Assignment 3

I enjoyed both Audre Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” and Barbara Ehrenreich & Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Global Women.”
In Lorde’s article I was very interested in the idea that “it is the responsibility of the oppressed to teach the oppressors their mistakes.” It shows an interesting side of the views of the oppressed and those who oppress them and the dynamic between the two. Lorde illustrates how our society used the differences between age, race, class and sex to create the dominant and subordinate groups. The belief in what Lorde calls a “mythical norm” and how “in America, this norm is usually defined as White, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure” is prevalent in today’s society as well. Although there is a vast mixture of differences throughout America now, the “mythical norm” still holds true throughout the minds of most Americans. It is the fact that people still perceive the “mythical norm” to exist which causes the “mythical norm” to stay alive, also our society demonstrates this norm quite often. I especially like the part of Lorde’s paper where she addresses the idea that “white women ignore their built-in privilege of Whiteness and define women in terms of their own experience alone.” This brought up an issue I wasn’t really aware of, how women contribute to their own oppression by oppressing other women. As a woman I hope this stereotype and vicious circle decrease and eventually dissipate. I feel that Lorde ultimately wants society to become more excepting, and that this is essential to change.
In “Global Women” it very much emphasized the stereotypical gender roles prominent in society, with the women as the caretakers and the men as the breadwinners. While this is still eminent in today’s society, there has been a movement of women into the workforce that has blurred this stereotype. Women now have jobs and can “bring home the bacon.” However, while it is now accepted for women to work, it is still expected that they also do the caretaking and home keeping. While men have started to help out in the domestic things, they are discouraged due to the idea that men shouldn’t do such “girly” things. So working women sometimes hire nannies or maids to take care of these things instead of having the fathers do the domestic work. However, this article highlights that these nannies or maids often come from less fortunate countries and are there to provide for their families, which is a step away from the stereotype because the woman is the one providing for her family. This article touches up on the fact that this globalization of women maybe affecting their children in a negative way, such as the women who leave their families to work in America.
Both of these articles demonstrate norms and stereotypes that are well known in our society. And they both also shine light onto a new perspective on the stereotypes and how these norms are being slowly decreased with the change in society that is occurring and hopefully continues to do so.