Freshman year, Undergraduate; Paris 2023: Iceland v The United States
Keywords: Regression, Reform, Feminism, Political Sphere, Gender Inequality / Equality
Abstract: The United States and Iceland have differing political and legal adaption of Gender Equality for their citizens. As the former is regressing and the latter adapting reform, Nancy Fraser’s Two-Dimensional approach explains the current state of both respective countries.
“Misrecognition consists in the depreciation of such identity by a patriarchal culture and the consequent damage to women’s sense of self” (Fraser 167). Nancy Fraser, an American Philosopher and feminist, developed in her book, Fortunes of Feminism from Women Liberation to Identity Politics to Anti-Capitalism, deconstructed and redeveloped gender inequality women endure in her chapter, “Feminist Politics in the Age of Recognition: A Two-Dimensional Approach to Gender Injustice” supplementing a new system labeled as misrecognition and redistribution to create equality for women in socio-economic and political ways. In this essay, the conferring issues above will be delegated the names Gender Specification and Lack of Egalitarian Distribution in reference to a case on the repression and reform of gender in/equality in The United States and Iceland.
Before addressing either country, the system in which Nancy Fraser reveals her synopsis and eventual reimagined conception of justice toward recognition and distribution for the equal benefit of women is divided into her ‘two-dimensional concept.’ Being frugal in this paper with her description toward this new approach, Fraser utilizes a ‘bifocal’ method to see gender through two different lenses [recognition and distribution] (Further notes, 162). Each being saturated in sexism, both contain ‘political-economic face’ along with ‘cultural-discursive face’ that devalue a women’s established position of equality in relation to that of a man. Fraser solution: 1the principle of parity of participation. Broken into two sections, her conditions outline her eventual reasoning: ‘ensure participates’ independence and “voice”’ and ‘express[sion] of equal respect for all participants and ensure equal opportunity for achieving social esteem” (Fraser 164). From this, justice would be formed in areas such as ‘labor markets, sexual relations, family life, public spheres, and voluntary associated in civil society.’ Establishing the principle of parity, recognition [gender specification] and distribution [egalitarian distribution] are foundational in grasping the inequality targeting women. Causing ‘internal self-dislocation’ for women is androcentrism: an institutionalized pattern of cultural value that privileges traits associated with masculinity, while devaluing everything coded as “feminine,” paradigmatically – but not only – women” (Fraser 162). Obscuring women in this way, denotes women to social subornation, promoting separatism in the favor of masculine idealism, and furthers stereotypes of misconstrued language where the representation of women in media, law, social distinction, economic disparity, etc. become dedicated to ‘valorizing feminism’, a misinterpreted word spurred on by cycles of ‘dominant stereotypes and political correctness’. As both recognition and redistribution must be examined together (bifocal vision), only then would those be able to ‘comprehend both the class-like aspects and status aspects of women’s subordination’ (173). The continuing argument will be situated between regression of women’s equality in The United States and the reform present in Iceland by using Nancy Fraser’s recognition [gender specification] and redistribution [lack of egalitarian distribution] to comprehend the distinctions of gender in/equality between them.
The United States
To begin, the basis in which I will address the regression as stated is defined by ‘returning to a former state or condition; the act of going back’ in which the former condition is identified with the loss of rights that inhibit the female from being viewed as equal to the male counterpart. Such inequality sparked the 19th amendment, Title IX, Roe v Wade, Violence Against Women Act, etc. Examining the legal sphere in The United States, women’s reproductive rights, gender-based violence, lack of equal economic are representational of the struggles women encounter even centuries later. Addressing the United States in this paper, the political sector is to be examined as such laws, bills, amendments, etc. are the foundation toward the repression of such rights, mentioned above.
Nancy Fraser, in Fortunes of Feminism, addresses Neoliberal feminism as “The network society,” the feminist turn to recognition has dovetailed all too neatly with a hegemonic neoliberalism that wants nothing more than to repress socialist memory” (Fraser 160). Delving into Gender Specification, the issue begins to lie in feminist movements lack of development toward Egalitarian distribution for movement on gendered terms. Such issues are seen in the multitude of facets present in feminism that have developed after the MeToo movement, coined in 2006. Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism, Marxist and Socialist Feminism, Cultural Feminism, Eco-Feminism, and so on (UAH) Focus on the language, structure, and foundations of movements that eventually hinder change within the legal system as recognition produces misinformation and diluted advocacy; Fraser’s interpretation remarks “The remarkable recent feminist gains on the axis of recognition would coincide with stalled progress – If not outright losses – on the axis of distribution” (Fraser 161). The issue continues as Media contrives an image of who ‘Feminist’ are, denoting them to different than ‘regular’ women who are ‘man-hating’ and not associated with the goals of other women, who ‘are constantly framed as deviant sexually, a bunch of man-haters out to destroy ‘family values’ (Wikipedia). These modes of recognition begin to disrupt the women’s ability to self-identify within herself, rather forming a collective idea, that can only be changed once the women forms a new self-representation for herself, one where ‘recognition becomes a positive relation to oneself’ and in this case, with socio-economic and political issues. As the United States begins to lack recognition, in which the general idea of ‘equality’ between gender or the labels defining such causes hold negative connotations in the patriarchy, no redistribution can exist.
