Newsflash: Women in Poverty in New York City

Article URL: http://wenews.ioco.com/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3753

Bowen, Alison. "Crisis Likely to Deepen Women's Poverty in New York." 25 Sept. 2008. 26 Sept. 2008 .

Frye, Marilyn. "Oppression." Feminist Frontiers. By Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier and Leila J. Rupp. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages, 2007. 7-9.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege and Male Privilege." Feminist Frontiers. By Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier and Leila J. Rupp. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages, 2007. 9-15.

Smith, Taigi. "This Place Called Home." Listen Up : Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. Ed. Barbara Findlen. New York: Seal P, 2001. 281-87.


With the state of the economy today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a woman living in poverty in New York. While poverty is a widespread issue, it mainly affects women, since so many women are single mothers supporting their entire family. In addition, even when women can manage to hold the same jobs as men, they are often not paid as high of a salary. Many women, such as Tanya Fields are facing crises such as housing eviction, and are earning barely enough money to support their families (Bowen, pg.1). With the looming possibility of a bail out plan for financial institutions, the future gets even murkier, and for many women, their finances are on shaky ground. Extending this farther, women of color are at an even worse disadvantage since they earn well below what a Caucasian woman earns. The economy today has become very gender biased, causing women to be forced to live and suffer the abuse of poverty.

According to Janet, she stayed with an abusive partner only because she relied on him to pay for rent and food in order to survive. As she states, “Poverty is a form of abuse, she said. ‘It harms the mind and the spirit.’” (Bowen, pg. 1). Poverty is extremely widespread today, and as the New York Women’s Foundation’s June report states, “New York women are more likely to be poor now than in 1989”, which is a scary thought. Today, when discussing Wall Street, the talk automatically turns to the upcoming bail out plan, which the House of Representatives just denied passage. The plan would entail having the government buy around $700 billion worth of assets; some argued this would rip off taxpayers, and hurt the poor even more. A Bowen states, the effects of this will not be overlooked; as more and more Wall Street workers are laid off, more and more service workers will also find themselves without a job. Many of these people will be women who live in poverty. This will bring an extreme crisis as people will no longer be able to support their families unless they can find other jobs. However, the job market also seems to be going downhill.

To make matters worse, the problems in the economy will hurt African American women the most. Similar to the neighborhood depicted in Taigi Smith’s, “This Place Called Home”, many African Americans live in near-poverty conditions in New York City. However, she thought she would feel comfortable around people who she could connect with. Her neighbors though, did not have such a high paying job as Taigi did, and thus she continued to feel uncomfortable. This is not far from the truth, and many poor Americans happen to be African American. They tend to have worse jobs, earning far lower wages, with the average earnings of a Caucasian woman totaling to $39,700 and of an African American woman totaling only $33,800. This is a significant drop in income, caused in part by the types of job the women have, and also in part because of the family conditions they were raised in. As Diana Salas explains in this article, “Although poverty is identified as a problem, Salas said, policies don't target women, specifically women of color” (Bowen, pg. 1). This is something that needs to be changed, especially when concerning the economy, to allow for equal opportunities and equality between women and men.

As stated in Forbes’ Magazine, New York City was ranked the most expensive city. Here, people can afford to pay rent on a two bedroom apartment only; they cannot afford life’s other necessities (Bowen, pg. 3). This illustrates the actual abuse women living in poverty must endure. They have a hard time obtaining jobs, which means they have a hard time keeping their apartments or houses, and therefore they cannot afford to buy enough food, clothing, or other necessities that life requires them to. In turn this requires many women to either life with a husband they don’t care for, or live with a family member and rely on someone else’s income. Neither option is very enticing; in the end women are forced to be dependent on other people, they cannot be self-sufficient. Because of this, women are portrayed as being weaker than men because they cannot support themselves and their families on their own. Poverty is therefore a real abuse that needs to be amended in order to see equality between the genders. Although not all people living in poverty are women, the vast majority are, and need to be helped.

The bail out plan of Wall Street, although blocked, will ultimately be reconstructed into another plan to aid the failing markets. This plan, however helpful to the financial world, will only increase the oppression of women. The situation of women living in poverty in New York is similar to the bird cage example given by Frye. When looking close up, you can see the bars of the bird cage as obstacles, such as a job, money, a family, their gender, and their race. When looking at only one element, you can devise ways around it and you can see possibilities for that woman. However when you combine all the elements, you can see that these women really are trapped. As Frye states, “It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby-trapped” (Frye, pg. 8). For example, a black, single mother, with a minimum wage job has relatively little hope of earning enough to support her family, or having the option of moving into a larger house. It is for this reason why poverty is a form of abuse. It forces women into corners with no options. As seen in the example mentioned earlier, many women turn towards their significant others to support them, even if that includes an abusive marriage. In situations like these, women have no choice, no escape plan; they are at the will of their caretaker.

