Feminist Discernment in the Economy: Transforming Masculinity

Why should feminist discernment in the economy involve transforming society's construction of gender? We have already established that society has gendered the economy and its parts (the corporate world is masculine; home-based production and reproduction is feminine; the financial industry is masculine; and the care industry is feminine), and that this gendering has led to a largely unsubstantiated assignment of corresponding socially gendered traits (the corporate world and the financial industry are competitive, hard, uncaring, and cutthroat; the home and the care industry is cooperative, soft, nurturing, and self-sacrificing). In this system, feminine and masculine gendered traits are not only separated, they are positioned as opposites. These false opposite masculine and feminine pairs include competitive and cooperative, independent and dependent, selfish and sharing, etc. Without too much difficulty you can imagine a work environment that is both competitive and cooperative or even a financial institution that is caring. The same gender hierarchical polarization that privileges men over women and positions men and women as opposites, privileges masculine traits over feminine traits and separates feminine gendered traits from masculine gendered institutions.

This privileging and polarization means that the traditional masculine gendered sphere is deprived of feminine gendered traits entirely even when they might be more productive in a given situation or institution. During feminist discernment, individuals begin to see the artificiality of gender and gendering. This awareness allows the reconstruction of gender and gendered institutions so that the feminine and masculine are not polarized (positioned as opposite) or hierarchical (value is not determined by gendering).  

In her book, Feminism, Objectivity and Economics, Julie A. Nelson proposes that masculine traits deprived of their feminine counterparts and feminine traits deprived of their masculine counterparts are perverted. For example traditionally masculine gendered rationality without the feminine gendered emotionality is a negative hyper-rationality; feminine sharing without masculine self-interest can easily become a negative self-sacrificing.9 Her model highlights the negativity of polarization. Nelson's theory recognizes a reality in which there are positives and negatives in both genders (masculinity is no longer the positive to femininity's negative).

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These images recreated from Nelson's text illustrate her post-discernment conception of gender. Masculinity and femininity each contain positive and negative elements. They are not polarized but complimentary--without its complimentary gendered trait, a gendered trait is perverted and becomes negative.

What does the new, post-discernment gender construction and masculinity look like in action? Look for the masculine tempered by, jointed to, and merged with the feminine.

Examples:

Feminist Economics: Economics has traditionally barred women and the feminine from its study, its practice, and engagement with many of its manifestations including the labor market and corporate world. Feminist economics is an economics that recognizes traditional women's work (care, home production, reproduction) as economic activity instead of barring this feminine work from the masculine gendered study of economics. Feminist economics recognizes feminine traits in the masculine gendered economy and incorporates these traits into its theories. Feminist economics recognizes the distortions in the economy created by the absence of the feminine and the presence of a negative masculinity and seeks to remedy them.

Downshifting: The worker has traditionally been gendered masculine. Before discernment this masculinity is negative and largely devoid of the feminine: workers compete with each other, with their employers, and with other firms to maximize their profit. This often means working long hours in high stress jobs and competitive work environments, working in industries that go against personal beliefs (morality and ethics are traditionally gendered feminine), and neglecting family. Downshifting is a response to this negative masculinity defining the role of both men and women workers. Downshifting is a conscious decision to work fewer hours or earn less. Many downshifters spend more time with their family (a traditionally  feminine sphere), care for their bodies (a traditionally feminine activity), or work in an industry that is not in conflict with their beliefs (a traditionally feminine concern).

Socially Responsible Finance:  Negative masculinity has traditionally guided the individual's and firm's financial decision making. This has led to the neglect of traditionally feminine gendered caring and social responsibility in financial decision making processes. Through discernment, negative masculinity is replaced with positive masculinity that incorporates elements of femininity. This positive masculinity allows for the possibility of financial decisions that take into consideration people and the environment in addition to monetary gain. This is socially responsible finance.