Making Work Visible

My illustration is a digitally hand drawn vector tracing of a still from a video I recorded of myself running on the treadmill in a “power suit” and heels. This comical clip-art-esque image gets its title from the Environmental Sociology “treadmill of production” theory, which explains how increased economic growth caused by production and consumption results in environmental degradation. The theory’s source invites a restructuring of the political economy in order to solve environmental crises. I think that treadmill theory and the prevalent, white feminist discourse surrounding wage inequality are related, not only in my illustration, because most arguments for the (gendered) wage gap fail to mention the importance of race when discussing it. As of 2013 black men’s annual income is less than white women’s. The political restructuring necessitated by wage inequality must be intersectional. White feminist discourse surrounding wage inequality, which ignores race, ironically continues to produce wage inequality. I believe that nothing can fix the effects of oppressive systems without a political restructuring.