From a Mother Jones interview with Barbara Ehrenreich

[firecat]

I'm incredibly fortunate never to have been laid off or fired, but many people close to me have, and this quote really speaks to me:

http://www.motherjones.org/interview/2006/06/ehrenreich.html

BE: There's a huge stigma attached to unemployment. People who have been laid off are very ashamed and depressed. There's a need to come together and overcome that shame. In those early meetings in the feminist movement of the seventies, people were ashamed to talk about having been raped. They were ashamed to talk about having been molested as a child. To be able to say that has happened to other people proved transforming. So let's bring it out, let's see what the problem is here.

TE: Isn't this the problem without a name again?

BE: Exactly. So I see the need for something at the same level of emotional involvement as in the early women's movement.

Comments

[raphaela.livejournal.com]

My mother, who has always been a stellar worker, was a high ranking officer at a three branch bank in the mid-80s. She was laid off in a semi-hostile takeover, and was so shamed by "losing her job" that she went into a deep, deep depression that lasted for over a year.

Actually, she hasn't been quite right since then. Since then she has questioned and doubted herself and her abilities. She never got over being "fired" and the stigma attached to it.

hehe

[notabu.livejournal.com]

last year i decided to start a blog. this guy who was chronically unemployed tells me: a blog?! have you lost your job?
i was like: no, or is that just a hobby for jobless?
he says: rather like a full-time employment for them!

a month later, following some funny logic of fate i was dismissed from this trash after full 5 years in employment.

it's been ok since, i got a new job. blogging is good enough.
women's rights groups? hmmm... whatever :)

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

I just finished a year in which I was technically unemployed after being laid off after seven years with a company. I was pretty fortunate in some ways; I had savings, I live in a cheap place, I was working on my master's anyway so I just did a couple of things for that degree that needed to be done during the day. I also did some consulting.

The nice thing about it is to realize that I could be unemployed for an entire year, not have to cut down my lifestyle much, and still have savings at the end. Granted, I don't live in the Bay Area.

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I wish there was not so much negative stigma associated with unemployment. Part of me wishes I had enough money to retire. I like being able to spend my time doing things that I enjoy without the stress of things I have no control over.