For these reasons, it is imperative to implement a financial bail out plan that will aim to help women living in poverty. Instead of just helping the financial giants, it should propose a plan to help people facing foreclosure, people with a very low income, and single mothers with families. This is similar to the ideas discussed in Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. In her article, McIntosh argues that while many people see others as having a disadvantage, they never consider that because of this, others must be at an advantage. This is similar to the financial problems in today’s society because while many saw the bail out plan as a disadvantage for others, they never considered that it might put them at an advantage. For example, the bail out plan might take money from taxpayers (hurting the poor especially), or there could be a run on the dollar. On the other hand, this would make Wall Street workers at an advantage because they would not be losing their jobs, they would still earn money, and their companies would be saved. This idea is assuming that most Wall Street workers are male while most poverty-stricken people are female. This furthers the notion that men gain advantages from women’s disadvantages because male privilege is very rarely recognized. Men don’t realize that they are at an advantage, so nothing is done to correct their behavior in society. If Congress, or Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Treasury Secretary and the chairman of the Federal Reserve, took the time to consider the disadvantages of others, they might be able to realize that they are at an advantage and change the bail out plan to accommodate others. This would then hopefully lead to a downturn in poverty, and thus more equality between men and women. Hopefully more women would be relieved of the abuse they are suffering.

It is for these reasons that women convene in New York City, and other locations around the world, in order to voice their concerns and tell their stories. I commend the “A Day of Voices: Women's Tribunal on Poverty” because it highlights how poor these women are and how much help they need (Bowen, pg. 1). While the United Nations is including eradicating poverty by 2015 as one of their goals, this might not be enough. More women need to come forward and force others to hear them in order for change to take place.

As countless women suffer each day, it is impossible to recognize poverty as anything other than abuse. Women are being forced into this position, which only strengthens the divide between males and females. Women continue to be viewed as being weak because they are dependent on others. Males and people in power of Wall Street need to recognize that they are at an advantage and should be responsible for helping people like this. Overall, this shows the abuse women go through on a daily basis, and how in reality, they are trapped inside a giant birdcage, which has blocked all routes of escape. The oppression of women is real, and they are aware of the message, “Mold. Immobilize. Reduce.” (Frye, pg.1).

Class 10_1

When reading the final book in Middlesex, I was brought back to our conversation held in class on Monday. The last part of this book features Callie’s decision to change her physical appearance into that of a male’s. At the very beginning of the book she reads Dr. Luce’s evaluation of herself, and discovers that she is in fact a boy, not a girl. This discovery prompts her to look up the definition of “hypospadiac” in the dictionary, which ends up leading to the word, “Monster”. I found this very alarming how words like hypospadiac and hermaphrodite lead to the word monster. This truly shows how much of a closed culture we are, and how reluctant we are to accept others that are different from us.

As a result, Cal then proceeds to cut her hair, buy a suit, and head to California. This transformation is similar to the one Myhre went through in her article “One Bad Hair Day”. In order to be more like a feminist, she cut her hair, stopped shaving her legs and armpits, and dressed in more gender neutral clothing. This is similar to Cal’s reaction of Dr. Luce’s discoveries. However, it is in California that Cal begins to get comfortable with his body, working at Bob Presto’s strip club, displaying his body to strangers. Here he takes a liking to Zora, and learns more about hermaphrodites, finally not feeling so isolated in the world.

Farther on in the book we learn about the betrayal of Father Mike to Milton. I was absolutely shocked when the “kidnapper” turned out to be Mike, and how he coaxed Milton to give him $25,000. This related back to what we discussed in class about relationships and sympathy for the characters. I think that throughout the entire book we have sympathized with Father Mike because of how his life played out. However after reading the book, I am found with no sympathy for Father Mike, and instead feel incredibly sad that Milton died. I found myself wishing that Father Mike would have received a harder sentence than two years in jail.

