English 1301 was reading about the elderly. One of the articles talked about the insanity of older women trying to look young. (I disagree with her, I think, at least in principle.) A question on the issues afterward asked: “What difference do you think the feminist movement has made in easing the unrealistic pressures on aging women?”
The first comments were on how feminism is just a revised communism. We discussed that. We differentiated the two. Then we discussed equality of opportunity (democracy) as opposed to equality of outcome (communism). We also discussed this in terms of the “wage gap.” It was, I said, a problem in past years, but was much less so now.
After that discussion, we returned to the book’s question. I argued that feminism has in fact increased the unrealistic pressures on all women. Instead of being expected to care for our homes, our families, and ourselves, we are expected to care for our homes, our families, and ourselves while getting an education and working at a white collar job full-time. Since I have several single mothers in the classroom, there was much nodding of heads.
iFeminist wrote recently, and has her article on the Fox website, about the wage gap. I have heard her arguments before and I agree with them. I just thought that this presentation was both cogent and timely. I am thinking about having my students read the article as an extra credit work. A written response of some kind will be required.