Memo to Swedish Feminists: Burning Money Does Not Solve the Wage Gap

by Brittany Shoot · 2010-07-07 09:00:00 UTC
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This week's winner for the most misguided, offensive, out-of-touch protest comes to us from Sweden, idyllic land of supposed equality ... where women still nevertheless make, on average, 19% less than their male counterparts. What to do about this sad state of affairs? If you're Gudren Schyman, leader of the Feminist Initiative party, you burn money — 100,000 Swedish kroner, which is roughly $13,000.

The money, donated by an advertising agency, was set ablaze publicly today to (supposedly) highlight women's desperation in being so underpaid, and represents what women lose every minute in Sweden because of the gendered pay gap. It just so happens that the Feminist Initiative members are hoping to gain a seat in Parliament in this September's election. High-minded protest or lowly attention-seeking ploy? Do we really need to pick just one?

There's a reason feminists don't always have such a good reputation when it comes to their economic sensitivity. It's easy to overlook the financial concerns of others when you don't have your own, and because mainstream feminist movements have a pretty unfortunate history when it comes to excluding everyone who isn't white, educated, heterosexual, and upper- and middle-class (and so on and so on), this comes as a particularly nasty jab from a white woman in one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Setting money on fire is neither revolutionary, nor is it an effective means of protest. It's a disgraceful, wasteful act in a world where that sort of money could provide seemingly unlimited resources to people who live in mere cents a day. There's a reason a lot of poor women don't claim the f-word label, even if they consider themselves to be in favor in gender equity. Add one more tragic, pathetic example of that list, eh?

Thankfully, at least a few groups have already come out against Schyman's bizarre classist stunt, and I can only hope many more will follow. "It's a lot of money that could have stretched to a lot of meals," said one local charity spokeswoman. No kidding.

Photo Credit: Muffet

Brittany Shoot is a freelance writer, editor and critic. She's one of the editors of the Feminist Review blog and a frequent contributor to a variety of progressive publications.
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