Along these same lines, I remember discussing the traditional Greek storyline in the book about testing the Gods and trying to alter ones fate. I linked this back to the actions of Milton. As he says himself, he constantly doubts his decision to give into this “kidnapper” and hand him $25,000. As Cal describes the situation, “Milton, quite simply, had ceased to think things through. What was he doing out there on the dark train platform? Why did he go out there alone?” (pg. 503). I think this is another example of the Stephanides family attempting to change fate instead of letting the Gods take over. This extends the theme of Greek into the story line farther, finally ending with a traditional Greek funeral for Milton.

Class 9_29

The novel Middlesex has proved to be an interesting and captivating read. It has been awhile since reading a novel, and it is a nice break from the traditional articles read in all classes. The book is especially interesting in the sense that it is both very connected to real life, while also varies from the traditional family story. While following Callie/Cal through her/his life, you are struck with similarities to ourselves growing up, as well as seemingly blatant clues hinting that something is wrong with Callie. Right from the beginning you can distinguish this novel from reality, with the marriage of Callie’s grandparents.

Many stories also stick out as being funny for a normal “girl”. For instance when she practices kissing with Clementine, you get a hint that Callie is not exactly a traditional girl. This novel considerably stretches the boundary of a normal childhood. For instance when she is at the Obscure Object’s vacation house, she is found making out with Jerome, while the Object is preoccupied with Rex. In a traditional society, this is thought of as normal behavior. However, Callie feels weird about the situation, as she says, “her heart is not into it”. On the other hand, she feels more comfortable with the Object and doesn’t feel awkward or wrong when she is with her at night.

Also, as she hits puberty, and her body refuses to change, you would think that her mother would do something about it. Even though Callie faked her period, I think that a mother would be able to realize the act, and take Callie to see a doctor. Also, judging from her feelings for the Obscure Object, and their affair over the summer, you would think Callie would realize something was wrong. I think it is normal for a pubescent teenager to want to have their period, and thus want to go to the doctor to figure out if something was wrong. I don’t think any child wants to feel “left out” or “fallen behind”.

The ideas in this book relate back to Lorber’s article “Night to His Day”. She discusses the social construction of gender, which we can clearly see with Callie. Even though she is biologically partially male, she was brought up as a girl, so everyone sees her as a girl. She has long hair, she shaves her legs and armpits, and she pretends to be grossed out by things, or act such as a traditional girl would. I have a feeling the consequences of these actions will surface in Book 4, when both Callie and her family must confront the fact that she is in fact a male. I think that she will start dressing and acting as a traditional male would, thus enforcing her new gender identity. Thus, in this novel I can clearly see how nurture comes before nature in a way. Because of the way she was raised, Callie fits into the “feminine” gender, and thus acts like one. Nature is somewhat disregarded until age 14. Overall, I think the novel so far has questioned nature versus nurture and caused us to question what is normal in society.

Class 9_24

Suzanne Kessler’s article, “The Medical Construction of Gender” discusses the occurrences of intersexed infants. This idea is rarely discussed in our culture and after reading the article, I would think most people would never want to be in a similar situation. She discusses how some babies are born without a distinct sex; they are neither inherently male nor female. In these cases the parents and doctors must work to try and discover the true sex of the child, and then once discovered, they must correct the outward appearance. I found this article difficult to read, in the sense that I could not imagine being a parent of an intersexed child. While I agree with most parents cited that changing the outward appearance of the child would be necessary, I’m not so sure I agree with the process of deciding what the child’s true sex is.

Many of the pediatricians and physicians cited in this article say that they judge a child’s sex based solely on the size and looks of the phallus. For example, Kessler gives the example of a child with XX chromosomes and a normal female reproductive system, yet also with a “perfect” penis. Where some doctors would advocate raising this child as male, I think I would want to raise it as a female. In my opinion, I would want the least amount of pain or humiliation done to my child. If the problem could be fixed with simple surgery, and no hormone therapy was necessary, that would be the path I would choose.

In Book One of Middlesex, we discover that Cal was really born as a female, but changed his gender and sex as he grew older. As he states at the beginning on the book, “If you were going to devise an experiment to measure the relative influences of nature versus nurture, you couldn’t come up with anything better than my life.” (19). While Cal represents a typical male, he admits to having female urges that he is unable to stop. He also recalls being brought up as a girl and being forced to memorize family lineage such as a girl would. He didn’t have a typical “boyhood”. I think this refers to our discussion in class on Monday about nature versus nurture. While it is true that Cal was raised as a girl (with feminine gender), nature ultimately won the fight because Cal believed he was a boy. This is an example that as much nurturing as society gives us, nature is all-powerful, and can determine gender.

