Why/how is economic inequity a feminist issue?
At first it took me a while to understand this as to why it is a feminist issue but after class I got it. In the article Kristof talks about how the "American Dream" is all lies and the USA is really made up for the only the rich to succeed. As to why it is a feminist issue it goes hand and hand the main thing we are fighting for is equality and "justice". We fight for those who aren't equal those who are below and have no power or no say. In the article he states, "A child born in the bottom quintile of incomes in the United States has only a 4 percent chance of rising to the top quintile, according to a Pew study. A separate (somewhat dated) study found that in Britain, such a boy has about a 12 percent chance". Doesn't this seems ridiculous? Well it's the truth. The system is made that those who are the bottom are trapped at the bottom. I mean as an individualistic you might say "Oh that's ridiculous, I know someone who made it out and so will I" well good for you however as a country and for the other 96% of those at the bottom quintile that's not the reality. He then begins talking about his friend who, “What distinguished Rick wasn’t primarily bad choices, but intelligence, hard work and lack of opportunity." Rick was someone in school who had and attention deficit disorder and was suspended which then lead to him dropping out. It was unfortunate because his mother had died young and he basically had to take care of himself and his siblings. He had to deal with plenty of economic inequity due to the fact that he was a dropout because no one cared about his learning impairment. He eventually died due to a disease and not taking his medication for it because he couldn't afford health care but also because he had given the money to help his ex wife. This is why he says, “They grow up not in a “land of opportunity,” but in the kind of socially rigid hierarchies that our ancestors fled, the kind of society in which your outcome is largely determined by your beginning.” Rick was just an example of a lot of Amercians who are just "stuck" in the system.
Wow honestly this was written so perfectly. The exact words explaining what was going on in this text, and what I pretty much was aiming for. I love it girl!
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