GENDERING THE VERTICAL MOSAIC
BY ROBERTA HAMILTON
Hamilton, Roberta. 2005. Gendering The Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives On Canadian Society. Toronto: Pearson, Prentice Hall.
DEFINITIONS:
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES è OFFER VARIOUS, SOMETIMES COMPETING, EXPLANATIONS FOR THE PERVASIVENESS OF RELATIONSHIPS OF DOMINATION AND SUBORDINATION BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN è AND FOR A RANGE OF UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT THE CHANGES REQUIRED TO REDRESS EXPLOITATIVE AND OPPRESSIVE RELATIONSHIPS.
[[[SOCIOLOGICAL ASIDE: “STAR TREK” – NURSE CHAPEL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE SPOCK ROLE – WHAT DOES THAT TELL US ABOUT GENDER/SEXUALITY IN TERMS OF THE ABILITY TO “CONTROL, EXCLUDE AND EXPLOIT.” CONTROL WHO BELONGS WHERE/ CONTROL OVER WOMENS BODIES[?] è OUR WORLD IS A LITTLE MORE COMPLEX AND BOUNDARYS APPEAR A LITTLE MORE PERMABLE TODAY – BUT THE PROCESS IS STILL THE SAME. IF YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY “INEQUALITY” è ASK THE QUESTION: DOES AN ACT CHALLENGE THE BALANCE OF POWER {IN STATUS QUO SOCIETY}?]]]
FEMINISTS HAVE ARGUED THAT MEN OF THE ELITES HAVE HAD PRIVILEGED ACCESS TO CREATING KNOWLEDGE --- THAT IS, TO DEVELOPING THE DESCRIPTIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ABOUT THE WORLD THAT ARE DEEMED IMPORTANT FOR EDUCATED PEOPLE TO KNOW è THIS MEANS THAT DOMINANT GROUPS ALSO HAVE THE POWER TO OMIT, TO ENSURE THAT WHAT THEY HAVE DEEMED TRIVIAL HAS BEEN OMITTED FROM THE LIST OF INDISPENSABLE WORKS --- THE CANONS --- OF VARIOUS DISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE è WHEN THOSE WHO DO NOT SHARE THE BELIEF IN THEIR TRIVIALITY QUESTION SUCH OMISSIONS, BOTH THE OMISSIONS AND THEIR AVOCATES ARE OFTEN DISMISSED AS TOO SUBJECTIVE, EMOTION-LADEN, OR NARROW.
FEMINISTS HAVE ADDRESSED WHAT HAS BEEN LEFTOUT, FILLING IN THE SILENCES =è IN THIS PROCESS, THEY DEPOSE, FROM ITS PRIVILEGED LOCATION, THAT WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED KNOWLEDGE, AND THEY CALL INTO QUESTION THE ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS THROUGH WHICH THAT KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN CREATED AND SHARED.
HOW HAVE FEMINISTS GENERALLY ADDRESSED THE RELATIONSHIPS OF DOMINATION AND SUBORDINATION BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN?
1. THEY HAVE EXPLORED THE NATURE OF REPRODUCTIVE LABOUR AN MALE CONTROL OF FEMALE SEXUALITY.
2. THEY HAVE REFASHIONED MARXISM IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATION BETWEEN CLASS AND GENDER.
3. FEMINISTS OF COLOUR HAVE INSISTED THAT WHITE FEMINISTS ACKNOWLEDGE AND DISMANTLE THEIR OWN RACISM, INCLUDING THE RACISM INHERENT IN THE THEORIES THAT THEY HAVE DEVELOPED {I.E., THE “UNIVERSALISTIC” ASSUMPTION THAT SXUAL HIERARCHY CONSTITUTES THE MOST BASIC AND IMPORTANT FORM OF INEQUALITY FOR ALL WOMEN === HERE, MANY WOMEN AND THEIR EXPERIENCES ARE WRITTEN OUT OF FEMINIST SCRIPTS BY REMAINING SILENT ON THE PRIVILEGES OF WHITENESS è (SOCIOLOGICAL ASIDE: CONSTITUTES CURRENT CRITIQUE OF FEMINIST THOUGHT: THE VARIOUS PROGRAMS FOR EQUALITY ARE [SILIENTLY] PREDICATED ON THE PERPETUATION OF RACIALIZED PRIVILEGE FOR WHITE WOMEN)}.
4. PSYCHOANALYIC THEORIES HAVE BEEN REREAD FOR WHAT THEY REVEAL ABOUT POWER, CONTROL, MISOGYNY, AND INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION.
