Gendered Class

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Gendered Class

A New Declaration of Interdependence

4/25/2009

Richard Perry

A Pursuit of HappinessRoles in society are based in social and civil institutions. Among these relationships gendered roles are also established. From the feminist perspective the prospect of justice has constraints for many women; gender, in particular, has a significant impact on the quality of individual, familial, and community life in our society. Specifically, these normative social roles are manifested both at a macro-level as well as at a micro-level. It is worthwhile to explore these relationships of gendered roles, especially the economic aspect as it applies to social and political justice. John Locke made an important contribution to politics and philosophy; he claimed there are certain human rights, natural rights, which exist before government. This concept was paraphrased in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.From this phrase a vision was derived. While a new nation sought to be free from economic and social tyranny from foreign agents, a number of competing empires, a long and well established tradition of male domination was maintained from Western tradition. As the nascent American state emerged some things had changed, other institutional roles had continued. There is a history of disproportionate liberty, a discontinuity based on the traditions and domination of Anglo-Saxon Protestant men. A new colonial society and a new found world struggled for independence; however, they forgot or chose to or ignore significant parts of their population. While today the accepted account of womens rights is one of social enlightenment, choice, and equal justice in America this is not entirely true and I will seek to share why I believe this to be the case.Certainly, social advances have been made. The civil rights movement, womens suffrage, child labor laws, industrial and agricultural safety standards, anti-harassment laws, and other laws have reflected the changing awareness of the very principles our nation was founded on. It is a great principle and surely it is a worthy idea to uphold and fight for; there is a genius in the practical application of our government to this principle. It is malleable enough to adapt to changing conditions such as the dynamics of the population and yet resilient in protecting core values. These core values might be expressed as basic human rights. Just as Lockes principles are centered on human rights in a natural state, before a social contract would be established by a government. He explains the importance of the preservation of life, health, liberty and property. It is a curious change made to Lockes writings to the word choices in the Declaration of Independence. It is a significant change to leave out property and health. The iconic Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness does not encompass the depth from which Lockes philosophy contained. That change for me is telling and has implications in the application of justice, particularly in what has transpired to now. From a feminist perspective there is evidence that seems to point to particular methods employed to maintain a system of gendered oppression that compromises women socially, economically, and ultimately politically. This is centered on limited access to justice and as a result a limited autonomy, both at home and in society. There is an alternate economic method based on supplementing what would be considered womens work such as child care provider, care giver, or other typically non-paid labor. The current Western ideas of justice and the application of these principles as it relates to gendered roles are deeply rooted culturally. There are a few aspects I will seek to expand on, the normative marriage roles, how single women are unfairly discriminated against, and the significant issues that impact access to monetary, social, and political positions in western society. There are several feminists who have sought to articulate the various meanings of domination and subjugation; there is certainly no decisive conclusion. There is a disparity between the sexes. When it is our own culture this can be difficult to identify or perhaps even acknowledge. Economics are and have been central from the start a core value to our social tradition in America. Property in particular seems to me to be a fitting staple of the American identity. It is the very measure of success from the Capitalist paradigm and we track it closely, by the minute, cent, and yield. The spirit of independence also seems to me to be a powerful image of American culture. Locke was concerned about a legitimate civil government, one that represented the people. Political power after all had been abused by kings, popes, and emperors. In 1776 revolution was occurring around the world. It was fairly clear political power could be abused. An emerging new power, the Protestants, fleeing Europe to escape political and economic domination from various monarchies and religious powers landed in a resource rich and distant land. I find it difficult to not talk about Locke, especially in context to American traditions and economics. For me he made his principles fairly clear. It is apparent to me justice is a process and not a state of being. There is an ever-diligent need of earning justice, protecting it; a dialogue is an essential aspect to justice. It is important to have a voice in our institutions and it is notable that women have less a voice than men based on our institutions, system of law, and government. In this function of our established normative social rolesfamily roles in particularwe can begin to explore a fair distribution of equality. We have failed to protect the basic human rights of women, a significant segment of the population.All Men are Created Equal Women have had considerable social and political strife. We are wrapped up in our culture and our paradigm of normative roles. Gender plays a significant role in most societies and gender inequality is not uncommon. Justice is ultimately about the fair and equitable application of law or rules both civil and social.Locke so elegantly defined natural rights of individuals: life, health, liberty and property. In considering politics the feminist author Susan Okin, in her writing, Justice, Gender, and the Family, points out an ongoing social and political history of gender inequality in our society. In this she