December 8, 2014 - 17:21
Capitalism thrives on the marginalization of different groups. I think what Waring has wrote exemplifies the effect that capitalism has on a culture. For example, she wrote
Capitalism needs people to be out of jobs (if there is high demand for jobs employers can pay their workers less because they know they have nowhere else to go), and the people who are most likely going to be put out of jobs are those with marginalized identities. (And therefore feminism has to be anti-capitalist). For whatever reason, as Rosea wrote, the work that women do is not considered productive. I think it is because women are expected to do work for others, and so when they do a lot (throw-back to the video about the job interview that was actually an interview to be a working mother) it is considered the norm. This reminds me of the Nego-Feminism essay and the discussion we had about it in class. Because that mentality extends to people thinking that when women do things for themselves they are being selfish, which I though was interesting.
My question is what we want to do with international feminism. Are we trying to use it to 'save' others, or just as a reference point four ourselves (and for this context 'oursleves' could mean the one-thirds world)? How do we 'save the world?' How do we find the balance between considering ourselves saviors and looking out for one another? I was thinking that a way to be productive and helpful in our (often uneccesary) involvement with people in the two-thirds world is to not impose capitalism on their countries, which we often try to do, instead of 'trying' to help (and they probably don't want our help) by trying to make them equal in a capitalist context. Because doesn't that equality often rely on productivity? By saying that women can be just as productive as men? Or even more productive? (which is trying to be helpful but is not)