The Economist published in December in bright, bold colors, an issue with Rosie the Riveter gracing the cover, rolling up her sleeves as always. There was a twist, however; she wasn’t encouraging women to go to work with her famous “˜We Can Do It!’ slogan. Instead, Rosie was declaring proudly, “˜We Did It!’ Her pose can now be read as a victory fist-pump in progress, a quick celebration of triumph before returning to work.
We ““ as in women, of course ““ did what?
The Economist has jumped the gun on declaring a victory for the feminist movement. It turns out that women haven’t done it yet, but it’ll happen soon: Women are going to be the majority of the workforce within the space of several months. Notwithstanding the fact that women have suffered fewer recession job losses than men, the Economist touts the embryonic majority as a victory, calling it a “candidate (for celebration) … when the world is short of causes…”
Another “cause for celebration,” mentioned tangentially in the Economist, is the subtle takeover of college campuses by the fairer sex. The U.S. Department of Labor discovered that affirmative action helped white women the most in being accepted to college. In 2002, women made up 56 percent of undergraduates on college campuses. The female student population continues to increase, with highly visible effects ““ in 2004, 58 percent of bachelor’s degrees were earned by women.
A lot of people like to think of these as the end-game of the feminist movement ““ because we are the majority, we are the winners. Women no longer need to fight, because we have what we want: access to education and jobs. That’s what women wanted in the first place, so we don’t need to worry, right?
Wrong. Rosie the Riveter will have to work just a bit longer before she can pause to celebrate. Outnumbering men in the workplace and on college campuses is, at best, a hollow victory. One could look at the broader global scope of women’s issues that still need to be addressed to realize that this is merely a small, brief battle in a very large and prolonged war.
Certain countries in South America legalized divorce only a few years ago, and in the Middle East, the situation is even worse ““ Saudi Arabian women can’t drive, women can’t wear pants in Sudan, and their abilities to work, make a living and get an education are severely impeded. This is not even speaking of the nonchalant and misogynistic attitudes toward rape and honor killings. Numerous countries around the world have a substantial amount of progress to make in the arena of women’s rights ““ a more significant victory would be a change in the social and economic status quo for women in any one of these countries.
But we don’t even need to look abroad to realize that there is still work to do. The United States is doing much better than most countries in furthering civil rights for its women. But to say that it has been doing everything perfectly is a stretch. Women still don’t make equal pay for equal work ““ a problem that has existed since the beginning of the feminist movement. They made 77 cents to a man’s dollar in 2007, which was only three years ago.
The Economist itself laments the absence of women in the upper rungs of the corporate hierarchy: “Women are still under-represented at the top of companies. Only two percent of the bosses of America’s largest companies … are women.”
What’s the point of calling a majority a victory if women are stuck at the bottom of the ladder? A promotion bottleneck does nothing to improve the situation for women ““ inevitably, it means we will have to work 10 times harder to walk one step further.
There are too many factors attached to the so-called victory for women that could make it fleeting and impermanent. The least of these is the fact that the proportion of women in the workplace will rise as men, suffering the brunt of the current recession, are losing their jobs in greater numbers. For example, the number of jobs lost in manufacturing, a traditionally male-dominated industry, far outstrips the number of jobs lost in any female-dominated industry. Should the United States reclaim those jobs, women will once again be the minority. The majority can be lost much too easily for it to be actually relevant to a century-long struggle for women’s civil rights in the United States.
Considering that women still don’t make as much as men for the same work, a crucial aspect of this issue in this modern age, women dominating the workplace through sheer numbers is like giving us a larger piece of a worse-tasting pie. Chalking this up as a win for the feminist movement undermines its real goals: equal opportunities and equal respect.
If you like high heels, make-up, and rising to the challenge of a high-pressured job, e-mail de la Fuente at fdelafuente@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.