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Women's Issues Are Family Issues.
Debuting The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything, the Center for American Progress held a conference last week to discuss the status of working women and their families. In our June 2009 “Women’s Work” package, Dana Goldstein called for more pink-collar jobs but warned that if we pit “men against women, we are going to lose the battle.” This is a problem the conference wrestled with as well: How do we get men to advocate for feminist policy?There are still a few obstacles in the way of this. A privilege problem could be keeping some men from supporting feminist measures: As Paul Waldman has pointed out, those who do not face discrimination often do not believe it is real. Michael Kimmel, a conference panelist, even posited in a 1994 essay that some men might not be afraid of women exactly, but rather of being emasculated by other men. These sorts of anxieties might prevent some men from becoming allies for equality, even though reforms to improve women’s quality of life are in their best interest as well.
As Courtney Martin discusses in her column today, the work/life balance is not just a women’s issue. Women, men and families need more workplace flexibility: They need paid sick leave, family leave, maternity leave, and paternity leave. These are all worker's -- not just women's -- rights issues, not unlike the minimum wage and the 40-hour work week that labor fought for. Now, we need worker’s rights to be updated to support the modern family with two breadwinners.
Perhaps the best way to attract male support for these goals is to frame the issues in broader, more inclusive terms. As panelists suggested, we might shift the language from a “women’s” to a “family” issue. After all, 80 percent of Americans believe “businesses haven't done enough to address the needs of modern families.” Some men may feel uneasy in a debate about women’s rights, but they might reconsider the need for equality as fathers and husbands.
--Pema Levy
Pema Levy is a Prospect fall 2009 intern.
COMMENTS (1)
The women's movement has mostly ignored the mass of working women and its rhetoric have made it easy for paleo-male backlash to easily have its voice. Broad fundamentals and the support of organized labor make more sense and will lead to more gains than more in the way of tortured rhortoric that avoids issues of class. Wone have proven to be more open to unions than men in recent years and this offers an opportunity to improve the lives of most women and many more men in the workplace. Consideration of the broad mass of female workers means making some choices about the pink collar ghetto versus the executive suite. barriers to women have fallen faster in some areas 9e.g., higher education) than others (big business) and some consideration is needed where to place the emphasis and just how important it is to empower the wealthy as opposed to everyone else.
Posted by: Rich | October 26, 2009 5:38 PM