Can we take Gender out of the WoLFi debate?
posted Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
One of the great things about being a student again, is that you get to attend some really awesome seminars. A week long seminar by UK gender researcher Becky Francis, was not only a re-look at sex and gender debate- (are we products of our biological sex or socially constructed gendered identities ? ) but a walk through the various global feminisms from liberal, radical, Marxist to black feminism all with their own particular agendas and accomplishments…Becky led us to discover a particularly ‘out there’ post-structuralist feminist, Judith Halberstam. Halberstam’s analysis cuts the tie between biological sex and gender performance, with concepts like ‘female masculinity’ and ‘male femininity’…(see refs below)
So how does this all tie into the work life family interconnectivy? It led me to wonder the repercussions of taking sex and gender out of the home and the workplace. What if caring work and paid work were regarded by society as genderless endeavours? Would they be more equally valued? Is it possible to take sex or gender out of the WoLFi debate?
ARM-A a feminist scholarship and mothering organisation have an interesting take on ‘motherwork’.
‘Rejecting the biologically determinist positioning that reduces women to the equivalent position of mother, we thereby accept Sara Ruddick’s definition of mothering and motherwork as the work required to grow, preserve and train a newborn into a responsible adult (Maternal Thinking). We therefore see mothering/mother work as a gender-neutral endeavour. That is, motherwork is understood as a particular form of work that needs to be valued and recompensed, whether performed by a man or a woman.’
Francis, B. (2008) Engendering Debate on how to formulate a political analysis of the divide between genetic bodies and discursive gender, ‘Journal of Gender Studies’, 17 (3)
Halberstam, J. (1998) Female Masculinity: masculinity without men (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press).
ah, a hypothetical…I think in a genderless world (such as the one Commander Riker encountered in the Star Trek Next Generation episode ‘The Outcast’) we would still have the same problems with work-life balance. A genderless individual in a demanding job might still feel that they are unable to spend as much time with their family as they would like. Alternatively, a demanding family can limit work time (especially for those who attempt to work from home).
binnaburra said this on August 15th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I am not sure what you mean by genderless. I think we need to take gender out of what constitutes motherwork in the sense that it is set of skills that anyone can be trained or socialised for. I dont think this would reduce the worklifebalance conundrum, but if motherwork was done equally by both genders then both genders would have an interest in changing institutional and cultural attitudes. I do believe many fathers would like more family friendly hours but it is currently hard for them to do so because our existing social structures dont allow that equality.
Of course mothers have to enable some of this change by expecting and asking others to help and to not be so precious about the methods used (unless dangerous of course). And maybe this wont happen until women’s worth is so integrally tied to procreation…I think this is a chicken and egg problem but we need to start somewhere.
gorgeous said this on August 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I guess it may be impossible to live in a genderless world, as it seems from the moment we’re born, decisions about male or female, blue or pink, and even how we talk to and handle bablies is ‘gendered’. But if gender was less of an organising principle upon which social structures and institutions are built then we may be able to move forward faster than we are now.
aztec-rose said this on August 16th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I think transgender people pretty much put paid to the notion that gender is an entirely social construct. But I also think work should be genderless, because while I recognise that there are differences between people who identify male and female, any given trait could belong to either gender. I multi task like a woman, I do maths and science like a man. Sadly I throw like a girl and drink and swear like man.
I do think removing gender from the workplace would help WoLFi, because of gorgeous’ comment about men really not having much access to family friendly work options. I also generally think that the best way to improve the way caring work is valued is for more people to do it. Men who do a sensible share of caring for their kids tend not to underestimate its value.
Ariane said this on August 16th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
“You can have it all”, “just do it”,”a mars bar a day helps you work rest and play”.
Too much thinking and perhaps a little more ownership of choices is needed.
As a working mother of 3 children I am know registering what everyone else said when I was pregnant – your life will never be the same, no more………No one ever said “here is the magic recipe”.
Paid maternity leave, parent friendly work hours – these are choices. We choose our jobs and the conditions/hours/commitment level we want.
We choose the husband and we know what he will bring to the child equation. Women should own the choice – lets not remove gender lets promote choosing compatible gender mates.
We choose our job, house, recreations and the commitment or effort to fulfil them. Own the choice.
Genderless – well look around. 20 % of women in my work are near 40 and childless. They are successful and never feel gender inequalities.
The human brain can only take so much. If women don’t stop doing it all, men will never have to.
Women make better choices – not genderless ones.
Everyone wants it all or to make it easier for themselves without really changing their needs.
Maybe if the
Whining stops now. said this on August 18th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Maybe some very lucky women get to make all those choices. When I chose my partner, I had no idea what he would bring to the child equation. Hell, I had no clue what *I* brought to it. As it turns out, he has both exceeded and failed to meet my expectations.
I have had the luck to make employment choices – I know lots of people who have not.
But I agree that women have to stop doing it all. Those with the rare privilege to be able to make decisions demanding both parents share time off work and so on, should do it. It is the only way it will become the norm.
Ariane said this on August 18th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Everyone is an individual. Everyone’s upbringing is also individual. The knowledge one learns is individual. Certain employment positions are gender related therefore have to be gender applied. There are positions I believe that are genderless and many lie within office professional roles. People have different backgrounds that lend them to different talents and desires. Gender doesn’t necessarily make a good parent or employee. It is the well being, emotional, spirit of a person that makes a good parent or employee. The desire to be a good person and good at excelling in one’s chosen place. I am a happily married mother of 3 teenagers and had the opportunity to stay at home with my 3 children until 4 years ago when I obtained part time work willingly. I do not believe that because I was a stay at home mum my children received the best beginning in life. Choices could still have been made that could have advanced them better. I came reclusive and they suffered socially. So it up to the individual/s.
Shari said this on August 21st, 2008 at 11:00 am