feminist blogs

Happy May Day. As people around the world celebrate the struggles of laborers, and as many immigrants and supporters of immigrant rights set off on protest marches around this country, I wanted to link you to one of my favorite blog posts of the last week: Sudy’s explanation of kyriarchy, a concept coined by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza.

It’s a useful neologism for an idea that comes up a lot: multiple, overlapping, shifting pyramids of power. Try to focus too hard on just one, try to figure out with some kind of precision exactly which individuals are at the top, and you lose sight of the entire awful kyriarchy, that has any number of ways to crush people. It’s another trick that power structures play to distract you. I’ve heard this kind of concept discussed before — some people I know just use the word “hierarchies” to talk about this, and in some feminist writing this is what “patriarchy” means. But I like the word kyriarchy, not least because it doesn’t just focus on “fathers” as the top of the pyramid.

For me the word summons up a bizzare image of holographic, floating, disappearing and reappearing ancient step pyramids. Because that’s how complex the overlapping of power can be, and how surreal. Sometimes we talk about this stuff like patriarchy, white supremacy, or homophobia is a bunch of craggy old white guys having a meeting down the street where we can kick the doors in and turn over the table piled high with money and blood. Too bad that the history of oppressive cultural attitudes, social enforcement, the accumulation of religion and greed and control and security is never that simple. But don’t think I mean it’s all ideology either. Kyriarchy kills. Don’t let it get behind you — or under you.

Once upon a time I wrote about this woman, who fought back. Inevitably, some guy showed up to defame her and defend her oppressors. Time passed and the comments closed. But last night, she apparently found what was said about her, found another thread to put in a comment on, and spoke for herself.

I added an update to my post on Wednesday about the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- noting that Senate Republicans blocked the bill from passing. John McCain wasn't there for the vote, but he opposed the legislation: (via Scott)

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," McCain told reporters yesterday. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

To summarize: McCain's not against women and people of color being paid the same as white men for doing the same work -- heck, if businesses want to pay fairly, that's great! -- but he doesn't think we should make businesses do so. And not holding businesses accountable for wage discrimination is the same thing as endorsing it.

In my interview with Lilly Ledbetter, she actually responded to McCain's position on the legislation:

We've had a lot of opposition that said this would just open up a multitude of lawsuits, and it would be tough on corporations to fight these cases. But that's not true. If a person or individual thinks they have a case, they can't even go to EEOC unless they have proof. You can't just waltz into EEOC.

Right. It's not exactly like it was easy for Ledbetter -- and others in her situation -- to prove they were discriminated against. In fact, there are some very high barriers to getting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to recognize your complaint as valid.

So the "I hate lawsuits" defense is bullshit. McCain is really saying that he values the rights of corporations over the rights of women and people of color who work for them. Thanks, buddy.

On Monday I talked to Lilly Ledbetter, a truly awesome woman who sued her employer, Goodyear Tire, for paying her less than her male coworkers for year after year. As you may recall, the Supreme Court ruled last year that, because Ledbetter did not file a complaint within 180 days of her first paycheck. Nevermind that she didn't find out about the pay disparity until nearly 20 years later.

Well, Congress is considering legislation that would undo the damage the Supreme Court has done. The Senate is voting on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act at 6pm EDT tonight! So call your Senater now and ask for a YES vote.

Here a taste of my conversation with Lilly:

What do you say to people who claim that the wage gap is not due to discrimination, it's just that women choose lower-paid work and drop out of the work force to raise children?

No! No, no, no, no. I have had my eyes opened up a great deal being involved in this. I filed my charge in 1998; I've been working with this situation since that time. I have correspondence [from people in similar situations] from all over the United States. I was born and reared in Alabama, and I thought this was just a Southern problem. But it's not -- it's a national problem. It doesn't only affect line workers like I was but professional people like doctors and university professors. It's not right, and it's high time for women to be paid equal.

In my case, the money I should have been compensated hurt me, because my retirement was based on what I earned. So that was much lower. I'm like a second-class citizen for the rest of my life. I will never be compensated for my lower wages and my pension, and Social Security wages are much lower, because Goodyear paid me less.

But if I can help support and get this bill passed for others, for all discrimination protection, it'll help our daughters, our granddaughters in the future. And I am so grateful the bill has already passed the House, and I'm hoping it'll pass the Senate.

