Feminism - good for families!

Cross post from former FMF intern Caroline Sellars's blog The Feminist Perspective.

Feminism Strenthens Families

The Values Voters Summit and Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell have recently accused feminism of destroying the American family.

Since statements like these come from a hyperbolic stereotype of feminism, it's important to stop and appreciate the many ways that feminist principles have in fact strengthened American families.

Let’s break down what feminism actually advocates. Feminism is “the policy practice or advocacy of political, economic and social equality for women.” Each of these three equalities is crucial to the health and wellbeing of the American family.

1. Social Equality: Feminism advocates that women should have the same social choices as men, including the ability to seek personal fulfillment and economic improvement in the workplace. Some women are happier to work outside the home, and happier women in turn leads to healthier and happier children and families. I speak from experience on this one, as a child of two working parents.

It also gave women the chance to improve their families' economic well-being by providing extra income, and more family income means more opportunities all around.

2. Economic Equality: Once women have entered the workplace, it is important to make sure they are paid the same as their male counterparts. By advocating for pay equality, feminism ensures that women, and the families they spend their money on, are valued adequately.

Studies show that when you invest in women, they will in turn invest 90% of their future income in their families, as compared to 30-40% reinvestment for men. When women make more money, families (that means men, too!) have more resources.

3. Political Equality: Women vote differently than men. Among their top voting priorities are issues that directly affect their families, like the economy and health care. They also favor more cooperation in international strategy which would minimize the human casualties of aggressive and impulsive military tactics.

All these things make us a stronger, healthier, and well-protected nation. When women's voices are excluded from the political scene, countries suffer.

Feminism is about lifting women up, and when women benefit we all benefit. Empowered, healthy women lead to empowered, healthy families, and thus a stable nation. The real thing to fear is what families would be without the gains of feminism.

Photo: fifikins via Flickr

Dear Toyota: Women Buy Cars Too

I've never owned my own car. In high school, I shared a family car; in college, I comandeered one of my parents' cars. And, over the course of the last few years, I've lived in urban areas with great public transportation and simply haven't needed a car. Suffice it to say, I still don't "need" a car - but my partner and I are beginning to consider the possibilities of life with our very own automobile?!!

So, as I'm browsing the internet, researching the features/prices/environmental impact of various vehicles, I've started looking at hybrids. I like the idea of a hybrid- great gas mileage, low emissions, small size, good overall safety--but that's most hybrids. What is going to stand out to me about brand X's car? Evidently, Toyota has done some great branding, because the first hybrid that pops in my mind is the Prius...

Unfortunately for Toyota, all I saw when I went to their website was the sexist tag line for the 2010 model: "Harmony between man, nature and machine." [emphasis mine] I tried to let it slide by and continue my cross-brand comparrison, but I couldn't. I got stuck - stuck on the fact that here I am, ready and willing to read their best gimic; ready to have their website tell me all about why I, an educated, responsible consumer, should interest myself (and better yet, BUY!) their product. And instead of being SMART advertizers, they stymi themselves with blatant sexism.

So channeling my most effective feminist activism, I emailed Toyota:

I am very interested in the Prius, but am more than a little put off by the marketing scheme: 'man,' v. nature, v. prius. I recognize the logic "man v. nature" but find it offensive to be excluded from the wonders Toyota supposedly has to offer (for both man and nature) because I am a woman. This is your 2010 model, not your 1950 model. Your advertising budget is astronomical. Find a better way to convey your message that does not exclude 51% of the population (and what I would imagine is a greater majority of your target audience): women.

I recognize it is not the most profound piece of protesting literature I've ever written, but my voice deserves to be heard. Perhaps, in the past, I would have let it slide; I would have internally chastized myself for being overly-sensitive and gone along my merry way. But NO. This is my money. This is my investment. This is Toyota needing to understand how their lousy marketing is not only counter-productive, it's OFFENSIVE. (Side note: if anyone has consumer reports information on how many women v. men buy hybrids, and specifically Priuses, please share!)

If you care to join my protest, first check out Toyota's sexist marketing strategy, and then shoot 'em an email. As far as I'm concerned, my buck stops here.

NB: According to Consumer Reports, women are "far more focused on fuel economy, with 38% citing it as the most important factor, while only 24% of men felt the same."

Photo credit: flickr.com/cgoulao

World Economic Forum: Progress Across Africa Depends on Girls

This month girls were the focus at the World Economic Forum on Africa to highlight what is working in the region and what still needs drastic improvement. Girls make up more than 75% of HIV positive youth in Africa and those numbers are not decreasing. Young girls face tremendous challenges throughout childhood and adolescence with high drop out rates, early marriage, early pregnancy, and minimal access to medical care.

While staggering statistics and painful stories are often the images sent out of Africa, I was delighted to hear that the international community is acknowledging and discussing the crucial role girls play in economic development! Finally, influential people with the power to make real change are talking solutions to some of the world's biggest problems and they are finally focusing on girls.

The panelists highlighted the importance of investing in "The Girl Effect" which is no new news. The research documents that investing in girls provides exponential returns - girls will do more with the resources offered to them and invest more into the health and education of their family and community.

The forum emphasized that...

• Investing in girls is smart economically
  
• Economic solutions are often masked by culture
• Girls must be reached before age 12 to have an impact
  
• Girls won't count until we count them
• A little bit of support is not enough

I just got back from a semester abroad in Kenya (the girls in the photo are from my village in Bodo, Kenya!) and I feel that the forum is right on with focusing on these issues but I often struggle with serious questions surrounding foreign aid and assistance coming from the West: how can we truly empower young girls and women if the solutions are derived outside of the country and outside of the context?

Of course there are critical impacts we can make from the West in terms of our top-down aid and supportive policy, but I would like to see increased support of more homegrown, or bottom-up responses that encourage girls to come up with their own solutions to the problems that directly impact their lives - they are our greatest resource for information and implementation.

Poverty, illness and women's role in both, are entirely cyclical and trying to combat the cycle at only one juncture is simply illogical. We need a multifaceted approach that is solidly based in evidence and has clear pathways for evaluation and accountability.