Economic Inequality as a Feminist Issue

          When thinking about inequality it is very important to talk about socioeconomic class.  The very existence of a class system represents stratification in the power structures of a society.  When looking at feminism and gender equality we must include the topic of class inequality.  This is important for several reasons, one of which is that women of different socioeconomic classes can face very different problems.  Lower class women may require issues like labor politics/policies and domestic violence to be addressed more readily than someone of a higher class.  If a woman is in an abusive relationship where both members are financially bound to one another it can create a difficult situation to escape from.  Even if they leave, they might not have anywhere to go.  I find this scenario personally disturbing.  It is also important to realize that there is stratification in political power and political voice when dealing with class issues.  Middle and Upper class women may have more power in shifting political issues.  This can be due to greater access to resources, higher levels of education, more time to be involved and lesser financial restriction.  It is important to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard especially since according to the Center forWorking-Class Studies states that some economists estimate that the working class makes up to 62 percent of the American population.  In my opinion one of the main goals of feminists is to fight against larger power structures that create inequality and that is exactly what a socioeconomic class system does.  To use a metaphor from my Gender and Societyclass, our class system is one of the bars in a much larger cage that surrounds and restricts people.  This is one of the many reasons why I really liked the two websites we were to explore for class; the People Like Us site and the site for the Center for Working-Class Studies.  I particularly found the CWCS website helpful in identifying the existence of a class system that many people don’t usually think about on a daily basis.  The People Like Us site was also interesting in the way in which it used clever mediums such as flash games to show people socioeconomic stratification.




This wikibook page looks interesting and seems to relate to this topic.