Cinderella and Income Inequality
I was watching Disney’s animated Cinderella with my daughters Christmas afternoon. Apart from the problems inherent to any fairy-tale, especially those involving a privileged royal class, I began wondering about the relevance of income inequality in this story. Cinderella lives in a large mansion with her evil stepmother and her two wicked stepsisters. She is forced to wait on them night and day, catering to their every whim. Cinderella is definitively second class to these three. The income inequality between them cannot even be overcome by Cinderella’s natural talents due to the overwhelming power the other women exercise over her. Along comes a fairy godmother who endows Cinderella with even greater talents, giving her a nice push-start toward class mobility. We naturally cheer for the sweet-natured and beautiful Cinderella above all the other girls at the ball. And we are satisfied in our disdain for the sour tempered and ugly when she marries the prince.
But how badly off was Cinderella to begin with? She had a room of her own, a bed with a pillow and linens, sufficient clothing (even if made from scraps), and enough food to remain healthy. She has all the essentials of life.
Yet the disparity looms over it all. She has no hope for a future. She is a slave. While she might long for freedom and the potential to make a better life for herself, there are certainly many individuals of even lower class who would give their eye teeth to have the position and the things she does enjoy.
So what are we to say? Shall we say she is better off than they because she has the necessities of life, or are they better off than she because they have their liberty? Of course the egalitarians would like to say that everyone must have both the security and the liberty. They really are living in a fairy tale.