5. LESBIAN AND GAY MEN HAVE PUT THE OPPRESSIVE SYSTEM OF HETEROSEXISM ON THE AGENDA AND HAVE RELATED IT TO MALE PRIVILEGE, RACIAL STEREOTYPES, AND CLASS EXPLOITATION.
6. FEMINISTS HAVE TAKEN UP CRITICAL ISSUES RAISED WITHIN THE TRANSGENDER MOVEMENT TO SHOW THE ARBITRARINESS NOT ONLYT OF SEXUAL ASSIGNMENT AT BIRTH BUT ALSO THE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE FIT BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL SEX AND GENDER.
7. FEMINISTS HAVE BEEN DRAWN TO THE THEORIES OF POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND DECONSTRUCTIONISM AND HAVE TURNED THEM INTO POWERFUL WAYS OF EXAMINING HOW LANGUAGE CREATES, SUSTAINS, AND CONSTRAINS OUR SENSE OF WHO WE ARE AND, AT THE SAME TIME, HOW LANGUAGE, BY ITS VOLATILITY AND FLEXIBILITY, MAY OPEN UP THE SPACES FOR CHALLENGES TO DOMINANT DISCOURSES.
TAKEN TOGETHER, FEMINIST THEORIES INVOLVE A MASSIVE CRITIQUE OF EVERY ASPECT OF SOCIETIES, PAST AND PRESENT; RELATIONSHIPS, INSTITUTIONS, BEHAVIOURS, DISCOURSES, THOUGHT, AND IDEAS (HAMILTON, 2005: 3).
THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT(S) {CHAPT. 2}
THERE IS A COMPLEX AND ONGOING HISTORY OF WOMEN’S RESISTANCE AND THE RESISTANCE TO THEIR RESISTANCE.
ANY CONSIDERATION OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMTN MUST DEAL WITH THE RANGE AND SCALE OF THE “COUNTER-REVOLUTION” OR BACKLASH THAT THE MOVEMENT HAS UNLEASHED, INCLUDING REPORTS OF ITS DEMISE.
TO UNDERSTAND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN CANADA, WE NEED TO LOOK AT TWO DISTANTLY RELATED EVENTS: [1] FIRST, THE GROWTH OF THE DOUBLE DAY OF LABOUR FOR WOMEN COUPLED WITH THE DECLINE OF THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT AND, [2] SECOND, THE RISE OF THE MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
[1] DOUBLE DAY OF LABOUR AND THE DECLINE OF THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
IN 1950S, IT WAS SAID, TO CATCH A MAN, A YOUNG WOMAN HAD TO EARN HER DEGREE – MRS. è THE SOCIAL CONTRACT BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN WHICH WAS CODIFIED IN LAW, STIPULATEDTHAT MEN WOULD SHARE THEIR WAGES WITH THEIR WIVES IN EXCHANGE FOR HOUSEKEEPING, COOKING, SEX, AND FULL-TIME CAREFOR THEIR CHILDREN è CANADIAN LAW HELD THAT IF A MAN MOVED TO ANOTHER CITY, AND HIS WIFE DID NOT ACCOMPANY HIM, SHE COULD BE CHARED WITH DESERTION. NOR COULD A WIFE CHARGE HER HUSBAND WITH RAPE: HER WEDDING VOWS SIGNED HER ON TO HIS SEXUUAL AGENDA ONCE AND FOR ALL.
BUT THERE WAS A LONGSTANDING PROBLEM WITH THE CONTRACT: MOST MEN HAD NEVER EARNED ENOUGH OSUPPORT THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN. MOST WOMEN MARRIED TO WORKING CLASS MEN NOT ONLY DID THE DOMESTIC LABOUR AND CHILDCARE, THEY ALSO SUPPLEMENTED WAGES IN A VARIETY OF WAYS: TAKING IN BOARDERS, LAUNDRY, ANDOTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, DOING PIECEWORK DISTRIBUTED FROM FACTORIES, AND EXCHANGING SERVICES WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS
NEARLY “ALL” BLACK WOMEN IN CANADA WORKED FULL-TIME, MANY OF THEM AS LIVE-IN DOMESTIC WORKERS.
YET, THE BELIEF PREVAILED THAT A “GOOD” MAN EARNED A FAMILY WAGE è THE “MAN-AS-BREADWINNER” MODEL WAS WIDELY ACCEPTED AS A CULTURAL IDEAL, CONFIRMING THEIR SENS OF THEMSELVES AS PART OF A CULTURAL “MAINSTREAM”. === IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE TIME (UNDERPLAYING FEMALE CONTRIBUTIONS) TO PRESERVE THE MALE IMAGE, WOMEN WERE OFTNE SAID TO WORK FOR “EXTRAS” NO MATTER HOW SIGNIFICANT THEIR CONTRIBUTION.
