Money for Nothing & Chicks for Free

My Technology Diary post for Week 1, the Freedman, Rosser, and Sterling readings, will focus on money.  Money comes in many different forms but is something that we are all familiar with and use in our daily lives.  After reading the assignments, especially the Freedman chapters, I realize how important money is to not only the oppression and liberation of women, but to the divisions of women by race, class, and occupation and the constant efforts to deny women rights.  My thoughts about money were most clearly related to the Freedman and Rosser readings—it was slightly more difficult to link money to the Sterling readings.

The Freedman chapters began with separating the monetary value of women’s work from women’s actual contributions to the economy.  It brought up questions for me of the monetary value of women’s work, whether domestic or commercial.  Both men and capitalism have ascribed these monetary values; they have devalued the jobs that women do, both on the basis that women’s work does not bring in income (no wages for home childcare/domestic labor) and on the basis that women do not contribute as much to workplace or do not need to contribute as much to their families (low wages for commercial/service industry labor).  While it seems that financial freedom is the way to women’s liberation, it is difficult to achieve because of lower wages, less access to managerial positions, less access to more lucrative fields/devaluation of women-dominated fields, and expectations of financial and time commitments to both family and work. (Freedman, Chapter 6-7)

Money has helped women achieve liberation—for example, middle class white women, the leaders of first-wave feminism—while leaving some women still oppressed—for example, women factory workers in the technology industry in lesser industrialized nations.  Without the status and determination of the first-wave feminists, women’s rights would never have been recognized.  However, the oppression of the factory worker women allows our consumer technology industry to grow and flourish.  While money helped middle class women to lobby for their rights, it also helps to control working class women by denying them fair living wages and thwarting their attempts to unite by pitting race against race, developing nation against undeveloped nation, and class against class (Rosser, 36).

The best way I could relate money to the Sterling readings was through a similar idea to having the financial freedom to pursue feminism—having the financial freedom to pursue one’s gender identity.  Sterling mentions the development of homosexuality as identity (Sterling, 14).  However, I feel this identity would differ based not only on historical time period, but also on class status.  In an article in the LA Times, a Pew Research Center poll found that “Income levels, too, reflect differences of opinion; those with family incomes above $75,000 support gay marriage, while those who earn less are evenly split” (LA Times).  A study by The Williams Institute, highlighted in a US News article found that homosexual couples make slightly higher incomes than heterosexual couples (US News).  I feel that throughout history, those at higher income levels may feel more comfortable accepting and expressing homosexual identities because they have financial freedom and the mobility and status that come with it, just as higher income women were more comfortable speaking their minds because of their status.

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I had a lot to say after these readings, but wanted to make sure it came out clearly.  Oh, and the title?  It’s from a Dire Straits song called “Money for Nothing”, and refers to a rock star gets “money for nothing and chicks for free”, just by getting on stage.  I thought it was relevant because of the ways that women often do work for “free” at home discussed in Freedman’s book.  This is probably the only time I’ll ever think of a catchy title, haha.

Outside Sources

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/20/news/la-pn-same-sex-marriage-support-poll-20130320

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/03/01/gay-couples-more-educated-higher-income-than-heterosexual-couples