As Nancy Folbre, an economist and editor of “For Love and Money: Care Provision in the United States,” told Salon last year, “Once upon a time, we lived in a world where men engaged in paid work and women stayed home and took care of the children, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled.” That’s not the world we live in now: Even in households with more than one adult, some form of paid work is rarely a “choice,” and someone still has to do the care work, usually on top of everything else. That someone is usually a woman, which is why state and city-level policies for paid sick days and family leave — the bare minimum of flexibility — are feminist issues.
From Irin Carmon in Salon, and that article is one of the best, in my opinion, on the significance of Marissa Mayer announcing that Yahoo! is getting rid of ‘work from home’ entitlements for their employees. I talk a lot on this blog (and in published articles) about the difficulties of balancing work and family because I consider it a core feminist issue. And as you may have noticed, I also love Nancy Folbre’s work. You can’t go wrong with a feminist economist.
blue milk 
Why really gets my goat is that many people don’t realize or overlook the fact that Marissa Mayer has a personal net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars. YES, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS! Marissa Mayer can afford to live a life that few of us will ever know. She has the kind of money and resources that allow her complete freedom from things that 99.9% of people can only dream of. She never has to cook, clean, organize, make appointments, do errands, or drive again. EVER! Nannies will take care of her child according to her personal needs. She can afford luxurious spa treatments and beauty treatments without abandon and travel to and from anywhere in the world at her whim. There’s nothing about this woman that’s relatable to the average woman. Sure, Marissa Mayer is incredibly intelligent and successful and a lot of it has to do with her intellect and her capabilities. BUT there’s absolutely NOTHING about her lifestyle or working-style that’s applicable to 99.9% of women in the world.
Could not agree more! Unfortunately corporate real estate is still also very male dominated, working to an agenda that rarely prioritises feminist issues (which is a C suite issue). Excitingly, the financial crisis has encouraged many corporations to look at space saving, flexible working conditions which can have the marvellous by-product of increased accessibility for women. Really hoping it’s a tipping point.
[…] Workplace flexibility is a feminist issue […]