Follow Up: Responding to Rachel

Much like Rachel, I found Mink's article to be both informative and mobilizing. Although I would never call Mink's vision lofty, as no one should ever consider the goal of equality as sublime, I do think it lacks critical details. Without clear prerequisites for receiving welfare, this paradigm shift in government assistance and women's rights will not even be considered. Even though I am in full concordance with Mink, the though of deciding what constitutes one mother as deserving of welfare from another seems impossibly difficult. Unfortunately, the criteria will inevitably leave some women out or be deemed insufficient. While the fear of not being able to please everyone should never discourage the ability to aid a few, this inadequacy is a reality.

Jumping to a different idea, I loved Mink's description of the feminist activists, "We mobilized not to speak for poor mothers but with them - to speak for ourselves as feminists frustrated by the absence of women's voices and by the lack of gender equality concerns in the welfare debate," (Mink 56). The fact that all women can participate in feminism, regardless of their experiences, is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means that by simply possessing two X chromosomes you have an automatic stake in whatever is being debated. On the other, it is very easy to be ignorant or indifferent if the debate does not directly affect you.

This duality is what I find most discouraging about women who "hate feminists". Just because you may be white, upper class, and wealthy does not mean that feminist issues will not someday affect you. Nor does it mean you should ignore the other members of your gender as they fight for their lives. The welfare bill that Mink mentions is just one of many cases where this scenario plays out, "My point is not that feminists were uniquely responsible for how Congress reformed welfare. It is that they were uniquely positioned to make a difference," (Mink 57). Synthesizing this idea, like Mink I strongly believe that those who are not part of the solution are part of the problem.