The Triple Bind by Stephen Hinshaw Ph.D. Rachel Kranz

The Triple Bind by Stephen Hinshaw Ph.D. Rachel Kranz

Author:Stephen Hinshaw, Ph.D., Rachel Kranz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-17T16:00:00+00:00


THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES

To be honest, it took me quite a while to figure out the nature of the Triple Bind because in so many ways, this is the best time in history to be a girl. In the 2004–5 school year, 57 percent of the bachelor's degrees in our country went to women. Women's right to be in the workplace has been well established, and among two-income households, one-quarter of wives now earn more than their husbands. 13

Politically, too, women have made great strides. As of this writing, our Congress had eighty-nine female members—the highest number in history, including a female Speaker of the House. Also as of this writing, for the first time in U.S. history, a woman was a serious contender for a major-party presidential nomination. Teenage girls who watch the news will see women at all levels of politics and political commentary, and at least a surface acceptance that they belong there.

In one of the most striking shifts of the past thirty years, girls are also involved in sports in ways that used to be reserved for boys, allowing our daughters to engage with their bodies in new and more empowered ways. Madeleine, for example, is a champion swimmer, and her sister, Renee, excels at cross-country running. Athletic girls can see active women engaging with basketball, tennis, golf, soccer, track. They can aspire to play professionally with the Women's National Basketball Association or thrill to the “Just do it” message of the Nike ads. Long gone are the days of my baby boomer youth, when girls were patronizingly organized into six-person basketball teams—half on offense, half on defense—so that no frail female would be forced to run the whole length of the court. Instead, superbly conditioned female athletes are dunking in college and even high school games, while at some schools, girls’ sports are even more popular than boys’. And for the first time in history, at least some girls are going to college on the strength of athletic scholarships in basketball or soccer, and others are being recruited on the basis of their athletic ability. 14

But to some extent, the numbers are deceptive. Yes, looked at in one way, the Triple Bind is a triple set of opportunities, allowing girls to excel in or at least to explore every field. But looked at from another angle, the Triple Bind is a cruel hoax, as though we'd invited our daughters to the world's most sumptuous banquet and then kept them from enjoying their meal.

True, female college students now outnumber males, and women have nearly caught up with men in terms of med school and law school enrollment. 15 But at the same time, women are earning only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men—despite the fact that 37 percent of women over the age of sixteen work in management, professional, and related occupations, compared to only 31 percent of men. Women still predominate in such low-paid, low-status jobs as preschool and kindergarten teachers (97.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.