6. Reference
Hanman, N. (2010, January 16). One Dimensional Women by Nina Power. The Guardian. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/16/one-dimensional-woman-natalie-hanman
Lentin, A. (2014). Politics, Power & Resistance: Lecture 11, Citizenship & Inequality III: Gender &
Sexuality. University of Western Sydney.
Loewenstein, A. (2013, November 1). Indigenous incarceration rates are a national shame. The
Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/indigenous-
incarcerationrates-are-a-national-shame
Power, N. (2009). One Dimensional Woman . Zero Books.
One Dimensional Women [Image 1]. Retrieved from: http://libcom.org/
Feminism [Image 2]. Retrieved from http://www.penelopeironstone.com/
Inequality [Image 3]. Retrieved from http://8tracks.imgix.net/
Gender Inequality [Image 4]. Retrieved from http://www.therepublicsquare.com/
Editor's Notes
The One Dimensional Woman by Nina Power is inspired by Hebert Marcuse’s book called One-Dimensional Man in 1964 (Power, 2009). He analyses how individuals who anticipated as happy and free where actually labouring under the illusory freedoms of capitalism (Hanman, 2010). Power explores specific changes in work, sex, and politics as well as pays particular attention to feminization labour (Hanman, 2010). This book isn’t classified as a cheerful book but rather an insight of reality of what both men and woman face in contemporary society (Power, 2009). According to Power (2009), women and men are convicted to “… have the inherent ability to be something more than one-dimensional” (Power, 2009,p. 2).
The way women are positioned in society has changed over time. In the late 19th century the first wave of feminism occurred when women were given the right to vote and speak in public (Lentin, 2014). The second wave of feminism gave women the right for equal employment, equal pay and wages for housework (Lentin, 2014). The third wave of feminism broke down the barrier of segregating males with females (Lentin, 2014). The roles of gender where recognised as socially constructed which encouraged homosexual relationships and recognition of other sexes (Lentin, 2014). An example would be, in the Australian Bureau Statistics (2014) the option of same sex is also added to represent recognition and acceptance (ABS, 2014).
All these changes have been made to suit the demand of women and men. However Power (2009) argues that women are still not given equal rights like men in contemporary society (Power, 2014). Though so many issues have been solved, the issue of equality is still unresolved.
According to Power (2009), the term feminism has broadened, as it can be used to justify any form of behaviour or practice. According to Katherine Viner, feminism is used to justify all behaviours except for the fight of true equality (Power, 2009).
Marx notes, the relations between sexes and composition of families transforms as women enter the work force (Power, 2009). Women still earn less than men for doing the same job, they are overly represented in part time and bad paid jobs (Power, 2009). Similarly, there is also inequality shown to homosexuals and ethnic minorities groups, they are also under represented in comparison to others (Power, 2009). For example, ethnic minority groups like Aboriginals are more policed for minor infractions than white people (Loewenstein, 2013). “This is how Aboriginality is criminalized when white citizens aren’t equally chased” (Loewenstein, 2013).
Gender equality is still an ongoing fight, which is faced everyday. Reports shows that 76% of manager admit that they would not hire women if they knew they are likely to fall pregnant within the next 6 months (Power, 2009). Ironically, women are encouraged to produce babies, however at the same time the government encourages women to go back to work even though assistance is not provided for women to do so. Childcare is referred to as an option however the expense of childcare is unaffordable for most families, thus women are forced to stay home and take care of the child. Power (2009) states, the ideal model of desired female’s workers are those who do not get pregnant or make undue demands (Power, 2009). The job market continues to display inequality amongst both women and men.
