[link] Why women fight women (headline not entirely accurate)

I am still not sure what to make of this piece. I think it’s the disingenuous, baiting headline that I find objectionable, really. The piece itself actually makes a lot of sense, particularly when it discusses women for whom the patriarchal status quo is actually very advantageous.

[...]

This goes some way to explaining the power politics behind otherwise inexplicable decisions. Faced with a gap between the rhetoric of equality and what actually happens within organisations, it’s not so surprising that some women choose the safe option of identifying with traditional centres of power. Look at those “first ladies” who find it easier to get close to power than seek it on their own behalf. When Carla Bruni-Sarkozy announces in Vogue that women don’t need feminism, she’s speaking as a woman who’s experienced the material advantages of attaching herself to one of the world’s most powerful men.

These women have got where they have – somewhere quite comfortable – without rocking the boat, and they’re not keen on women who challenge the status quo. Identifying with men is a traditional means of negotiating patriarchal power, and women who go down that route tend to share reactionary male views of other women. If you’re a conservative woman in the Church of England, the prospect of “pushy” women getting power is quite scary, so of course you’re going to vote against it. The last thing any traditional woman wants to be accused of is appearing confrontational, even if accepting male power is self-defeating in the long run.

[More: commentisfree]

Related:

• Carla Bruni-Sarkozy ‘Doesn’t Need To Be Feminist’ And 10 Other Headline-Grabbing Carlaisms (graziadaily.co.uk)
• [link] Feminism is Dead, Long Live Femininity (blah, blah, I like the status quo, blah, blah) (afeimineach.wordpress.com)
• “We Don’t Need to Be Feminist,” Says French Former First Lady (theage.com.au)
• Carla Bruni-Sarkozy apologises for ‘clumsy’ feminism remarks (telegraph.co.uk)
• Carla Bruni in Twitter feminist backlash (bigpondnews.com)
• Dear Carla Bruni, France still needs feminism. Love, Twitter (qz.com)