Gabrielle Fox publishes article about the myth of “The American Meritocracy”

Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) alum Gabrielle Fox (’19) put her degree to work in a research article “Pull Yourself up by Your Bootstraps: An American Mythology,” published in the UW Bothell student journal The Crow (2020 edition). The article systematically debunks the idea that level of effort is equivalent to level of success in the United States. Those who struggle with adversity and marginalization in the U.S. know that “working harder” is not a magical solution that makes structural oppression malleable.

Using data taken directly from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research Center, “An American Mythology” connects the dots of structural oppression through the examination of poverty’s cyclical nature, the discrepancy in quality of and access to education, and finally the existence as well as generational impact of racial and gender wage gaps.