Class 9_22

Judith Lorber, in her article, “Night to His Day”, discussed the issue of gender and how it fits (and doesn’t fit) in today’s society. She goes on to differentiate between sex and gender, which I found very interesting. I had taken classes before in which we discussed this topic, but never to the extent that Lorber goes to. I especially agreed with one comment at the beginning of the article, “And everyone ‘does gender’ without thinking about it”. I find this statement especially true because we all “do gender” because of the way we were brought up. For instance, girls wear makeup and earrings, have long hair, and dress in tight clothing, which all in turn makes us “feminine”. As Lorber continues to say, when we see a baby in dark clothes and a hat, we automatically assume it’s a boy; but if that baby has earrings, our thoughts instantaneously switch to thinking it’s a girl.

I also found it interesting how in other cultures there are up to four genders: “Among some North American Indian cultures, the hierarchy was male men, male women, female men, and female women.” I found this very interesting how other cultures can recognize mixed gendered people, but our society cannot. We constantly look down on transvestites and transsexuals, when really we should acknowledge them as a different gender. I also completely agreed with Lorber’s idea that if women didn’t need to pretend to be men to get certain jobs, there would be no need to have traditional “women’s work” or “men’s work”. I completely agree that all jobs should be open to the most qualified applicants, men or women. I think we need to get rid of the stereotypes in the workplace.

I also enjoyed Myhre’s article, “One Bad Hair Day Too Many”. I liked the fact that she spoke for herself and not telling everyone what they need to do to become a feminist. For example, she cut off her hair and stopped shaving because of her own wishes (she didn’t want to deal with the hassle anymore). She never said that a “good feminist” cuts off her hair and stops shaving. I think that a lot of people have a misperception that everyone who is a feminist needs to become “masculine” or “butch”. I like that Myhre did it for herself. I also liked that she confronted the names masculine and butch. Her definition of when women act masculine is basically how men act all the time. Yet somehow, when we act this way, we are wrong and should be made fun of for it. When we are called butch, it is because we want to be able to hold our own ground and be able to fight back. As Myhre points out, these words are not inherently bad, and we shouldn’t feel shunned for the way we choose to act or dress.

Lastly we were asked to take a path of most resistance over the weekend. This weekend, all my friends were preparing to go out Saturday night as usual, but I decided to stay in because I have a week filled with exams and assignments. I was met with quizzical looks and I felt pressure to go out. In the end I stayed in and got a good night’s sleep, but I was definitely pushed to go out when I didn’t want to.

Class 9_17

When reading Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”, I found myself many numerous connections to the article we read for Monday by Johnson. McIntosh’s article discusses the simple everyday things we, as white people, take for granted, when in fact we are unknowingly privileged. She lists many conditions that we do not notice, and as she says, “white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject.” I connected this with Johnson’s article on the system of patriarchy. As Johnson describes, we don’t tend to question the system in which we live. We don’t notice that we are somehow superior to other races; we do not associate that since we are at an advantage, other people must be at a disadvantage. I agree with McIntosh when she says that privileges like the ones she mentions should be the norm in a society. Everyone should feel comfortable in their environment, and no one should feel singled out.

This also relates to Miles article, in the sense that most of the women on the Rag felt singled out, or excluded from the group. Many of the reasons associated were because of either their race or their economic class status. This is something to think about in today’s society, that some little action can have a much bigger effect and force others to feel uncomfortable or unwanted. This article also reminds me of the history of women’s rights that we have been discussing in class. We had talked about the second wave of feminism and how there were many groups, composed of different people, because it was impossible for everyone to be in the same group without conflict. This is similar to the issues happening on the Rag because initially they all wanted to write this journal together, but in the end their differences split them up.

When trying to do something on the path of least resistance, I found myself talking amongst friends at dinner. We were discussing certain girls at Colgate, and many people were trash-talking this one particular girl. I have nothing against the girl, I don’t even know her, but I allowed myself to go along with their comments. This is a good example of following the path of least resistance, because if I had stood up for the girl I might have faced criticism or weird looks across the table. I think this occurs a lot, especially in groups of females because appearance and looks dictate our society to a certain extent. I wish that our world could learn to appreciate a person on their personality, rather than solely on how “cool”, or attractive, they are.

