A classic debate in today’s society is whether or not Feminism is required. Many would like to argue that it is not needed; Christina Hoff Sommers is one of these people. But the fact of the matter is that women still in 2010 do not make as much money as men do. In Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison’s article “Why Women Need the Paycheck Fairness Act” they attempt to explain why feminism is still necessary and they exploit problems in Christina Hoff Sommers argument that the Paycheck Fairness Act is pointless. The truth is that feminism is still needed in order to obtain women equal pay to men.
The Newsweek article that Bennett and Ellison write is a very cut throat article. It basically dismantles all of Sommers agreements and makes her look like an idiot who doesn’t care about women. The articles begins with the explaining of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is “a ‘common-sense bill,’ as president Obama has called it, that would make it easier for women to file class-action suits against employers they accuse of sex-based pay discrimination, and require companies to be more cognizant of their pay practices (Bennett, Ellison 1).” Sommers is completely against this saying that it would place women against men. But According to this article this is the first anti-feminist remark she has made. Sommers has written a couple of books against feminism and has made a living on beating down feminists and all their problems (1). Sommers bases her argument on the fact that women’s “individual choices” in things like education, experience, etc. is the reason they don’t make as much money. But this is just not true according Bennett and Ellison, female M.B.A.’s who made the choice to not have kids and get a good education still earn 4,600 less per year in their first jobs out of business school (2). And that woman who work with men still make an average of 20 percent less than them (2). Bennett and Ellison even say they grew up in an era where they thought feminism wasn’t needed but the reality was that most women still make less in the same fields as men. They then go on to explain how this wouldn’t put men against women because men and women should be working together to make the work place equal and empower all. The Newsweek cover story was even an article explaining this idea of men and women working together to help the economy and to make this country equal. The last thing they seek to explain is the fact that this act isn’t trying to say that men intentionally underpay women, no they are simply pointing out the fact there is this inequality and lets try to fix it through government law. According to Bennett and Ellison this issue has been on the “back burner” for way to long, so it needs to be not only addressed but it needs to be fixed. They blame Sommers for creating these tensions between the sexes.
Christina Sommers is a really good illustration of Susan Douglas’s idea of Enlighten sexism. She feeds into this idea that women are powerful and equal to men and that it’s cool to act like there is no problem and women should stop whining. Sommers is a part of this big media scam that is trying to show that women no longer need feminism because men and women are equal. Susan Douglas would have a big problem Christina Sommers because she is sending a message with no facts to back it up. Christina Sommers depicts feminism as this horrible thing that is ruining the world and that this bill is going to feed into this destroying of the world. Susan Douglas would disagree because she knows that his bill could really help women get the equal pay they deserve. Christina Sommers is under the impression that women just like to complain, but the truth is that women are not given the same amount of money as men and something needs to change that. Feminist are probably tired of having to work for equal rights, they just want it so they don’t have to keep doing all this campaigning. Most feminist would love to equal rights because then they can say they accomplished the goal of feminism, but they can’t do that until it actually happens.
Allan Johnson would also probably have a few things to say Christina Sommers. He would definitely have a problem with her statement about how the bill would put women against men. He would also accuse Sommers of feeding the system of patriarchy. It’s always a relief to feminism when a man sticks up for women and tells people that women are being treated unequally. Allan Johnson is one of those guys; he acknowledges that patriarchy exists and he seeks to reform it by telling everyone what creates it. And who creates it? Everybody, everyone who lives in this society adds to the system and allows it to continue. But people like Christina Sommers add even more to it by not acknowledging there is a problem. Once again if there was no problem then women would be getting equal wages.
I really enjoyed this article by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison. One of the reasons why is because I used to be like Christina Sommers, I thought feminism was dead and unnecessary and that women really just like dragging things out and making big deals out of nothing. But after taking this class and reevaluating some of the views I had on feminism, I realized I was wrong. It’s easy for to judge the people of the past and the women in the work force today because I have not yet entered that sphere. I really don’t understand what they went through and still go through, so I have no right to judge. Women have to stick together and people like Christina Sommers I think really set women back. Yeah it’s all good for her because she looks good to the men, they think she’s cool because she doesn’t complain and moan about things. She gives men the power to look down on us; she is giving them ammunition to make us look dumb. Susan Douglas is right it really is the new thing to be an antifeminist. This growing stigma associated with being feminism is not a good one. Because if you really do sit down and look at the facts: women are making less than men are not popular in executive positions, etc., you would notice that maybe we aren’t as equal as we all thought. This bill would really help, yes it stinks we need a bill to get women equal pay, but what else is there. People aren’t going to pay attention to this problem unless they have the fear of getting in trouble (this case the fear of being sued). And yes some women will take advantage of it, but what law isn’t taken advantage by some sort of person. The fact is there are some greedy/lazy people who are trying to get ahead by taking advantage of certain things, in this case the law. Hopefully the courts will be able to weed out his people and prevent them from scamming their bosses.
Throughout the years Feminism has made giant leaps. But why stop now? Feminist need to keep going step by step in order to gain equal rights. One way of doing this is by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women can get the same pay as men. Feminist shouldn’t even care what people like Christina Sommers say, they are ignorant to the facts and one day maybe they’ll see their errors. But for now feminist still have a job to do and hopefully in the near future their job will be done.
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