This research aims to explore how neoliberalism specifically impacts women. I will explore the tensions within neoliberal economics and ideology. These tensions compel women into certain iterations of success while limiting to what extent they can achieve this success. Neoliberalism offers an illusion of choice while actively restricting the scope of choice. The prominence of the ‘entrepreneurial self’ has salient ramifications for women. In this essay I will address three topics in the context of the entrepreneurial self: beauty, relationships and work. I will also discuss general, but related, themes and imagery of neoliberalism to enhance the argument of neoliberalism’s specific detrimental effect on women and their lives.
Neoliberalism …show more content…
This ‘choice’ is portrayed in neoliberal imagery as a free market of different options. In practice, however, neoliberalism ushers in a decidedly conservative moral agenda, thus restricting the scope of these choices (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2013). This is why the sex worker can be seen as the ‘moral limit’ of neoliberalism – she is entrepreneurial, self-sustaining and individual, yet she disrupts the morality of conservative thought (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2013). Neoliberalism values choice as long as it is exercised within the status quo. Women can choose a career over a family, but they will still be criticised. They will not be seen as making a choice towards success but instead making a concession because they have a personal failing which means they cannot achieve all elements of a successful female neoliberal …show more content…
One feature of this is precarious work. Careers no longer develop within one company. Lifelong jobs have been replaced with ‘portfolio careers’. One is always searching to improve their portfolio, to get the maximum return for the skills they have. In neoliberal times, applying for jobs is almost constant. There are many gendered barriers in getting hired, from inflexibility with hours (if a woman has children) to systemic gender bias. Because it is harder for women to get hired, it is even more difficult than before to ‘climb the job ladder’. Another feature is the casualisation of the workforce. Hours are often given irregularly. This makes it difficult for women to consistently provide for their families. It also requires workers to be always free to work because they don’t know which hours they will have to work. This is especially problematic for women with children who are mainly responsible for raising them, and single
Neoliberalism …show more content…
This ‘choice’ is portrayed in neoliberal imagery as a free market of different options. In practice, however, neoliberalism ushers in a decidedly conservative moral agenda, thus restricting the scope of these choices (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2013). This is why the sex worker can be seen as the ‘moral limit’ of neoliberalism – she is entrepreneurial, self-sustaining and individual, yet she disrupts the morality of conservative thought (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2013). Neoliberalism values choice as long as it is exercised within the status quo. Women can choose a career over a family, but they will still be criticised. They will not be seen as making a choice towards success but instead making a concession because they have a personal failing which means they cannot achieve all elements of a successful female neoliberal …show more content…
One feature of this is precarious work. Careers no longer develop within one company. Lifelong jobs have been replaced with ‘portfolio careers’. One is always searching to improve their portfolio, to get the maximum return for the skills they have. In neoliberal times, applying for jobs is almost constant. There are many gendered barriers in getting hired, from inflexibility with hours (if a woman has children) to systemic gender bias. Because it is harder for women to get hired, it is even more difficult than before to ‘climb the job ladder’. Another feature is the casualisation of the workforce. Hours are often given irregularly. This makes it difficult for women to consistently provide for their families. It also requires workers to be always free to work because they don’t know which hours they will have to work. This is especially problematic for women with children who are mainly responsible for raising them, and single