An Intersectional Tour in Argentina, Spain, and Oceania

What interested me about this week’s readings was the idea that studying gendered norms and performances provides insights to the complexity of gendered differences in various places.

In the popular classes of Argentina during an economic crisis, ours truly, Dr. Whitson, found norms such as men’s role as a provider, women’s ideal of motherhood, and the crisis of masculinity (Whitson 2010). I could not discern a clear idea of what type of employment men lost, but it seems like they lost their ability to perform physical labor in the industrial sector; therefore, their masculine ability to provide was challenged. Some went into informal work that was part-time and temporary, which men and women did not equate to work (Whitson 2010). Further, popular class men only generated a fifth of the primary income (Whitson 2010). As a result, men felt that their authority was challenged by wives who were primary income providers, and suffered from a masculine and an identity crisis. On the other hand, women raised their status as primary income earners. However, they preferred to perform informal work, where they would run a food kiosk or sew at home so they could govern the well-being of their family. Men and women considered this a non-work activity (Whitson 2010). Overall, both popular class men and women were not content with their new performances because their traditional gendered norms were challenged. This work was significant because it took the focus away from a general topic such as unemployment, which would have simplified the impacts of an economic crisis on men and women.

On the other hand, the film, Monday’s in the Sun, although humorous and concerned with the conditions of the working class in Northern Spain, mainly focuses on the lives of unemployed men after their ship-building-factory is shipped off to another part of the world. Like in Whitson’s work, we see how men are emasculated. For example, Jose, who is unemployed, experiences a loss of masculine power because he cannot act as a cosigner when his wife, who is employed, applies for a loan. We get a sense of how the men feel about the situation, but women are placed in the background. The film also reinforces the perception of unemployed men as alcoholics and practitioners of bad behavior. We get a sense of the lives of unemployed and emasculated men, but we do not hear the voices of women. Moreover, the society in this film seems to be individualistic and ignores the nature of a kinship-based society. I don’t think men consistently congregating at a bar, ironically called Shipyard, counts as an example of kinship-based society. Consequently, the film overlooks the importance of intersectionality.

Our last reading regarding Pacific women and men, demonstrates the importance of intersectionality. The needs of men and women are different around the world. Unlike the confessions of Argentinian women in Whitson’s work, Pacific women want to be “recognized for their unpaid household and care work and for men to share more of the workload” (McKinnon et al. 2016).  As a result, these Pacific societies are rethinking men and women’s role and performance in households. Additionally, what I liked about this article was its findings of togetherness in this society. I think togetherness could reduce the pressures of men to maintain masculine roles and could allow women to negotiate equal roles in the household. Under those circumstances, men will not lie and tell their friends that they are working on their cars when in reality they are helping with household chores.