Poor and Exploited Is Not a Feminist Goal: Women and Money with Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner

7:30 pm HCC, Alumnae Hall

Do you really understand what it means to be a feminist?  Not many women do.  Most women and even men too, are afraid to be called a feminist because it is a term that often has a negative connotation in today’s society.  Being a feminist though, is about equality between the sexes.   It does not mean women are better than men or that men are bad and should be disliked. 

Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner, co-authors for the book Manifesta:  Young Women, Feminism and the Future, examine the current feminist movement, explore the vibrant girl-power culture that has swept today’s society, while also pointing out the areas where equality still needs to be improved for women.  Richards and Baumgardner are young, successful, feminist activists who want young women to understand feminism and the part it needs to play in the future.

For this Women’s Lives Series presentation, “Poor and Exploited Is Not a Feminist Goal: Women and Money,” Richards and Baumgardner will be addressing the feminist movement and where money and female career success fit in.  In their book, Richards and Baumgardner write about “A Day Without Feminism” where they highlight what life was like in the 1970’s before the feminist movement.  They draw attention to how money and a career played into a woman’s life.  At that time, only 44 percent of women were employed outside the home and those that worked only made fifty-two cents to the dollar earned by males.  If a woman were to get a loan with her husband and she had a job, she most likely had to sign a “baby letter” swearing that she wouldn’t have one and have to leave her job.  In their presentation, Richards and Baumgardner will discuss where women are today in regards to money and career, and they will point out where women still remain unequal.

Amy Richards is a contributing editor for Ms. Magazine and co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, an activist group for young feminists.  Jennifer Baumgardner is a former editor at Ms. and writes for The Nation, Jane, Nerve, and Out.

Because Life isn’t a game.