Sex and the City:

1
Sex and the City Gendering Neoliberalism Bren
da ParkerUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Associat
ion of American Geographers Annual Meeting March
18, 2003
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• Introduction
• Defining Neoliberalism
• Gendering Urban Neoliberalism
• A. Gendered Ideologies
• B. Gendered Impact
• Conceptualizing Neoliberalism Strategies
  Methods
• Milwaukee A Case Study

Discussion Outline
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Introduction

• Investigating Neoliberal theory practice by
  examining
• The hybrid dimensions of neoliberalism
• The reinvigoration of masculinities along with
  markets
• The gendered constitutions and impacts of
  neoliberalism

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• Pernicious Practice and Heady ideology
• Competition, enterprise, extension of market
  logics at expense of collective politics, public
  services, and social welfare provision
• Reorganization of state-market nexus that
  comprised Keynesian Welfare State
• Embedded in multiple and simultaneous scales,
  including the urban
• Neoliberalism as Statecraft
• (Peck and Tickell 2002 Leitner 2003)

• Defining
• Neoliberalism
• Theories
• of
• Urban
• Politics

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• Sexed raced bodies necessary for neoliberalism
• Reworking of gender identities and ideologies
• Devaluation and displacement of reproductive
  functions
• Multiple scales of neoliberalismespecially the
  household
• Public/Private Reproduction/Production Dualisms
• (Nagar et al., 2001 Peterson and Runyan 2000,
  Peterson 2003 Hooper 2001 McDowell 2003)

• Gendering
• Urban
• Neoliberalism
• Drawing on
• Feminist
• Perspectives

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• A World Fit for Gentlemen?
• Neoclassical economics hegemonic masculinity
• Neoconservative ideologies and policies
• Antipathy to collective action backlash to
  American/British Feminism
• Market as mediator of equality

Gendered Ideologies
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Raced and Gendered Accumulation Gendering
Work ReMasculinizing Politics and Power
Gendered Impact of Neoliberalism
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Re-conceptualizing Neoliberalism

• Hybrid Hegemonies
• Relational Analysis
• Everyday Practices of Neoliberalism
• Identities, Subjects Subjectivities

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Rethinking Gendered and Hybrid Neoliberalisms
Work, Life and Play in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin A Case Study
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• Neoliberal Milwaukee Rolling Back Rolling Out
• Pilot site for welfare reform
• Privatization of public housing
• Pilot site for education vouchers
• Reduction of over 1200 city employment positions
• Aggressive downtown development

We had to restore faith that the city is a real
marketplace -Mayor John Norquist (1998-2004)
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Work, Live, and Play Discourse and Practice
Park East Development Project (Good Jobs Livable
Neighborhood Coalition)
Young Professionals of Milwaukee
9 to 5 Milwaukee Poverty Network
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Work, Live, and Play Producing Milwaukees Urban
Subjects

• Gaining Brain Young People
• High technology workers
• Employed Professionals
• Single people unencumbered by families
• Consumers
• We have an image that is Laverne and Shirley,
  beer and brats. We need to change the image so we
  can get young people to come hereMilwaukee
  Director of City Development

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Work, Live, and Play Animating Milwaukees Urban
Subjects
To thrive in an era when intellectual assets
have become far more valuable than physical
assets to most businesses, our region must
attract and retain top talent from the nationals
universities and colleges. We need leading-edge
entrepreneurs and professionals who will spark
growth at existing businesses and start new
ventures -Milwaukee Metropolitan Chamber of
Commerce Blueprint for Economic Prosperity
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Work, Live, and Play Producing Milwaukees Urban
Subjects
Our values have evolved from those of the recent
past. We search for opportunities, not ideal
locations. We strive for creativity and admire
risk-takingnot as an end in and of itselff, but
as a tool for prosperity. We seek out different
perspective, beliefs, and experiences, as our
world is much larger than city or county
limitsWe watch films from Hong Kong and listen
to music from Mexico. We sample cuisines from
East Africa, Russia and Spain. Rajan Shukla,
Milwaukee Young Professional
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Live, Work, and Play Producing Milwaukees Urban
Subjects
One of the things they (well-educated workers)
consider is lifestyleit has to do with the
ability of an individual going to work being able
to do others things such as pick up dry cleaning,
go to a drugstore, or walk to lunch --Patricia
Algiers, author of Live, work, and Play
report The way I understand it, the city wants
to attract back people who left the city because
of our own children. -Member, 9 to 5 Poverty
Network
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Live, Work, and Play Contested Urban Spaces

• A downtown retail/housing corridor that will
  inspire confidence in the market
• Or
• A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new,
  integrated downtown community?

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Conclusion (in Progress)

• Discursive production of idealized and gendered
  subjects and spaces is an important aspect of
  local neoliberalisms
• These productions are not unidirectional, but are
  comprised by both resisters and promulgators
  of neoliberalism
• Neoliberal policies do not appear to be
  mitigating racial, gender and class
  inequalities but rather eaacerbating and
  glossing over them

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II. Gendered Impact of Neoliberalism
U.S. Women in Elected Office (1979-2003)
Source Center for American Women and Politics,
Rutgers University, 2003