Blog 3

First article I chose is "Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism." Zinn and Dill highlight the fact that there are "multiple hierarchies" when dealing with feminism because gender relations are constructed by and between "classes, races, and cultures." Instead of simply discriminating women compared to men based on the difference in gender, there are many more discriminating levels as it deals with non-white races and lower class females. I also liked how the authors point out that the society's perspective is hampered because of "biracial model in which only African Americans and Whites are seen as racial categories" and that all other races in between are viewed through the "prism of cultural differences." Although many might think that factors like gender, race, class, and culture are separate, they are in fact very interconnected, with certain groups suffering from more discrimination than others (i.e. non-white, lower class females would be viewed differently from white, high-class females).

The second article is "Global Woman." The authors of this article underline the traditional gender roles set in our society. Women's "traditional role" includes child care and home-making, while men contribute very little to the housework and are expected to have paid jobs. Although in the modern world, women have begun to compete against men in workplace outside of home, it is not true the other way around as men continue to remain uninvolved in their homes. The rigid traditional beliefs that discourage men from "women's work" often lead to women doing both home-making and bread-winning. Because of this overwhelming responsibility, women in Western countries often hire paid domestics and caretakers. Though it may seem that we are steering away from the traditional norms as these women get paid for their domestic jobs, this only leads to men to continue avoiding the "second shift" and further emphasize the traditional gender roles.

I think that situated knowledge is an impediment to seeing the world clearly. Each and every person is brought up observing and learning different things and having different opinions. Therefore, everyone has his or her situated knowledge. Because of this, situated knowledge leads to prejudices and thus impede to seeing the world clearly without any bias. However, I do believe having this difference is inevitable because of the diversity of cultural and structural influences in one's life.