In terms of egalitarian redistribution, the United States also falls short leading to such ‘regression’. A key identifier is the lack of ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The lack of ratification of the Equal Right Amendment that was passed in 1978 but not used by a state till 1982. Yet it is still only ratified in 38 states, the most recent being Virgina in 2020. Three states have filed an appeal of this ERA in 2021(eand). The United States also refuses to ratify the UN’s conventions for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women – the only countries that fall under this list is Iran, Sudan, Tonga, Palau, and Somalia (eand). Along with a non-cohesive agreement toward gender equality, stripping of women’s rights is a more recently pressing issue with the overturning of 4Roe v Wade, economic disparity, and positions of power Nancy defines as ‘subordination’ as women have to tend to the ‘second shift’ that covers familial dependency, have a lack of healthcare available, and face even developments like the pink tax. To put it as such, Nancy Fraser writes, ““The underlying premise was that gender injustices of distribution and recognition are so complexly intertwined that neither can be redressed entirely independently of the other” (172). Simply, the United States lacks recognition, in this case a primary focus on Gender Specification that leads to harmful connotations and loss of support from a systematic patriarchy, and when the approach fails, redistribution lacks equality in socio-economic and political spheres for women leaving the United States to fail at pushing for any form of gender equality, rather regressing as with a newfound 2oppression against women that becomes a leading posterity for their children. Furthermore, American women are underrepresented in positions of power. 3The US is one of the few countries left that has yet to have a head of state be a woman, along with Congress only being 24% women, yet women make up 51% of the population. The contrast continues in the economic disparity between men and women as the United States, “Gender pay gap narrowed in the 1980’s and ‘90s, but progress has stalled since. The gender pay gap has remained relatively stable in the United States over the past 20 years or so. In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned” (Pew Research). Within jobs and industries women continue, ‘to be underrepresented in high-level, highly paid positions and overrepresented in low-paying jobs’ (Inequality.org) that will continue to create divides at every avenue for women, as ‘egalitarian distribution’ cannot be noticed, nor accepted, as the United States lacks a firm grasp in recognition of women being naturally equal to men. Fraser ends, “In such cases, reforms aimed at remedying sexist misrecognition have ended up fueling sexist maldistribution” (Fraser 172).
1: Page 164, “justice requires social arrangement that permit all (adult) members of society to interact with one another as peers” Page 172, “The moral here is the need for bifocal vision in feminist politics. This means looing simultaneously through the two analytically distinct lenses of distribution and recognition”
2: South Carolina women who get abortions could get the death penalty under bill (Winston-Salem Journal); No-Fault divorce being reenacted in states (Vanity Fair).
3: Compared to other countries like France, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, etc. they make over twice the political representation than the women in the US. It gets to a point where in countries determined to be ‘poorer’ than the US, women in their political representation equal that of Sweden, France, Spain and Denmark coming in at numbers like Cuba (53%), South Africa (40%), Mexico (48%). The not ratifying the ERA allows them to not have equal rights for women, which puts the men in continual power, continues to establish the patriarchy. (eand)
4: June 24, 2022 The U.S supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 supreme court decision that allowed the constitutional right to abortion for women. This has a huge impact on marginalised groups who already struggle to access health care (Guttmacher)
Iceland
Opposing the United States is the country of Iceland, whose use of reform toward their legal policies, laws, bills, acts, etc. have developed a society where gender equality is the baseline for social practices and relationships of citizens. To open up on gender specification in their reform, the recognition of gender was formed into an act known as the 1Equal Rights and Equal Rights irrespective of Gender (150/2020) “for those whose gender is registered as neutral” this then leads to the 1Act on Gender Autonomy (80/2019) “right for persons to define their own gender” which puts the construct of gender at a baseline, that instead of segregating men and women, the general consensus is that everyone would obtain equal rights regardless of presenting or identifying gender. Breaking the stereotypes toward gender, denotes it to not holding severe power over political issues, almost desensitizing gender as not being a needed construct within society to separate individuals. Iceland’s most encompassing Act is 1The Act of Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men (established 2000, revamped 2008), is comprised of 35 articles that desire to “reach equality rights through all paradigms of society”. This Act coincides with the United States’ ERA, but in light of reform the Act is in use and extends to all portions of Iceland society.