argues a political philosophy based on a gendered social and political discontinuity. She adapts a well-known political principle from John Rawls in, A Theory of Justice, called the original position [The original position is a thought experiment: an imaginary situation in which each real citizen has a representative, and all of these representatives come to an agreement on which principles of justice should order the political institutions of the real citizens. Were actual citizens to get together in real time to try to agree to principles of justice for their society the bargaining among them would be influenced by all sorts of factors irrelevant to justice, such as who could appear most threatening or who could hold out longest. The original position abstracts from all such irrelevant factors. In effect the original position is a situation in which each citizen is represented as only a free and equal citizen, as wanting only what free and equal citizens want, and as trying to agree to principles for the basic structure.--Stanford Online ]. She emphasizes the point about the importance of including family in his legal and political ideology of equality and individual rights. This is an issue of Rawls, which she suggests, tacitly assumes the family structure to be just. Okin adds, importantly so, the need to apply these principles not only to the civil and legal structures but to the family. The enduring and general indifference in western society toward gender issues in political and social roles has caused or at least has been a contributor to inequalities faced by women. These inequalities limit individual rights of all people, men and women alike. Okin has shared this thought in her viewpoint. She is recognized, understandably, as a brilliant and ground-breaking thinker. Okin asks us to judge our social paradigms of family, society, and specifically to consider gender roles. She demands this of us; it is not so differentand it is just as challengingas what Locke had prescribed in his day. It is revolutionary. Okins analysis of family injustice as it relates to social and economic disparities in context to womens work is tied closely to a system that maintains these institutional roles and expectations. Sara Ruddick from, Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace is also useful to consider. Ruddick for me expanded the concept of feminism, a compelling argument of a systematized marginalization of womens roles and how these expectations are damaging and limit access to privileges otherwise afforded to men. It is this status quo which advocates the existing authority structure and power distribution. The maternal standpoint she writes about and the value of that role as caregiver and mother are not weaknesses; they are essential components of our society that have been largely ignored with respect to economic benefits and social status.A Just FamilyThese feminists share similar views. I shall seek to put their views in context of my own analysis of womens liberty as it relates to politics, family, and justice. Patriarchal dominated sex roles within the family are well established; this is an institution and therefore could be argued as a cementing aspect of our identity as a society. Women have largely taken care of the children, they had been mothers, wives and they tend to these duties with little meaningful economic benefit.While much has improved in the last several generations this arrangement leaves women vulnerable socially and politically. Once put into context to family, economics, and social liberties the inequalities are more discernable. These inequalitieslike libertyare not static; they have changed with the times. Women have been expected to perform duties without pay such as child rearing and house work. When women are working in similar capacities as men they are paid lessabout 70% of the male counterparts salary. Often women are found working part-time in low paying dead end jobs. Women are more often single parents and as elderly more likely to experience poverty. These are not random conditions that happen due to women being less capable. They are the product of a normative institutional social role that is responsible for maintaining a privileged segment of society, Anglo-Saxon Protestant men. It is inconsistent with the principles this country was fostered upon by individuals like John Locke, John Rawls, Okin, Ruddick and others who had the courage to point this outthough rarely heeded specifically regarding feminist issues.There is a profound difference between getting by and leading a fully realized life. The same point could be made regarding third world countries, some minorities, and marginalized populations or slaves. The common issue is injustice; the means are largely economic and political. Rawls addresses these issues but in the context of the justice system. Significantly, he did not adequately address the family structure. His presumption one many of us shares, it seems, perhaps because it is normal, it is our society and what we know. As Okin makes clear Rawls makes an assumption of family justice. This presumption of Rawls is inconsistent with the reality of what justice is. There are invisible ceilings that limit some groups from positions allowing power and influence; both Rawls and Okin can agree on that. These positions commanding economic and social status will not be obtained by women as a standard, as an institutionalized role. This is evident in the number of women represented in all levels of social and political circles. Without gendered equality in the home there is a significant barrier to realizing economical and political success. This begins in the home and not in Washington, D.C. or in law. The traditional Western nuclear family is well-known: there are one or two incomes, a father and mother who are preferably married as husband and a wife. This preference is indicated by the tax codes; the institutional articulation of normative social roles as a function of taxation penalizes non-traditional roles. This expression of the law in the home and hence as a society represents an unfair burden based on gendered roles and social expectations, or values. As with any institution these standards are subject to some minor changes but they are resilient and slow to adapt to additions or eliminations of any significance. Our laws are centered upon a heterosexual patriarchal dominated relationship model, one licensed by the state and protected by the federal government with legal protections and obligations. The church also provides as an authority but from a tradition of protestant reformation the secular world is superior to the churches authority in worldly matters. It is expected that the husband is the head of the household, the principle income earner, and the final authority in the home. The hierarchy of authority is ordered from the husband to the wife and then children. This hierarchal structure is not at all similar to the governing institution of Western traditions, a representative republic. A man is king in his home, the sole ruler of his domain.Single ParentsYet another ignored issue, or perhaps a segment of the population that is penalized by the existing institutional roles, are single parents. More often single parents are women. This is argued by Ruddick as the existing paradigm of maternal care. It is unmanly to be a caregiver. Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace shares some interesting thoughts about care ethics that express the gendered inequality women face. The care ethic is not aligned with Western values of independencethe pursuit of happinesswhich is centered on the acquisition of property; nor is it considered suitable work for men. Work is a vocation in which one is paid for their labor and not the same value as the type of care provided by mothers or caregivers. In context to our Western societys history it seems fairly evident that an Anglo-Saxon Protestant male value, on which our nation was founded, has been slow to change to include women as significant members of society. Institutional roles, in particular those of women, demand that they remain secondary to men, to serve as care givers to children. When women do otherwise they are labeled deviants by seeking more or not falling within established normative social roles. Women are made vulnerable both financially, socially, and politically in a system which limits fair representation. In having less earning potential, in being care givers and mothers, they are also limited to positions of authority in the greater context of society, law, and representation in our political institution. From the Rawlsian perspective, as exemplified in the original position, these inequalities would not be acceptablea situation in which women may be categorically denied access to status or wealth based on gendered roles. Yet that is what we have in Western tradition; we find ourselves fulfilling this expectation, tacitly accepting the institutional normative role. Justice, if we consider the aspect of how it is dispensed, is both social and economic. As the means of our system of parity, both familial and legal is not fair to women. Fair and equal distribution of justice is dependent on equal access to education, employment, training, and opportunities in general to participate in positions of authority both public and private. In the family the model from which we derive our sense of fairness is framed in a discontinuity of equality, from an antiquated model no longer relevantif it ever was. Okin makes her point of the issues of gender inequalities from within the family structure. Given an additional barrier of not falling within normative relationship paradigm of a married or a two parent home further compounds issues of equality for a single women parent. With few resources equally accessible, often marginalized economic opportunities, social stigmas attached to being outside the accepted normative relationship structure, and without an additional significant relationship to provide care and support for dependents many women are left vulnerable and resigned to state programs which perpetuate poverty, gender inequality, and disproportionate justice.Welfare and Care Many single parentsmost often womenare limited with few real resources. When a home is divided from a normative socially defined idea of a heterosexual two parent household to a non-traditional family model the man is less likely to be the primary caregiver for the dependent child. A woman, if she does work earns less. As Ruddick suggests the inequality of gender is particularly damaging in the context of a separation. Alone, with a dependent or multiple dependants after a divorce, if she did not work lacks significant work history and likely has no unemployment insurance to support her economically. Due to this family model she is likely to lack professional certifications; if she did work she was likely a secondary income earner and not the primary bread winner. In short, women who are married and did not work in the market place if divorced or separated are far more likely to need public assistance. This circumstance has lasting and potentially mutigenerational implications.Aside from the social and political stigmas of welfare the level of poverty that exists in these families is troublesome. Children are less likely to complete high school or obtain a GED. They are more likely to be exposed to violence in a poor community and more likely to be convicted and imprisoned. The single parent if they can work are more likely to work menial positions, often with little or no significant benefits such as health care or paid leave due to professional limitations. If the children are ill single parent many not be able to work and are more at risk of losing employment as a result. These economic scenario are not uncommon. Multi-generational cycles of poverty, poor access to public and higher education, and fewer social connections to well paid vocations all have a significant and lasting effect.Wage Earners & the ProfessionalThere is a stark contrast to a wage earner and a professional. Most often a professional has a higher education and in general these positions have significant benefits. Professionals often have political influence working poor or those in poverty would never imagine possible. An elected official almost exclusively has a professional background. This is in contrast to the Rawlsian perspective, the original position. The poor are largely ignored politically, whether they fall within the accepted normative roles of family structure or not. The poor do not often vote and they are commonly suspicious of authority. There are few poor people in politics. In the legal system a court appointed lawyer is not as effective as a private lawyer. When an individual is poor s/he is not well represented in the court system. From the poor or poverty mindset the court system or authority in general are punitive. Given the