THE REQUIREMENTS OF HOUSHOLDS FOR CASH INCOME TENDED TO INCREASE FASTER THAN THE REAL WAGES OF THE MEN IN THEM.
{EXPENSES[?]: LENGTHENING EDUCATION, EXPANDING SERVICES AND CHANGING IDEOLOGIES MADE CHILDREN MORE EXPENSIVE. TAXES, MORTGAGES, HEATING AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS GREW PLACING STRESS ON HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS}
AT THE SAME TIME, MORE JOBS WERE OPENING UP IN THE EXPANDING SERVICE SECTORS, AND MORE AND MORE WOMEN ADDED FULL-TIME WAGED WORK TO THEIR DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES.
AT THE SAME TIME --- (1) NEW TECHNOLOGY BROUGHT UNEXPECTED DIMENSIONS TO FAMILY LIFE, PARTICULARLY THE EXPECTATIONS FOR WOMEN. [EX: VACUUM CLEANERS BROUGHT THE POSSIBILITY OF CLEANING A HOUSE MORE READILY THAN BY SWEEPING, ALSO EXPECTATIONS OF “CLEANLINESS” ESCALATED.
[THE SCIENTIZATION OF HOUSEWORK” WAS COMPLETED WHEN WOMEN WERE CAST IN THE ROLE OF MAINTAINING THE HOME AS THEIR CENTRAL “LIFE WORK” == THEY WERE TRANSFORMED INTO “DOMESTIC ENGINEERS,” RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THINGS RELATED TO FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD.]
THE POINT WAS MADE THAT THESE NEW PRODUCTS CREATED NEW JOBS/ AFFLUENCE è SHOULD HAVE EMPHASIZED MORE, THAT WHILE THIS IS TRUE, IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT THE ROLE OF WOMEN {SCRIPT THEY WERE EXPECTED TO PLAY} WAS DEEPLY DISSATISFYING FOR MANY IN THE 60S.
[[EX: SIMONE DE BOVIER – “THE SECOND SEX”; BETTY FRIEDAN – “THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE” è CRITIQUED THE ROLE WOMEN HAD TO PLAY AS “DISTORTED AND LIMITING” è THIS LEAD TO “AN ATTITUDINAL CHANGE” CALLED THE “FEMINIST MOVEMENT” {“I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR” è NOW “YOU HAVE COME ALONG WAY BABY”}]].
[[[CONSIDER THIS: MANY RESEARCHER STILL SUGGEST THAT THE GENDER DIFFERENTIALS AND IMBALANCES IN THE FAMILY MAY BE WORSE THAN IN THE FIFTIES è (1) HIS AND HER MARRIAGES, (2) THE SUPERWOMAN SYNDROME, AND (3) THE FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY {DOMINATE OUR TIME}]]]
FROM THE 1960S WOMEN BEGAN CALLING THIS DIVISION OF LABOUR INTO QUESTION MOTIVATED BY THE PRESSURES INVOLVED IN WOMEN BEING MOTHERS FIRST – “WORKING MOTHERS” – AT THE SAME TIME THAT THEY WERE DOING FULL-TIME WAGE WORK.
WOMEN BEGAN TO PRESSURE MEN FOR “HELP” AT HOME AND GOVERNMENTS FOR NEW POLICIES ONCHILDCARE, MATERNITY LEAVE, AND WAGES.
THE NEW IDEAS ARTICULATED THEROUGH SUCH STRUGGLES --- PUBLIC DAYCARE, EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE, SHARED PARENTING AND HOUSEHOLD WORK, AND CONTROL OVER REPORDUCTION, AS WELL AS A CRITIQUE OF THE DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES OF ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE FOR MANY WOMEN --- ALL SHAPED AND FOUND EXPRESSION WITHIN THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT OF THE 1970S.
RESULTS: MORE THAN 30 YEARS LATER DESPITE ACTIVE LOBBYING, CANADA HAS NO NATIONAL DAYCARE POLICY, AND ONLY 10 PERCENT OF CHILDREN UNDER 12 ARE IN REGULATED DAYCARE PROGRAMS è ALTHOUGH GOVERNMENTS AND THE PUBLIC CONTINUE TO BELIEVE IN COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN FROM FIVE YEARS OLD, DEBATE CONTINUES ABOUT WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN, AND FOR OLDER CHILDREN BEYOND SCHOOL HOURS è UNDERLYING THE CONTINUED RELUCTANCE TO PUBLICLY FUND DAYCARE IS THE BELIEF THAT MOTHERS ARE – OR SHOULD BE – AT HOME AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE WORKFORCE (MARCHAND AND RUNYAN, 2000: 15).
