Tag: lean in
Jessica Williams is not yours
Speculation about who will replace venerated fake newsman Jon Stewart is running wild. Understandably, after seeing many late night spots go to white men, there's been a lot of discussion about women who could take over The Daily Show. Also understandably, many of those discussions have centered around Jessica Williams, a correspondent who has put out many brilliant and feminist comic pieces for the show. Williams graciously accepted the compliment and demurred, and that's when things took a turn, as Katie McDonough wrote at Salon: Continue reading "Jessica Williams is not yours"
Author Rebecca GriffinPosted on February 20, 2015 February 19, 2015 Categories feminismTags feminism, impostor syndrome, jessica williams, john oliver, lean in, the daily show6 Comments on Jessica Williams is not yours
Women can't win when it comes to negotiation
Equal pay has become a hot issue in the Texas gubernatorial race, and Republicans are making fools of themselves. It started out bizarrely with the head of a Republican SuperPac saying women are "too busy" for equal pay. The head of the Texas Republican Party followed up with another tone deaf comment:
"Men are better negotiators," Beth Cubriel remarked on "Capital Tonight," a Texas political news show. "I would encourage women, instead of pursuing the courts for action, to become better negotiators."
Continue reading "Women can't win when it comes to negotiation"
Author Rebecca GriffinPosted on March 19, 2014 March 19, 2014 Categories feminismTags equal pay, lean in, lily ledbetter, nazareth college, negotiation, sexism, texas gop, wendy davisLeave a comment on Women can't win when it comes to negotiation
Can women afford to lean out instead of leaning in?
photo via foreignpolicy.com
I've already shared some of my issues with the Lean In brand of feminism promoted by Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg. Rosa Brooks at Foreign Policy (whose work on drones I greatly admire) has a new piece arguing that leaning in too much is unhealthy for women:
Ladies, if we want to rule the world — or even just gain an equitable share of leadership positions — we need to stop leaning in. It's killing us.
We need to fight for our right to lean back and put our feet up.
Here's the thing: We've managed to create a world in which ubiquity is valued above all. If you're not at your desk every night until nine, your commitment to the job is questioned. If you're not checking email 24/7, you're not a reliable colleague.
But in a world in which leaning in at work has come to mean doing more work, more often, for longer hours, women will disproportionately drop out or be eased out.
Why? Because unlike most men, women — particularly women with children — are still expected to work that "second shift" at home. Men today do more housework and childcare than men in their fathers' generation, but women today still do far more housework and childcare than men.
Few people would dispute that we are overworked and could all benefit from pulling back and putting things in perspective. Brooks acknowledges that this is a problem with our culture as a whole, but as she points out, there are additional expectations foisted upon women that can make the expectations doubly difficult.
Continue reading "Can women afford to lean out instead of leaning in?"
Author Rebecca GriffinPosted on February 27, 2014 February 27, 2014 Categories feminismTags feminism, feminist, lean in, rosa brooks, sheryl sandberg71 Comments on Can women afford to lean out instead of leaning in?
Facebook feminism that hurts women
It's been too easy for feminists to balk at Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, a quasi-feminist book and now organization that focuses on women in the corporate sector more aggressively pursuing their career goals while largely ignoring institutional factors that hold back women. But the Lean In organization just keeps making it easier. (h/t to Jessica Luther):
It seems that Sheryl Sandberg's nonprofit organization, Lean In, is honoring, as one of its "Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should)," Florida G.O.P. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lentinen. You might assume, since Ros-Lehtinen is a Republican, that she holds all the usual horrible Republican positions on foreign and economic policy. And indeed, you would be correct.
But you'd probably figure that, if an allegedly feminist organization like Lean In is honoring her, she must have at least some sort of a decent record on women. Is she pro-choice, maybe? Or at a bare minimum, a supporter for equal pay, perhaps?
Sorry — no, and no. The New Republic's Mark Tracy has the goods here. It turns out that Ros-Lehtinen is an anti-feminist nightmare whose anti-woman politics are not a shade different from Phyllis Schlafly's.
The post goes on to chronicle Ros-Lehtinen's offenses, from voting against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to having a 0 rating from NARAL. As someone who has worked on foreign policy issues for years, Ros-Lehtinen has long been one of my least favorite members of Congress. Her record there is no more female-friendly than her record on domestic issues. She supports hawkish policies that make war more likely, pushes Israel-can-do-no-wrong legislation rather than supporting an evenhanded approach, and even led the charge to torpedo a bill to prevent forced child marriage.
This isn't an anomaly either, as Susan Faludi noted in a lengthy piece on Lean In and feminism's long-running "dance with capitalism":
"If we can succeed in adding more female voices at the highest levels," Sandberg writes in her book, "we will expand opportunities and extend fairer treatment to all." But which highest-level voices? When former British prime minister Margaret ("I hate feminism") Thatcher died, Lean In's Facebook page paid homage to the Iron Lady and invited its followers to post "which moments were most memorable to you" from Thatcher's tenure. That invitation inspired a rare outburst of un-"positive" remarks in the comment section, at least from some women in the U.K. "Really??" wrote one. "She was a tyrant. . . . Just because a woman is in a leadership position does not make her worthy of respect, especially if you were on the receiving end of what she did to lots of people." "So disappointing that Lean In endorses Thatcher as a positive female role model," wrote another. "She made history as a woman, but went on to use her power to work against the most vulnerable, including women and their children."
Faludi describes the earlier transition from "common struggle to individual advancement," and this epitomizes it. This kind of watered-down feminism that reduces to a formula of woman in power=good confirms it. How many young women, women of color, low-income women can relate to a feminism that embraces leaders who use their power in a way that harms so many of us?
I won't argue that the concerns of women in corporate America are irrelevant. While their struggles occur within a very privileged system, they are still not on equal footing with men and that needs to be addressed. But one can't defend a brand of feminism that would throw other women under the bus. Women's progress isn't going to "trickle down" by empowering women like Ros-Lehtinen.
If you want to spend some time reading longer pieces by great feminist writers eviscerating the broader Lean In approach, read bell hooks here and Susan Faludi's full piece here.
Author Rebecca GriffinPosted on February 5, 2014 February 4, 2014 Categories feminismTags bell hooks, facebook, feminism, ileana ros-lehtinen, lean in, sheryl sandberg, susan faludi3 Comments on Facebook feminism that hurts women
Undocumented youth use Justin Bieber to take on double standards in deportation policy.
A brief history of Republicans saying crazy things about women.
Amanda Hess offers a satirical script for what is sure to be a horrible Lean In movie.
Please stop using sex to sell vegetarianism.
Author Rebecca GriffinPosted on February 2, 2014 February 16, 2014 Categories weekend readingTags deportation, feminism, immigration, justin bieber, lean in, meat week, vegetarianismLeave a comment on Weekend reading