Is Female Greed a Victory?
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ABC News has a story on Anastasia Kelly, an AIG executive who resigned alongside male execs who were protesting the Obama pay cap of $500,000 a year. Because they resigned before the pay cap went into effect, they got millions of dollars in severence pay. Somehow this is being spun as a girl power moment. I suppose it could be construed as a feminist act if Kelly were the only executive at AIG being subjected to the pay cut, but she wasn't—it was a government edict. It was a purely capitalist decision, and it has nothing to do with the fact that earlier in her career, Kelly attended a conference call while giving birth to twins, though ABC News felt it necessary to include that bit of information. It was meant to imply that Kelly "deserved" to get those millions from AIG because she had sacrificed more than the male executives. Somehow I don't think that feelings of populist rage should be quelled, or that people should be more sympathetic to Kelly, because she is a woman, or a mother.
Image of dollar sign in mantle by Stockbyte/Getty Images.
Jessica Grose is the managing editor of Double X and the co-author of Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home. Click here to follow her on Twitter.
Comments
Nothing new here
By: Fitzpatrick | Thu, 12/31/2009 - 10:47
Female greed is a fact of life, always has been.
I haven't seen any of the reports that purportedly spin this as a feminist victory, but I suppose it's good that Kelly is greedy in a capitalist, high-achieving, self-driven way, rather than, say, marrying for money.
Whether it's a good thing, or a victory for feminism, depends on your definition of feminism. Gender equality? Sure. Kinder, gentler way of getting on in the world? Not so much.