The Intersectionality of Labor

The issue of the gender wage gap is high on the feminist movement agenda. According to the Labor Department, in the fourth quarter of 2015, women's median weekly earnings were 80.4 cents to every dollar earned by full-time working men. The wage gap is highly divisive and does not represent the value of a woman versus a man’s work. A major goal of the feminist movement is to achieve equality for anyone and everyone that is marginalized and oppressed. This especially includes achieving equal pay for men and women.

Cynthia Enloe, a feminist scholar, argues that labor is gendered both in terms of who works in specific occupations and in terms of how these occupations are constructed. She argues that women’s labor is undervalued, invisible and is central to the international political economy as well as to men’s labor. Though the wage gap is often thought of as the “gender wage gap,” it affects more than just women. It is important to understand the idea of intersectionality when looking at how the wage gap affects different identities. To clarify for those who might not be familiar, intersectionality is the concept that gender is always raced, classed, sexualized, and nationalized. At the same time, race, class, sexuality and nationality is gendered. Intersectional analysis explains that women and men have multiple identities simultaneously. Some parts of our identity may be privileged while other parts are not. For instance, a white upper-middle class woman might be discriminated against based on her gender, but at the same time, she might oppress minority men because of their race.

Feminism must address racism because many women experience multiple forms of discrimination. For example, when you think of manual laborers, what ethnic groups come to mind? Personally, I automatically associate manual labor with ethnic minorities. Although women are paid less than men, women of color are paid less than white women. In the United States and across the world, ethnic minorities are almost exclusively offered low wage, manual labor job opportunities and are exploited through this line of work. Sometimes, businesses even value employees of certain ethnic groups over others. In “Bananas, Beaches and Bases,” Enloe mentions that British companies, in the past, looked to hire Black and Asian British women because they were recent arrivals and can be paid low wages with minimum benefits. In the eyes of employers, the value of an ethnic worker is less than a white worker, so the lower pay wage is justified.

At this year’s Oscars, comedian Chris Rock made a joke that perfectly illustrates the idea that laborers of certain ethnicity are more sought after over others. Rock brought out three young Asian boys to represent “PricewaterhouseCoopers” accountants, playing off the racial stereotype that Asians are good at math. Rock then said, “If anybody is upset about that joke just tweet about it on your phone, that was also made by these guys.” As most of us know, young, poor Asian women and children are frequently chosen as factory workers or being slaved away in sweatshops. This is not because Asians are more valued as human beings, but because they are valued as hard workers who can be easily exploited. Many companies can get away with paying Asian workers a low wage and forcing them to work long hours in illegal working conditions.

The gender wage gap is a reality for women of every economic status. Actress Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay about how the gender wage gap has affected her. After the Sony hack, Lawrence found out she was being paid much less than her male “Hunger Games” co-stars. In her essay, she talks about how, as a woman, she has to be much more careful about what she says and how she says it compared to the men in her industry. Lawrence decided not to negotiate her salary for fear of being perceived as a “brat” or “spoiled” in the industry. However, her male co-stars have the freedom of negotiating a higher salary simply because they have the male privilege to do so.

In most recent news, five members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team have filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The women’s team generated about $20 million more revenue than the U.S. men’s team, but the female athletes are paid about four times less. Hope Solo was quoted saying, “We believe now the time is right because we believe it’s our responsibility for women’s sports and specifically for women’s soccer to do whatever it takes to push for equal pay and equal rights. And to be treated with respect.”

With high-profile female actresses and athletes leading the conversation about the gender wage gap, I am hopeful that policy-makers will seriously consider the pay discrimination against women of all races and classes. Because policy-makers tend to value certain voices over others, I believe these women can raise awareness of the realities of the gender wage gap. Unfortunately, it may take multiple women to speak out about unequal pay, but with enough of us, we can change policies.