Sellnow describes the different perspectives of Feminists, one perspective interested me most was the Second Wave Feminism ideologies. What is 2nd wave feminism? Sellnow describes it as "the focus on the goals of equal rights and opportunities for women and men." I gravitate to this particular wave because at the end of the day I want equality to be based on my skill not my gender. I have heard people say to me "apply to this job because you're a woman and they have diversity hiring." This to me defeats the purpose of equality, I want to be able to go to a job because I am the best fit for the job. I think that Second wave feminism showcases that equality should be based on who is best fit for the position not based on Gender. Throughout this blog I want to use the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.
The movie Fried Green Tomatoes shows a middle class wife named Evelyn who quite frankly has a sad life. Her life consists of not being satisfied with her marriage, friends and body image. Evelyn then befriends an elderly woman (Ninny) who tells her the stories of Idige and Ruth. Idige a woman who was fearless and would stand up to anyone and anything. Idige started her own business and for her time in the 1900s, which was something no woman really ever did. Throughout the movie Evelyn starts to gain confidence in herself and begins to take care of herself. Evelyn begins to reshape her marriage and start her own business all because of the stories of Idgie. Idgies attitude towards those who were oppressive to her and her friends was that she wasn’t going to back down. The movie is a feel good movie and a mystery of Idige and Ruth's past, but it also goes deeper in showing that with the help of strong women examples Evelyn is able to change her life. I feel this is exactly what Second wave feminism is about, equal opportunity for women and empowering women to become what they were meant to become.
I do want to address that even though we have title IX and other resources women still do have a hard time breaking the mold of masculine hegemony. Throughout Fried Green Tomatoes Evelyn has to stand her ground with her husband without letting him treat her as “just” a wife or “just” a woman. I feel in my own life I have seen men in the workplace get higher pay than women simply because they are older and their gender happens to be a man. Instead of looking at who was most qualified, people default to the masculine hegemony. My question for you is how do we in this society create equal opportunities for all, not based on gender or even age but based on skill? How do we break the mold of Masculine Hegemony?
This is awesome. I have never seen this movie but I should give it a watch! I agree with you that even though some companies have diversity hiring, and want to hire women for the sake of looking more equal, I would never want to be hired based off of that. I would want my colleagues to respect me and know that I earned my place just the same as them, and not just because I am a woman. This kind of hiring practice will create new stigmas in workplaces, that women and other diversity hires don't belong and are unqualified. This is the exact opposite of what we are trying to accomplish.
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