Class 9_15

Both articles read for today, “Patriarchy, the System” by Allan Johnson, and “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye, express both the causes of and the issues with oppression of women in today’s society. The first article, by Marilyn Frye, uses a great example of the bird cage to represent how people view oppression. She says that when observing a bird cage microscopically you see only one bar and assume that the bird can fly around it when necessary. However, when you take a step back, and observe the scene macroscopically, you can see the entire cage and you realize that the bird really is trapped. I agree with her perceptions of oppressions, in that people question the wrong causes and symptoms of oppression, but no one ever takes the time to observe the scene macroscopically and try to change the bigger picture.

This article is definitely linked to Allan Johnson’s article when talking about the macroscopic issues in today’s society. People blame other people for bad behavior, but they never think to question the society that raised and educated those people. Speaking specifically on patriarchy, people automatically assume men oppressing women, and decide to take the “path of least resistance in life”. I agree with an observation that Johnson made, “When a man hears other men tell sexist jokes for example, there are many things he could do, but they vary in how much social resistance they’re likely to provoke. . … The path of least resistance is to go alone, and unless he’s willing to deal with greater resistance, that’s the choice he’s most likely to make.” This transitions very well into real life, where many men simply go along with the crowd when judging other women or telling jokes, when many of them don’t even agree with what is being said. I think that that is one of the many things that our society will have to overcome if we want to overcome patriarchy and live in an equal world. People need to be able to stand up for themselves and say what they believe without the fear of social resistance.

Going back to Frye’s article, I also see the catch-22 issue that she describes. She says that women have two basic options: they can either be sexually active and be viewed as a slut or a whore, or they can be sexually abstinence and be viewed as being prude or a lesbian. This catch-22 is very realistic and represents oppression of women every day. Going back to the birdcage example, women are very much similar to the bird. Through many actions and beliefs in society, we are literally caged in from all sides, and are restricted in everything we do.

These thoughts relate back to Neuborne’s article on programming. Somehow in our society is has been programmed into men’s minds that they need to have control over everything. Just the same, women’s minds have been programmed to say that women need help from men, that we are defenseless and need to be protected. Related to Johnson’s article, we need to question the deeper meanings in society, and change the way that our social system works in order to achieve equality. A complete overhaul of our system needs to take place, or else nothing will be accomplished.

Class 9_8

When reading the "Declaration of Sentiments" from the Seneca Falls Convention, I found myself agreeing with many of the claims made by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. I think they made very solid convictions of how women were being treated, and to an extent, how women are still treated today. The fact that women were subjected to laws in which they could not voice their opinions on, and were treated as slaves in their marriages still resonates with me in today's society. While women are allowed to vote, there has yet to be a single woman President or Vice President, and in many families across America, women have a very inferior role to their husbands. I admire the "Declaration of Sentiments" that these two women wrote, and their courage to speak out against men.

The Dubois article, “Feminism New Wave and Old Wave”, reminded me of Ellen Neuborne’s piece, “Imagine My Surprise”. When Dubois spoke about how Lucretia Mott was not allowed to represent the United States as a delegate at the World Anti-Slavery Convention, I was reminded of how Neuborne spoke about being pulled off of the reporting job down south. As Dubois says, women have always done the “shitwork”, and the men have received all the credit. In Neuborne’s piece, she was responsible for the story right up until it was time to do the story, in which a male was assigned to it. I am strongly against this type of prejudice and I feel that women can represent themselves and present work that is just as good, if not better, than a man’s work.

Dubois’ article also discussed the two waves of feminism that have occurred in our country. There is no doubt about the first wave, when women fought for the rights of men. However, the second wave of feminism is still occurring. While Dubois remains optimistic that two waves might be enough to “free us”, I believe that it might take more than that. I feel that today’s wave of feminism is much weaker than the first, and women have grown comfortable with their role in society. I don’t feel strongly that there are many women out there like Elizabeth Cady Stanton who are willing to fight for more equality. I hope that women will continue to slowly work their way farther into society, so we can see equality in the sexes, especially in the workforce. It would be nice to not have a “male dominated industry” or a “female dominated industry” in the future.

I think Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott would agree with Ellen Neuborne in the sense that women are highly programmed in today’s society, and we need to break free of that in order to strive for equality. I especially agree with one line in Neuborne’s article, “It is a dangerous thing to assume that just because we were raised in a feminist era, we are safe. We are not. They are still after us.” (pg. 184). I think that many women do assume that we are safe because of the long fight that occurred before us. I think we overlook the injustices because on the surface, we are an “equal” society. I think we need to check ourselves, and learn to recognize programming so that we can finally overcome it.