I listened to a woman on NPR the other day projecting her desires for women in the workforce. Her desires did not match my experience or hopes for the future. In many ways, I felt the woman saw women workers as cogs on a the work machine rather than real people. I have read that this may have been one flaw in the women's movement in that women leading the movement were speaking and advocating from their privileged perches in life rather than taking a more inclusive view of the great diversity of lifestyles, experiences, desires, and needs American women represented.
Then I heard a popular Democratic woman tout her book recently. I had a similar feeling as the woman told us how to live and what to do. While this is a woman who inspires me in many ways, I felt that her latest interviews didn't encompass the great diversity of women in our country and their great diversity of experiences, knowledge, needs, and desires.
Also, as I hear leaders in the Republican and MAGA movements promote less rights, greater restrictions, and little respect for American women, I am even more dismayed.
What is the American dream for women today? What is the American dream for men, women, and children? How can that dream be characterized?
Is one of our central issues in the United States today, the fact that what we believe to be the American dream does not represent who we are as a people or where we want to go? If that's true, what is an American dream we can all rally around--what do we want as a people?
If I had to characterize the American dream I want, I would add the following elements.
- Respect for our amazing diversity. I would like all Americans to embrace the scientifically-true notion that our diversity is our strength, and with every initiative take on a mindset that respects the great diversity of experiences, lifestyles, culture, religion, families, geography, race and more that exist.
- Ending unnecessary, untimely, devastating calamity, harm, hurt, and death. No one wants a short life, compromised live, or life impacted by unnecessary loss. We can mitigate this by working against that which increases unnecessary violence, health problems, harm, and death. We need to take that amazing public health view of life, and work thoughtfully and strategically against measures that end life too early.
- Building the good life for all. What is a good life? What does that include? For me, a good life includes a warm, welcoming home, friends and family that I love, safety, and access to basic needs including good nutrition, health care, education, healthy recreation, clean lands, air, waterways, and soil. A good life means that I can love who I want, and live the way I want as long as I don't hurt others.
- Working with the international community in positive, peaceful ways to solve the problems we share such as problems related to climate change, migration, pollution, and the violent, life-ending leadership of greedy, self-serving, hateful, exclusive, deadly leaders and regimes.
- Reasonable work expectations and fair pay. We need to completely overhaul our ideas related to work and finances. Too many elite want to solve the work problems we face by parceling out child care, elder care, and management patterns. Yet, are we thinking enough about people's desire to have time to care for their children and elderly and sick relatives. By increasing childcare or eldercare without truly revolutionizing the world of work and everyday living are we relegating too many people to unhappy, too-busy, and programmed lives. I think we need to revision what it means to live well in the modern world, and create new norms for this. For example, if I had to choose for myself, I would choose a lifestyle where there was great support for optimal childcare and eldercare, part time work that pays sufficiently, ready access to the basic needs for good living, and plenty of time to be an active, positive citizen in society. Too many companies relegate workers to inhumane work conditions and pay which keeps people less powerful in society and for their own positive living.