Gero - Final Farewell Blog Post Fifteen

        The concept of the private government of the modern workplace as described by Anderson in Chapter 2 of Private Government enforces a double jeopardy on women in particular. In her paper “Unstrapping the Straitjacket of Preference” Anderson asserts that “bargaining theory recommends that, if women are to improve their situation, they ought to seek employment outside of the home” (page 35). Women’s situation is also improved as work allows women to create an identity outside of the home through joining larger group identities (page 36). Putting this dilemma in the language of Private Government, women suffer under the patriarchal private governments of the home, where fathers and husbands exert arbitrary and unaccountable power over them. To create identity, they must then join additional private government outside of the home and in the workplace.

            While many people in the modern workplace are subjugated to private government in the form of the communist dictatorship of the firm, women suffer uniquely in that they are almost always under private government. However, one can argue that while men may be under private government at work, they exert power within their public government of the home. So, a firm’s private government powers—like monitoring employees after-hours or influencing political decisions—are compounded for women who also live under the private government of the home. 

            The recommendation that Anderson gives for women to develop an identity and individuality requires them to take on another form of oppression under the firm. Although work may be personally fulfilling or engaging, in Anderson’s words “consent to an option within a set cannot justify the option set itself” (page 61). The option set for women is choosing between private governments—work or home—either of which can implement coercion or sanctions backed by patriarchal power structures. Under this structure, it can even be asked whether the identity that women are developing outside of the home is entirely valuable or sincere. Therefore, a restructuring of the private government of firms—which may likely come sooner than a restructuring of the norms of the home—will primarily benefit women because it will allow them some sense of freedom and to develop a substantial individuality.