Lane! I love how you draw the connections between stories that are as old as time -- structures that make women and kids depend on men, especially those with resources -- and then show us a crystal clear way to tell a new story, and one that really works. I love all the research you provide here and show the ways that we in the U.S. are not different at all from women and families in other parts of the world. The story of the U.S. as a land of so-called opportunity affects people's ability to get behind direct cash payments for families. We can and must write new narratives.
Loved this week’s post and your take here, Lane. As a non-American living in America, I’ve come to realize that the American myth of exceptionalism often leads many Americans to quick, uncritical rejections of solutions like the one offered here that have worked and work in other countries. It’s almost as though they believe that the problems too in America are exceptional, so nothing less than an exceptional (read: individualistic, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps) solution could possibly work. And all the while, there continues to be needless poverty and child hunger. The country was finally taking a step in the right - and ethical - direction with the introduction of the cash transfer payments to families with young children. But, here we are again back where we started. American exceptionalism.
Love this common sense solution, Lane. Also: "But one way to read the story is a parable about a woman who won’t stand for the systems and individuals that seek to quietly normalize the suffering of her and her children, and that maybe we should, too." YES!
Lane! I love how you draw the connections between stories that are as old as time -- structures that make women and kids depend on men, especially those with resources -- and then show us a crystal clear way to tell a new story, and one that really works. I love all the research you provide here and show the ways that we in the U.S. are not different at all from women and families in other parts of the world. The story of the U.S. as a land of so-called opportunity affects people's ability to get behind direct cash payments for families. We can and must write new narratives.
Loved this article! Really resonated.
Loved this week’s post and your take here, Lane. As a non-American living in America, I’ve come to realize that the American myth of exceptionalism often leads many Americans to quick, uncritical rejections of solutions like the one offered here that have worked and work in other countries. It’s almost as though they believe that the problems too in America are exceptional, so nothing less than an exceptional (read: individualistic, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps) solution could possibly work. And all the while, there continues to be needless poverty and child hunger. The country was finally taking a step in the right - and ethical - direction with the introduction of the cash transfer payments to families with young children. But, here we are again back where we started. American exceptionalism.
Love this common sense solution, Lane. Also: "But one way to read the story is a parable about a woman who won’t stand for the systems and individuals that seek to quietly normalize the suffering of her and her children, and that maybe we should, too." YES!