Dorothy Day

We first see the young Dorothy marching with suffragettes during a rally for Woodrow Wilson. What are she and her fellow marchers demanding? What was the situation of women in American society of 1917? Which of society's dictates for women do we see Dorothy flaunting in the film? (Supporting herself outside the home; smoking; wearing her hair short several years before this became popular in the Flapper era; espousing radical ideas and demonstrating them publicly; flaunting authority, even the police, and later, the church; going to jail; free love; agreeing to an abortion; entering into a common-law marriage; having and raising a child as a single parent.)

Dorothy and her fellow marchers were demanding the right to vote, the right to be considered a citizen, equal rights as men, and overall, women's rights. Women in American society of 1917 were considered second-class citizens. They did not have the same rights as men, they could not vote, they were, looked down upon for working a job outside of the home, they did not have authority, their husbands were in control of their life and their children, the women did not have rights to their own children or they own property once married. Throughout the film Dorothy Flaunts several of society's dictates for women, including working for a newspaper, smoking, preaching radical ideas for the time, flaunting her authority, going to jail for her beliefs and demonstrations, free love, having an abortion, and raising a child as a single parent. Dorothy unlike women of her time worked a job for a news paper as a reporter, it was through this job that we started to see her trying to spread the injustices that were happening around her through the paper, espousing radical ideas against authority. Dorothy is also seen throughout the movie as a smoker, she publicly took part in this activity no seen as acceptable for women but a men's activity. Considered an anarchist, Dorothy preached radical ideas for her time and for a woman throughout her life, from preaching free love,birth control, and women's rights in the 1910's to against nuclear weapons in the 1950's. Dorothy also flaunted authority over the church and the police, she told the archbishop that she wouldn't take the word "catholic" out of the sign and she continued to go against his wishes. Dorothy was jailed in her protest against Woodrow Wilson and was one of the 168 women who were jailed for "obstructing traffic" who once in jail went on a hunger strike. She was also arrested for civil disobedience several times during her fight in her campaign against nuclear weapons. Dorothy not only at one point in her life preached free love but also took part in it resulting in two pregnancies, one that she aborted and the other she raised on her own as a single parent. Getting abortion was going against the catholic church as well as her participation in free love, it was also not something supported in society as we saw when she was taken to a back street apartment for the procedure. Raising a child as a single mother was also not seen as proper for women in society, going against another aspect of society. Overall, Dorothy flaunted the ways she went against society and the church but she made a huge contribution to reform and helping those in need.

Dorothy Day in the center with two friends selling the New York Call in 1917.

The High Cost of Low Prices

To me Wal-Mart is a good place in that it provides low prices that other stores cannot offer, Wal-Mart also provides an array of products from groceries to furniture all in one stop making it very convenient. Though it offers a wide array of products, shopping there it is at a cost. Wal-Mart puts smaller stores out of business, does not pay their employees overtime, leaves empty stores for rent when they have to start paying taxes by moving outside of city limits, hurts the environment, and disrespects their employees and does not allow them to unionize.

Wal-Mart's policies and strategies do not conform to the 7 principles of Catholic Social teaching.
1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person – Wal-Mart ignores the dignity of its "associates". The company tells its associates to go on welfare instead of providing them benefits like most companies.
2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation - Though Wal-Mart advertises a strong family like community, employees experience racism and sexism from their contemporaries as well as management.
3. Rights and Responsibilities - Wal-Mart does not allow their workers to unionize. Through a union Wal-Mart employees would be able to protect their rights.
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable - Working at Wal-Mart is an option for the poor, but the store pays low wages and does not factor in the overtime hours that are forced upon these employees. Essentially a poor person would remain poor if they worked at Wal-Mart because they would not have the options or the ability to fix their situation because Wal-Mart does not give any benefits, all the money Wal-Mart pays its employees does right back into the store.
5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers - see numbers 1, 2, & 3.
6. Solidarity – The associates and management are on completely different levels. Wal-Mart is not the family it claims to be.
7. Care for God's Creation – Wal-Mart is involved in several environmental lawsuits per year for their lack of care for God’s creation.

I would never work for Wal-Mart, the store does not offer good benefits and does not treat their employees fairly. If I were to work at a low wage job I would look into a place were I would be respected as a female, paid for my time if I worked overtime or not, and a place that allows unions so that my rights would be protected.

Sadly big retail stores are of such huge convenience with the wide array of product they offer and the low prices on said product that I will most likely continue to shop at the big retail stores. Personally I have never been to a Wal-Mart but I have been to a Target and Costco, and the convenience of buying items in bulk and at low prices tend to out weigh the bad practices of the companies. Also the fact that most big retail stores do not follow just business practices does not leave a lot of options. I will think twice of buying items from big retail stores though, because after finding out that sometimes the low prices that these stores boast are not always the lowest price an item is offered at I am skeptical about if they really are the best option.