[2] SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OF THE 1960S {FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE}
MOVEMENTS SUCH AS THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, THE STUDENT MOVEMENT, THE NEW LEFT,
THE RESURGENCE OF THE OLD LEFT, THE ANTI-NUCLEAR AND PEACE MOVEMENT, THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT, AND THE ANTI-VIETNAM MOVEMENT (WHICH BROUGHT MANY AMERICAN DRAFT RESISTERS AN THEIR WIVES AND LOVERS TO CANADA) SHARED A RHETORIC CALLING FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE THESE MOVEMENTS, SEPARATELY AND TOGETHER, EXPLLODED TWO RELATED MYTHS: THAT EVERYONE WAS GETTING BETTER OFF, AND THAT GETTING BETTER OFF WAS ALL ANYBODY WANTED.
THE GAP BETWEEN THE RHETORIC OF THE MALE-DOMINATED SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE WAY MANY WOMEN PERCEIVED THEIR OWN TREATEMENT AS ACTIVIST WITHIN THESE MOVEMENTS PROVIDED BY MANY ACCOUNTS, A SIGNIFICANT CATALYST FOR THE WOMENS MOVEMENT è BY THE LATE 1960S, THERE WAS A VISIBLE, ACTIVE, AND GROWING WOMEN’S MOVEMENT – FIRST CALLED THE WOMEN’S LIBRATION MOVEMENT – IN ALL OF WESTERN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES, INCLUDING CANADA.
DURING THE SAME PERIOD, THE NUMBER OF YOUNGER FEMINISTS RADICALS MULTIPLIED AS COLLEGE-EDUCATED WOMEN BEGAN TO RECOGNIZE THE HUGE GAP BETWEEN THE RHETORIC OF EQUALITY THAT HAD UNDERWRITTEN THEIR EDUCATION AND THE CHOICES (OR LACK OF CHOICES) THAT AWAITED THEM UPON GRADUATION.
{{{EX: IN FALL OF 2000. CANADIAN WOMEN JOINED WOMEN FROM 164 COUNTRIES IN A “WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN” THAT CULMINATED IN A PROTEXT AT THE UNITED NATIONS ON OCTOBER 17 èTHEIR MANIFESTO TOOK UP A FAMILIAR FEMINSIT ANALYSIS: “ELIMINATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN” REQUIRES CHANGE NOT ONLY IN THE CRIMINAL LAW SYSTEM “BUT ALSO IN SOCIAL SECURITY POLICIES HOUSING, EQUAL PAY, AND THE ERADICATION OF RACISM.”}}}
TODAY’S STATEGIES è MAKING PUBLIC DEMANDS ON GOVERNMENT THROUGH LOBBYING AND OTHER FORMS OF DIRECT ACTION CONSTITUES A MAJOR, AND PERHAPS THE MOST VISIBLE FEMINIST STATEGY FOR TRANSFORMING SOCIETY.
WHY DO WOMEN STILL HIT A GLASS CEILING?
[CONFERENCE
BOARD OF CANADA REPORT 2011]
ACTUALLY, IT'S MORE LIKE THEY ENCOUNTER A "LABYRINTH" OF BARRIERS, THE
REPORT SAID, SUCH AS (1) HARASSMENT, (2) STEREOTYPES,
(3) FAMILY
RESPONSIBILITIES, AND (4) DISCOMFORT WITH SELF-PROMOTION.
WOMEN ALSO TEND TO (5) TAKE EDUCATIONAL PATHS THAT DO NOT
NECESSARILY LEAD TO MANAGEMENT JOBS.
[NOTE: SEVERAL STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT A MORE DIVERSE
WORKPLACE LEADS TO LOWER ABSENTEEISM AND TURNOVER, AND HIGHER EMPLOYEE
RETENTION AND PRODUCTIVITY – I.E., GENDER EQUALITY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS.]
AMONG OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS,
THE CONFERENCE BOARD URGES COMPANIES TO (1) SET UP COACHING SESSIONS,
(2) OFFER OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOB ROTATION, AND (3) ENSURE
AT LEAST ONE WOMAN IS AMONG CONTENDERS
FOR JOBS OR PROMOTIONS.
IT POINTS TO CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY AND TD BANK
FINANCIAL GROUP, TWO COMPANIES THAT ENCOURAGE GENDER EQUALITY BY CREATING FEMALE-FRIENDLY
WORKPLACE POLICIES, A WOMEN
IN LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE, AND MORE NETWORKING AND MENTORSHIP
BETWEEN WOMEN.