Talking Point #4 Economic Justice as a Feminist Issue

The pbs site was interactive and had games, stories, life experiences, demographic generalization, and many other things.  The other site cwcs talked about the employers taking advantage of their in employees especially in a time like the economy that we have today.  That is a crying shame!  Just like the rest of the class on the pbs site I also played with the interactive games to notice that my category was nouveau riche.  I had others play the game like my sister, a customer, and even her boss to see what the differences may be.  My sister's score was all over the map, she scored in several categories, and the end summary even told her that she doesnt know which class she belongs to.  My sister's customer a female then played the game on designing your living room showed that her decisions were all middle-middle class.  Then my sister's boss a successful male that has owned several companies and donates to several foundations decided to take the living game on for size.  His score was middle-middle class.  It was fun doing the games and reading the stories was interesting.  How women of different backgrounds, ended up living their lives and the decisions that they made. The economic inequity on feminist issues that came to mind while exploring was how men, and especially women like to people watch or should I say judge others.  What I mean by that statement is when another woman or women walk into a room we will scan her up and down, from the shoes she wears, to the accessories that she decides to wear. We decide from the handbag that she carries, the shoes, and clothes that she wears how she is perceived by the rest of the people around us. Does that female fit in better or is she held at a different regard because of the trends or name brands she rocks? Regardless of what it is she is instantly placed in a economic class, and thus is treated that way.  I have a few examples that come to mind, but I will state one.  One day a friend and I were out shopping for a gown for a formal attire event, we walked into cache and to her surprise she was treated rudely, and I was treated with respect.  She was wearing ribbed jeans, with a sweatshirt, while I was dressed with dressy pants, and a nice blouse. I as soon as I walked into the store the ladies where attentive to what I wanted and if they can further help me look for something to wear, all the while ignoring my friend. Should it matter in that circumstance what she is wearing? Come on I know there are females that are able to relate to this story in one form or another.  It is so sad that the economy can tell that it is turning around when women start to shop for shoes,makeup, and accessories. This story elaborates on the economy and female fashion.
     The cwcs site talked about rights that the employees have when it comes to employment.  It discussed issues like over time, younger employees, regulation on compensation, wage theft, and issues associated with employees compensation for work hours.  Employers are to follow those rules specifically those that apply to the state they own a business in, because getting reported would result in penalties, and imprisonment.  As I continued to navigate through this page I discovered that the site was for a university and it listed different curriculum courses that are available when addressing gender, race, and other things in relations to the current economy and even history that help support what the existence is today.  This site showed that the economic inequity for women exist in not knowing the rules and regulations in the workforce and how this is a doggy dog world that employers will back stab their own employees to save a buck or two.  Women, men, minorities, immigrants, students, elderly, and many others do not know what the rules are.  Employers taking advantage of those that are not informed to save themselves money.  Those that become informed are in jeopardy of losing their job, and since Rhode Island is a hire and fire at will state.