As distribution follows recognition, Iceland egalitarian distribution centers around the women and their depiction in society. Following their Equal Status and Rights act, 1Article 23 of said Act states that gender equality must be taught in school through all levels of education, along with the free education the children are to receive. Such teaching causes normalization toward equality, not deeming the other sex to be inferior especially as the child is developing mentally and emotionally and will eventually extend into adulthood as paying for sex in Iceland is illegal. The women are not criminalized for the act as the country considers them to be coerced into physical acts, as consent could not be established in dire situations. This further extends strip clubs being banned, no public advertising belittling either gender, or profiting off of nudity. (Global Citizen). Fraser’s conclusion provides insight as to how Iceland’s reform pushed toward equality more efficiently as she writes, “Only an approach that redresses the cultural devaluation of the “feminine” precisely within the economy (and elsewhere) can deliver serious redistribution and genuine recognition” (Fraser 173). Continuing with redistribution, another Act Iceland instated is known as the 2Icelandic act on Maternity / Paternity Leave and Parental leave (established in 2020, 144/2020), in which both parents have equal leave when taking care of the child. Revamped in 2006, the leave is presently 9 months, which also covers leave for birth, foster care, adoption, and those employed and self-employed. Not only does this not leave the mother with ‘two-shifts’ in daily life, but it also produces the effect that the parents of the child both have equal share in the relationship, supplying that the mother would not be forced into a caretaker role. Compared to the United States stalled pay gap, ‘a decrease can be seen within charts, graphs, and overall a declining difference between the years’ as its original average of 14-18% hit a standard 10.2% in 2021 (Pew Research). And lastly, in terms of labeling the country to a standard of reform past the Acts and bills they have passed, the government automatic decision to reevaluate their system in light of recent corruption that caused a financial collapse in 2009, they passed a bill in which a company must have no less than 40% of people on their board be women. The men involved were sentence properly and women become the solution to the issue (Global Citizen). To end, when addressing reform on Gender Equality, Iceland’s action toward delivering a system to improve gender equality can be characterized as ‘reform’ given the political adjustment and overall improvement toward the treatment of women, compared to the United States.
To conclude, when using Nancy Fraser’s Two-Dimensional Approach to Gender Justice, her bifocal sections of recognition and redistribution provide a functional basis to address and eventually reconstruct gender inequality women face in society, and in this case within their country. When applying Fraser’s approach to both Iceland and The United States, the terms ‘Reform’ and ‘Regression’ are attributed to the country’s advancements toward gender equality in socio-economic and political terms, while also deciphering the major causes leading both to have such labels.
1: Government of Iceland: About Gender Equality; https://www.government.is/topics/human-rights-and-equality/equality/about-gender-equality/
2: In establishing the healthcare women receive from the government, the United States has an issue with women receiving proper care. “Between 2018 and 2020, the US maternal mortality rate increased from 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births to 23.8. For comparison, in 2020, the US maternal mortality rate was more than three times higher than that of 10 other high-income countries, including Canada, the UK and Germany. A 2022 CDC report suggests most pregnancy-related deaths in the US are preventable. (Knowable Magazine)
Work Cited:
England, Paula. Progress toward Gender Equality in the United States Has Slowed … – PNAS, 2020, www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1918891117.
Igualdad, Exige. “7 Laws That Show Why Iceland Ranks First for Gender Equality.” Global Citizen, 2017, www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/7-iceland-feminist-law-women/#:~:text=1.,Is%20Literally%20Protected%20by%20Law&text=The%20Act%20on%20Equal%20Status,through%20all%20paradigms%20of%20society.
Gov of Iceland. “About Gender Equality.” Go to Frontpage, 2023, http://www.government.is/topics/human-rights-and-equality/equality/about-gender-equality/.
Ireland, Statistics. “Unadjusted Gender Pay Gap 10,2% in 2021.” Statistics Iceland, 2022, http://www.statice.is/publications/news-archive/wages-and-income/unadjusted-gender-pay-gap-2021/.
Inequality. “Gender Economic Inequality.” Inequality.Org, 22 Mar. 2023, inequality.org/facts/gender-inequality/.
Aragão, Carolina. “Gender Pay Gap in U.S. Hasn’t Changed Much in Two Decades.” Pew Research Center, 1 Mar. 2023, http://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/01/gender-pay-gap-facts/.
. Guttmatcher. “Roe v. Wade Overturned: Our Latest Resources.” Guttmacher Institute, 27 Apr. 2023, www.guttmacher.org/abortion-rights-supreme-court.
Nash, Elizabeth, et al. “Six Months Post-Roe, 24 US States Have Banned Abortion or Are Likely to Do so: A Roundup.” Guttmacher Institute, 8 Feb. 2023, http://www.guttmacher.org/2023/01/six-months-post-roe-24-us-states-have-banned-abortion-or-are-likely-do-so-roundup.
Haque, Umair. “How America Failed Women.” Medium, 21 Sept. 2021, eand.co/how-america-failed-women-4e8490fa36d0.
University of Alabama. “Kinds of Feminism.” Kinds of Feminism, 2023, http://www.uah.edu/woolf/feminism_kinds.htm.
Final Grade: 100%, A+
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