on women are taking on more and more masculine things, maybe we feel like we have to prove something to ourselves..

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  4. I like how you pointed out that Ginny's story shows how different life can be depending on which social class you belong to. I think this is an extremely important point that I never really thought much about until I looked at these websites and everyone's blogs!

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  5. Good Post! Life really DOES change (in our society and almost every other one) based on what social class one belongs to. Movement among social classes, whether it is up or down, determines how one interacts socially with people of similar class, as well as people of different classes. It doesn't necessarily seem "fair", but it is very understandable.

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  6. I don't think men, as a whole in society, intended women to be at a disadvantage when they came up with the, "Men go make money, Women stay home and take care of the house."I do think it made a problem for the future we live in today, but back in the day I don't think there were babysitters, and office jobs. I think that when women started joining the work force in droves after WW1 or WW2, we realized there was a problem in our societal structure. But, the old way of thinking was so practical that it was never really questioned.

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  7. Your post was very interesting. I liked the part where you talked about trust fund babies. The idea that these people are born with so much money that they don't even know what to do with it all. Then there are the working class who work all their lives and may get nowhere because of the class system they were born into. This website is such a great tool for people to look at to understand the class systems.

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  8. I agree that women leaving the money making to the men in the past probably is a big reason why people go to the conclusion that a women is a "gold digger" when they marry a rich man, but that is becoming more of a stereotype now that more and more women are working as much as men, as the years go by, and I think people really need to know the person and situation before someone is called a “gold digger” nowadays.

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    1. lol Yes, I agree with you. The term gold digger is thrown around often and really shouldn't be anymore. Times have changed..

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  9. I just wanted to comment on what you said about the Ginny story. I AGREE 100%! I don't understand why women find the need to have a rich man to take care of her. I mean it must be nice but can you really love money that much more than you can love a man? It goes hand in hand with that whole Princesses fairytale bit. A rich king sweeps a poor maiden off her feet and happily ever after. It's fiction for a reason, and the fact that women are going out of their way to change who they are in order to "catch the eyes of a rich man" is disgusting to me. Great post! P.S. I loved the Kanye Video(:

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  10. Oh gold diggers. The go-to source of some great modern day comedies and police crime procedurals. I'm glad that you called out this stereotype but at the same time my honest opinion is Ginny in the video is the closest I've ever seen to a real-life example of one. Of course, she's not pure scum like most of the ones portrayed on the aforementioned movies and TV shows but it was clear that she wanted to marry into cash. She did, but then again who wouldn't? When people ask me who I think of as the perfect woman, I always say "a rich one". Maybe I'm joking, maybe I'm not. Does that make me a 'gold digger'? Probably. Whatever it means, I'm no worse than Ginny. That's for certain.

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  11. Lol I LOVE how you incorporated the Kanye West-Gold Digger song. Its crazy how that song actually fits into this situation. Its crazy how its even seen in artists music now a days. haha loved it. GREAT JOB! :)

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  12. very good point both you and shennan make! very detailed and really enjoyed reading this

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