She told me her 70th birthday was last week, and the best birthday present would be to see this legislation pass.

Here she is on video:

Also check out some Blog for Fair Pay action.

You might already know I Wanna Fuck You from the immense amount of radio airplay it was getting last year, in the censored “I Wanna Love You” version, of course–the distinction here is important, which is why I’m not being radio-friendly. If you’re not, it was the first single to reach #1 on the charts for Senegalese-American rapper Akon and the second for his collaborator, Snoop Dogg. Akon also got attention last year for humping 14-year-olds onstage.

So although I heard Akon’s version about a billion times in 2007, I just found this other live video from spring of last year. It seems that the deeply weird American-French sister duo CocoRosie started performing an inverted version of Akon’s song during their European tour. Like the original, it features a guy trying to pick up a dancer at a club, but from the opposite point of view, far more introspective, and rotated towards their signature Billie-Holiday-meets-fractured-experimental-trip-hop style.

Here are the choruses of the two songs:

Akon:
I see you winding and grinding up on that pole,
I know you see me looking at you and you already know
I wanna fuck you, you already know
I wanna fuck you, you already know

CocoRosie:
You see me trying to smile up on this pole
But I’m just hiding the pain that’s deep in my soul
You wanna fuck me, I already know
You wanna fuck me and toss me back on the floor

I had a series of strong reactions to this song.
(more…)

Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the Supreme Court's decision to limit workers' ability to sue their employers based on gender and other forms of discrimination. This is a big deal because:

• Women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men.
• African-American women are paid 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
• Latinas are paid 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

That's not ok. Luckily Congress is considering legislation that would reverse the effects of the Court's anti-woman decision in Ledbetter, so please take a few minutes and ask your Senators to pass the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Seeking big-picture answers to wage discrimination is important. I am completely aware that women earn less than men for a whole host of systemic reasons. But this is a great opportunity to share some practical tips for women who aren't getting paid what they deserve, and to empower them to act on their own behalf. (Lord knows it's faster than waiting for Congress to help you out.) So I did a little vlogging on the subject:

(I'm not an expert or anything, so please post your own tips in comments. Also, I realize this advice is mostly geared to the 9-to-5 office-type gals among us, but hopefully it'll have some usefulness for those of you who work in other environments, too…)

If you don't want to watch 5 minutes of my "likes" and "ums," what I said is available in convenient bulleted-list form, after the jump…

Tomorrow we'll be participating in Blog for Fair Pay for Women day. You should, too! Head over to the National Women's Law Center to sign up.

Kindly push your loogies down the drain when you hock them up into the sink, rather than allow them to cling tenaciously to the side of the basin for the viewing pleasure of others.

Love,

Zuzu

BBC news reports on Dr Brian McKinstry's recent article in the British Medical Journal where he expresses his concern over the increase of women doctors in the UK.

There are now more women in medical school than men in the UK, and McKinstry finds this alarming, largely because women are taking up more primary care positions rather than becoming surgeons. He says they also tend to go part-time more often.

He proceeds to discuss the "feminisation of primary care," (grrr) and spews off a list of reasons why women in primary care are problematic, like how women with children print fewer publications than men with children, which in part effects the "education, research and development" of the field. Also, women spend more time with patients than male doctors - the horror!

While the doctor acknowledges past inequalities of women entering the medical field, the general tone of the article seemed sexist and holier-than-thou. After his note of women doctors spending more time with patients, he says, "Empathy and communication skills are important, but so are efficiency and the ability to live with risk." I didn't know that spending more time with patients to make sure they're correctly diagnosed and treated was just about the empathy; I would say those are the better doctors, no question. And to turn it into the stereotype of women as caregivers and "good communicators" is a cheap shot.

In the BBC article, Dr Steve Field, chair of the Royal College of GPs, also questioned the selection process when it comes to medical school entry:

"[H]e added that there were concerns over the fact that girls tended to do better in the interview process for medical school at age 18. 'I'm concerned about how we select into medical school as it seems to be more difficult for boys post A-level.' "

So of course something has else rather than competency has to be going on if women are doing better than men in their interviews. Those 18 year old hussies!

All I can say is that I was glad to see a rebuttal of McKinstry's contention; check it out. Do any UK readers with more knowledge want to weigh in on this?

Check out Deborah Siegel and I chatting it up about things like "entitlement," mentoring etc. over at The New York Times blog, Shifting Careers.