The Illusion of Equality
After the Women’s March many women wrote on social media about why they did not attend. They stated that they think they are not oppressed, that they are equal to men and are independent women. They talked about women in third world countries and how they are the ones who are really oppressed. In America, we are all equal, they say.
This is not new. For years women have fought against the feminist movement. They use the same rhetoric, that women are already equal, that we have too much choice, and that all these freedoms endanger women. Most of these women, I argue, are white middle class women.
Marilyn Frye’s essay, Oppression, offers an explanation as to why these women believe this. In her paper, Frye defines oppression as a restraint. It’s the placement of barriers for the benefit of some else. For someone to be oppressed they must be a member of a group; a person is not oppressed if they experienced just any type of restriction. For example, an injury can be restricting but it is not oppressive. In other words, oppression is systematic barriers put in place to benefit the dominant group in society, which are rich white men.
Frye uses the image of a birdcage to explain how others are blind to oppression. She explains that if you just look at each single wire alone, you cannot see how it traps the bird. You have to look at the cage as a whole to see why the bird is trapped inside. Oppression works in a similar way. It has to be looked at in a macro perspective, to see how each part plays into a whole. The thing about these cages is that some are nicer than others and the people inside them might not even realize they are in one. If a women comes from a nice middle class or upper class background they do not feel the same restrictions that poor women do. They have more subtle barriers. Instead of being forced to work after having a baby, they have a “choice” to stay home with the new baby. The father is very unlikely to stay home with the baby and women are socialized to believe that they have to be the main caretakers of children. It really is not a choice for either women but the rich women’s situation feels like one. The cage for middle class women might be nicer and it might feel spacious but it is still a cage.
Some women cannot recognize all the barriers that are restricting them. The barriers are real though. The wage gap has been studied countless times and no matter how many factors are taken to account, the difference is still there. Women are victimized by sexual violence, not just the actual act itself but the threat of it. We carry pepper spray every where we go, we don’t walk by ourselves at night and we are constantly alerting friends and families where we are in case something happens. According to studies, over 90% of sexual assault victims are women and one out of ten women have been raped by a romantic partner. The United States has one of the worst maternity leave policies out of all the developed nations. Mothers are only guaranteed unpaid leave, and that’s only if they’ve been working in the same job for over a year. These are only a few of the restrictions women face in America. This is not counting what women of color or queer women face specifically for not being a white, heterosexual or cisgender woman.
Frye goes on to say that people, including women, do not recognize women as an oppressed group because of how assimilated we are to every part of society. It is easier to recognize an oppressed group if they are segregated. We are united by one thing though, our service to men. She states that every social class women’s work is defined by its service to men; this is what unifies all women. Women’s service work involves personal service like the work of maids and sexual work. Women of all class and racial categories are expected to bear children, and if we don’t we are criticized. Women who do not want to have children are called selfish and told they are going to be alone for the rest of their life. Women as a collective also have to deal with the second shift. Women are burdened with doing most of the house work even in households where both the wife and husband work.
To all of the women who believe that in America they are equal to men the ones who constantly hate on movements like the women’s march. While you might feel like you are equal, it is an illusion. There still are many barriers restricting women from making choices for their everyday lives. You also seem to forget how much harder women of color and poor women have it. Oppression and inequality is all around us, even if you do not see it. There is women in this country who do not have the same privileges as you, queer women whose right to marry is in jeopardy, women of color who are discriminated against and treated violently by the people who are supposed to protect them. There is mothers who are forced work right after having their baby because they cannot afford to take unpaid leave. Feminism is still needed in country, as it is needed in all countries.
