Class Issues: The Bottom Line For Feminist Change?

Off Our Backs, Jan/Feb 2005 by Mantilla, Karla

Many women are caught between a rock and a hard place: put up with less-than-equal to abusive treatment in a middle-to-upper class home or live in poverty. For mothers, the institution of marriage is not merely that of a romantic relationship, but rather a choice that dramatically affects the quality of lives of women and their children. By examining financial realities it becomes apparent that class issues underlie the ability of women to make feminist choices.

Where does this leave unmarried women?

So what does that mean for lesbians, independent single women, or women who leave their batterer, rapist, or sexual abuser husbands? They are poorer than our married sisters and may not share the same allegiances because of it. And it means that access to money and resources is paramount for women if we want to be empowered to make the best choices for ourselves and our children without suffering the repercussions of poverty or near poverty. It means that class issues-access to money-are key for women to be able to freely choose liberation.

Developing financial solidarity

So if we want women to be free from financial coercion in making life choices, especially with regard to marriage and sexual relationships, we have to find creative ways to surmount the very real effects of the deep financial chasm between women who have access to financial resources through a man and those who don't.

We must help women who want to leave abusive or miserable marriages so that their leaving does not come at the cost of being in poverty for the rest of their lives. We must be aware of older women's needs-especially older lesbians and divorced or never married older women-and find resourceful ways to help each other survive financially.

Developing a sense of financial solidarity with other women who live independently would help. We could be mindful of the financial sacrifices women make to maintain their independence from men and work toward finding ways to help each other out. We can seek nontraditional means to mitigate the financial price that women pay for disloyalty to men and patriarchal marriage.

Working together...because individually, we're screwed

The financial blow women take when opting to be free of traditional patriarchal arrangements is often invisible. We must be careful not to fall into the insidious tendency (which has become especially strong in the last 20 years in the United States) to blame individual women for their own financial difficulties. It is too easy to get caught up believing that poverty is the fault of individual women who didn't plan better, or who can't manage a budget or a financial plan, when it is clear from the statistics that single mothers and unmarried women as a whole are at a significant disadvantage. We must be careful not to sidestep our own responsibility to our feminist community in the name of "personal responsibility," and instead, focus on community responsibility. We can find ways to practice financial solidarity among ourselves, especially during the difficult times we face as a result of eight years of Bush policies.