Regular readers of the New York Times may have noticed that the Times believes that there are currently two recessions going on — a women’s recession which leads to support groups named things such as DABA (Dating a Banker Anonymous) and women who suffer vicariously from their boyfriends’ / husbands’ layoffs, and a men’s recession in which manly men’s masculinity is diminished by their job losses (“Why the Sting of Layoffs Can be Sharper for Men” and “Daddy’s Home and a Bit Lost“).
While I certainly agree that a conversation about how the recession is impacting men and women and what role gender is playing in that impact could be an interesting one, the pieces that the NYT has been publishing do not meet those criteria — instead, they simply gendered stereotypes and get us no closer to true understanding.
Luckily, we have feminist bloggers to fill the gap — for truly interesting discussions of the recession and gender, check out the following posts by Deborah Siegel:
http://girlwpen.com/?p=1478 (on the Times’ DABA article);
http://girlwpen.com/?p=1490 (on “Layoffs Sharper for Men”);
Finally, check out her post with a roundup of links to other articles/posts on gender and the recession. And then tell us what you think — is the recession affecting women and men differently? If so, how? What have you been observing?