Are cloth nappies a feminist issue?

[Habbibu]

This is inspired by a post by BoffinMum (hope you don't mind, BM) on another thread, saying she hated cloth nappies for what they represented about the oppression of women, and this struck me as interesting as it's never occurred to me. We used disposables with dd and cloth with ds - I've personally found cloth less hassle, as dh and I both just slong them in the wash when the bucket's full etc, and the bin doesn't smell as much.

So is there more to nappies as an issue than, say, other non-disposable clothes? Is it because in other households it would be seen as women's work - is this different from other laundry issues?

As I type I realise it looks like I'm taking the piss and I'm not - I was genuinely curious about the comment, but really didn't want to join that particular thread.

Never considered it a feminist issue myself. In fact it was my choice to use cloth, I'm sure it wouldn't have crossed DPs mind to use anything other than disposables otherwise. He was fully supportive of using them, though I did the majority of the washing etc. being at home.

I chose them for cost & environmental benefits, helped by the fact that my sister had a huge pile to pass on to me.

I can see how they might be considered to represent opression in the past, but TBH I don't think anyone (in this country at least) is FORCED to use cloth. It is a positive choice not a negative one.

I really should find boffinmum and just ask - just really did not want to get into that thread, but this feels slightly rude now!

I use cloth and don't really see it as a feminist issue. Modern cloth nappies are a completely different thing to old style terries though, especially when you take the washing machine into account.

And I definitely see what type of nappies I use as an environmental issue.

So i guess my environmental principles win over my feminist ones in this case. If cloth nappies are even against feminist principles, which are am not convinced about.

It's only a feminist issue if the assumption is that only women will wash them. if, like with other childcare related activities, responsibilities are shared, then it is just a decision made by parents.

DH takes out the garbage 99.9% of the time and does about 60% of the washing and 80% of the hanging up/putting away of washing. Therefore perhaps due to that breakdown of responsibilities he should make the decision about what kind of nappies we use?

I can imagine it could be if the partner thought they were a good idea and best for the child but considered them woman's work. Luckily I am not married to such a numpty. I wouldn't have used cloth if the husband wasn't up for it though, so I don't know if that's any help as an answer.

I don't think it's a feminist issue - I think it's an environmental and waste one (and I don't think that's clear cut either) - used both - prefer disposables.

What Bling said. In addition, using disposables damages the environment far more than using washables, and the harm we are doing to the environment affects the lives of women all over the world - the women who have to walk further and further every year to get clean water; the women who are being raped because of wars in areas where resources are getting shorter and shorter.

BM - sorry, but you are wrong on that one!

I suppose it depends (as others have said) on the breakdown of housework in each particular home. There is a sense in which cloth nappies = greater women's labour in many households.

I opted for disposables as I have done 90% of the early childcare due to DP being at work. (Even though I've been at work through some of the nappy-wearing years.) It would have been more washing for me and I decided that I'm pretty good to the environment in other ways. (We don't have a dryer either, so I'd have been out hanging them on the line or all over the radiators in winter.)

In defence of DP (before anyone flames him) he does housework and shopping. But the nappy washing would have been for me to do. (So, if as missorinoco says, DP had done more than utter a few suggestions in that direction, I might have kicked up a fuss.)

I just used cloth nappies because I knew they'd save me money over two children and we'd never run out. We never used our drier but we did at that time have a rather dodgy coal-burning water heater in the kitchen. Or we hung them outside. But I work from home and that helped a lot.

We use cloth nappies for our DD.... but I'm the one who does the laundry in our house!

Hardly a sign of my wife being oppressed then!

I would say it's an Environmental issue, rather than Feminist, with the caveat (as posters above have pointed out) that it may form part an uneven distribution of childcare responsibilities within a household.

dittany - fair enough.

I think the claim that it's a feminist issue arises because plenty of (male) environmentalists profess the importance of not using disposables while not doing their share of the work. (The difficulty with feminism is that it's often the small things.)

The choice of working versus housework is not always one the men make either though. (DP would have stayed home with the DCs if he could.)

Oh, well that makes a bit more sense, Chaotica, because otherwise I couldn't really see the difference between them and other non-disposable clothing.

the more I learn about feminism, the more I realise that the environment is not a human issue, it's above all else a feminist issue. Men love destroying the environment, that's why the world, run by males, looks the way it does.

I'm still trying to unpack it all in my head.

One thing is certain, the success of the women's liberation movement is the only way to save the environment because (despite what men might say) women feel the hurt against the environment in a way men don't. So women need enough power to stop them wrecking it in the name of gold or goods.

I hadn't thought of it like that Sakura - i'm quite new to feminism really, but that really resonates with me.

Feminist issue? Not sure about that, apart from sakura's angle.

I used cloth nappies while I worked full time. So no, I was never held back by the use of cloth! But then DH does an equal share of the laundry and similar.

"Men love destroying the environment"

Perhaps BoffinMum was just looking for a reason to dislike cloth nappies to assuage any guilt she was feeling for the envirnmental impact of using disposables?

As long as women are choosing to use cloth nappies, and are not being forced by men who have decided ban disposables to save the planet, then I don't think it is a feminist issue.

There is a big chunk of 'environmentalism' that does have a touch of 'Women! Stop whining and do more unpaid shitwork, the planet is more important than you.' about it. O'm always wary of male environmentalists who make all the noise about nappies, sanpro and cleaning products (all mainly used by women) and have nothing to say about travel and industry. Particularly if they say all this stuff while getting on a fucking plane to a fucking green conference atthe other side of the world...
I used disposables with DS; had originally considered using one of those nappy services that deliver/collect but when he was a baby we lived with my parents who were not into the idea of a nappy bucket in the house. Subsequently I was running my own shop and had baby DS with me and I wasn't about to have a bucket of shat nappies as a feature of the shop decor, either.
TBH I don't feel guilty about my carbon footprint. I am car free and havent been in a plane for 10 years.