- “The False Escapism of Soft Girls and Trad Wives”Links to an external site. by Vanessa Scaringi
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- “Gender and Work in the U.S.”Links to an external site. from Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies by Kang et al.
This continuation of the ideas presented in the Family , as it’s clear that, for many women, home continues to be a workplace–even for those who work full-time outside the home, and often even when they are the primary earner in the home.
When they do work outside the home, women still face a gender wage gap. According to the most recent data from the Pew Research CenterLinks to an external site. (2022) women, on average, earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by a man (an improvement from the 77 cents that both hooks and Kang et al wrote about). When we look through our intersectional lens, we can see that this number is incomplete, however, because while white women earn 83 cents for every dollar a white man makes, Black women earn only 70 cents, Hispanic women earn just 65 cents, and Asian women earn 93 cents. This, despite the fact that more women than men have attended and graduated from college for about 20 years!
Chapter 9 of Feminism is for Everybody should clarify for you why hooks seems critical of a reformist feminist emphasis on workplace equality. She argues that the second wave feminist emphasis on work as the key to women’s liberation lacked an intersectional focus–because poor and working class have always had to work outside the home, among other reasons. This focus on work made it difficult for women to unit across social classes, and I would argue that it led to disillusionment many young women feel toward work, as discussed by Scaringi.
This argument seems more relevant now than ever, as evidenced by Scaringi’s discussion of “soft girls” and “trad wives.” Work can be liberating for everyone only when it allows for everyone to have their basic needs met, and offers personal fulfillment.
Gender and Work Activity Google DocLinks to an external site.
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