The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism

by Catherine Rottenberg

From Hillary Clinton to Ivanka Trump and from Emma Watson all the way to Beyoncé, more and more high-powered women are unabashedly identifying as feminists in the mainstream media. In the past few years feminism has indeed gained increasing visibility and even urgency. Yet, in her analysis of recent bestselling feminist manifestos, well-trafficked mommy blogs, and television series such as The Good Wife , Catherine Rottenberg reveals that a particular variant of feminism--which she calls neoliberal feminism--has come to dominate the cultural landscape, one that is not interested in a mass women's movement or struggles for social justice. Rather, this feminism has introduced the notion of a happy work-family balance into the popular imagination, while transforming balance into a feminist ideal. So-called "aspirational women" are now exhorted to focus on cultivating a felicitous equilibrium between their child-rearing responsibilities and their professional goals, and thus to
abandon key goals that have historically informed feminism, including equal rights and liberation.

Rottenberg maintains that because neoliberalism reduces everything to market calculations it actually needs feminism in order to "solve" thorny issues related to reproduction and care. She goes on to show how women of color and poor and immigrant women most often serve as the unacknowledged care-workers who enable professional women to strive toward balance, arguing that neoliberal feminism legitimates the exploitation of the vast majority of women while disarticulating any kind of structural critique. It is not surprising, then, that this new feminist discourse has increasingly dovetailed with conservative forces. In Europe, gender parity has been used by Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders to further racist, anti-immigrant agendas, while in the United States, women's rights has been invoked to justify interventions in countries with majority Muslim populations. And though campaigns such as #MeToo and #TimesUp appear to be shifting the discussion, given our frightening neoliberal reality,
these movements are currently insufficient. Rottenberg therefore concludes by raising urgent questions about how we can successfully reorient and reclaim feminism as a social justice movement.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Politics, History, Gender Studies, Theory, Feminist Theory

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Le G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ça fait un peu article mais juste en tiré sur le long, le fait qu'elle se base principalement sur 2/3 livres/ essais n'aide pas, sympa quand même

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. It also wasn't as bad as I expected when I realized the arguments it took. Just okayish, but nothing profound.

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wishy-washy, weak, and boring. The author repeated almost identical comments and insights about each author’s writings. Nothing she said was new, profound, or powerful. And if this was supposed to be a critique, it was so insipid as to be useless.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ya gotta wait until my review comes out in the International Socialist Review, no spoilers here.

[Kayla Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily one of the more “readable” books I’ve read for my capstone! Kind of horrified about the idea that we’re turning ourselves into “stock”

[Manisha ⛰️⛰️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"flexibility an alluring word for white collar workers, who may desire, say, working from home one day a week - can have a darker meaning for many low income workers as a euphemism for unstable hours or paychecks."
Loved the work and the arguments put forth by Catherine in this book. Feminism for the 99% !!! Definitely recommend.

[T.E. Tucker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive

Author spends a substantial portion of this book doing nothing more then repetitively criticizing the well known writings of Sheryl Sandburg and Anne-Marie Slaughter. Same arguments, same criticisms, over and over and over. Nothing new, nothing profound, literally word for word in multiple chapters. Condescending in its obvious belief in its own moral superiority.

[Marlie Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read most chapters, was interesting analysis of women's difficulties of 'work-life' balance during different feminist movements and now the current neoliberal phase
One of the chapters was about Slaughter's article "why women still can't have it all" and that was really interesting too

[Mills College Library]

305.42 R851 2018

[Karen Moe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important history of how (some) feminism has been hijacked by patriarchal hierarchy and, as such, isn't feminism at all. Read and know.

[Alana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the author starts talking in circles for a while around the halfway mark. Disappointed, because I thought we’d be getting into something juicy

[Winter Kuhaupt]

Gender studies is actually just pure yap, but at least this was somewhat interesting

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por ratos un poco redundante, pero una excelente lectura para entender la afectividad positiva como horizonte de temporalidad de un feminismo cooptado por el capitalismo en su vena más neoliberal.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Meaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

hallmark of neoliberalism is the felicitous balance between career and motherhood imperative; futurity as a disciplinary technology; maintaining and enjoying present balance, too.