discontinuity of gendered roles and inequalities this is not surprising. Maternal Peace and Politics The valuation of the human experience has been shifted the last several generations from an agrarian economy to an industrial based system. What was once interconnected agrarian families and communities have been transformed to a highly mobile consumer-based economy. It was notable to me after America was attacked in 2001 by extremist multinational radicals our leadership spoke to the public and told us to shop. There was talk of war, vengeance, and shopping. I found this odd and yet telling regarding the expectations we have of each other as citizens. We have a deep cultural expectation of independence in Western society. Yet, we are not really at all independent; quite the contrary. We are a consumer-based nation. Our farms are typically industrial and gathered from all reaches of the world; most people have no idea where their food comes from. This specialized civil structure has not diversified industry or made us more independent, rather it has tied us inexorably together. Our mega-markets and warehouse-sized shopping centers gather goods and products from around the world. Local farmer markets and goods are small business in contrast the multinational corporate entities that give us our food and goods.The implication relating to feminist issues is significant. Gender issues have been largely marginalized or worse denigrated as troublesome counter-cultural deviants. It is an issue in Western society that continues an oppressive system against women. This inequality begins in the home and extends to the workforce, from the workforce to social status, and that inequality is reflected in the representation in our government. Women are vulnerable because the normative institutional roles expected of womenas secondary citizens, economically and socially.As Ruddick surmises the place of women as caregivers and mothers, nurtures, are in contrast to the illusion of independence Western society has valued so highly. Okins rightly points out the incongruity in the application of Rawlss Theory of Justice as it is applied to the institutions of law and society but are not in line with the roles of mothers and wives in the family. Justice is limited in our normative institution of gender roles, being female is a limiting attribute to the equal benefits of society. It is in contrast to equality and justice. Regarding the application of justice, as a society we might consider a few notions of equality to correct injustice. The tax system which promotes one relationship model over another is unfair. Marriage, if it is to be truly honored by the state and applied in a manner consistent with the principles of life, liberty, health, and property must be applied without prejudice, and hence without favor or bias. This should include other non-traditional domestic relationships or lack of relationships. It is important to keep in mind that our very models in which we live are responsible for maintaining a system of patriarchal domination which has persisted in history. The established normative idea of work as pointed out by Ruddick is a major barrier in establishing equality among genders. To balance the economic and socio-political playing field two suggestions: work such as childcare or other dependent care, in some manner should be subsidized; we should pay parents who stay at home to care for our children. Maternal care as a vocation is a legitimate industry and the need is clear enough but in our current system this work is often unpaid. We must support the ability for everyone to work and that entails changing the concepts of what work is. This brings us to another matter of childcare for the working parents, both two parent families and single parents. The need for safe, clean, and quality childcare is essential to provide equal opportunity to support the important task of maintaining a healthy population of children. We should provide equal opportunity for the primary caregivers of these children. In our current system we have an inequality both public and private for women. This is a crucial step in facilitating equal footing in the home and in society. By not limiting parents, either single or two parent households, we allow for social and domestic opportunities on par with the current normative social standards. We do, after all, as a society want to have children. We should hold the care of these children, financially, as an obligation not solely of mothers but as a system of support which is in turn provided by for our fellow citizen-parents. To compete with equal footing in social and familial roles we must adapt from the status quo to a new and therefore unfamiliar standard. The needs of parenting sometime require staying at home. This current normative social role creates an inequality in the home and in society. Paying for parents to take care of children seems odd, perhaps, but socially and politically making this a valued industry, making it relevant, supports equality. A second issue is the accountability of estranged or absent parents. While this issue is largely absent fathers, as supported by Ruddick in her analysis of womens work, holding the fathers accountable, economically in the least, seems fitting. The current system of paying child support to either the primary caregiver or in some situations by court order via state mandated payments are uneven and often inconsistent. Similar to the taxes we pay for social security we may hold non-custodial parents or working parent(s) to pay an additional tax. In return all childcare should be provided for to those who are working or those who either by need or desire to stay at home.Okin advocates in her philosophy an idea of rights similar to Locke and both concepts are revolutionary. In dealing with such issues we are challenged to further our society and family identityor normative social roles. Certainly we have made improvements. Justice does not just happen; by following good principles of liberty and fairness we earn justice. We must provide a foundation from which we can support societys interests and not limit or subjugate those who are at risk of being dominated by the majority or elite. We need a better educated and therefore informed society to have justice. Bibliography

Susan Okin, (Blackboard excerpt) Justice, Gender, and the Family

Sara Ruddick, (Blackboard excerpt) Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace

John Rawls, Theory of Justice