One Small Step for Women, One Giant Leap for Late-Stage Capitalism.

Featured Image Credit: Nicolas Gerardin

The day I didn’t think I would meet in this life has come. 

Mark it down in the history books, ladies, April 14th, '25. The day the glass ceiling was at long last shattered as six women made the courageous decision to board Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin flight to space. At long last, the fight for equality is over. The torch passed down from generations of women before us can finally be laid to rest... the boring chore of feminism is finally complete.

On April 14th, '25, I stood behind the till of my minimum wage job and felt nothing short of inspired that, at long last, women can partake in the same age-old brutal capitalism as men. It's amazing, really, that women can now become pointlessly rich and throw a mere $235,000 on a flight to space amidst the climate crisis. I mean, this is one giant leap for humankind, truly, innovation at its finest.

This is all thanks to the exploitative character, Jeff Bezos: Amazon CEO, and destroyer of all life. Gayle King, a passenger on the flight, said Bezos and Blue Origin are working towards the honourable goal of figuring out a “way to harness the waste here [on earth] and put it in space to make the Earth a better place.” Continuing, “You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride.'” I mean, critics are forgetting that this Uber ride to space is helping get more women interested in STEM. See, under late-stage capitalism, our lives do matter! This historic flight proves that we are so much more than little, disposable cogs in the neoliberal machine whose sole purpose on this planet has been reduced to that of a consumer. Our consumption has helped shatter that elusive glass ceiling, aided more women in entering a career in STEM, and even posed a solution for the billions of tonnes of waste we are accumulating here on Earth. What’s not to love?

Ok, that was entertaining, fun, even... but it's time to get serious.

Firstly, I would like to separate Amanda Nguyen from the other five women who took this trip. Nguyen has a very compelling story. In her final year of studying astrophysics at Harvard, Nguyen was raped, effectively derailing her dream of going to space. Nguyen then set up the nonprofit organisation 'Rise', which aided Congress in passing the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act. Also, one of Nguyen’s areas of interest is in studying fluid absorption during different moments of gravity, which in turn gives a better understanding of how bleeding and menstruation operate in space, thus challenging one of the main reasons why it is harder for women to become astronauts. Whilst I still vehemently oppose the idea of space tourism, in this circumstance, I believe the context of Nguyen’s story is necessary to demonstrate that her reasons for going on this flight are more valid, as opposed to, for example, Katy Perry’s vanity trip. For Nguyen, this trip was her last chance to fulfil a lifelong dream.

When I saw this story in the news, I was so angry. 

I hate capitalism. 

I hate the fact that we live in a system that allows individuals to amass and hoard billions.

I hate that these billionaires are using our planet like their personal playground, regardless of the consequences we will all have to endure. 

I hate that late-stage capitalism has stripped us of our humanity to the point that we are told that women taking essentially a taxi to space is commensurate with liberation. 

Most of all, I hate the fact that these exploitative, dangerous, egotistical people think we, the public, are naïve or stupid enough to buy the idea that this space flight is for the betterment of humanity, particularly women. 

It is not. 

The divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat could not be starker.

Whilst ordinary people struggle to make ends meet, wonder when their next meal will be, watch on in misery as the money in their pockets loses value day by day, these uber-wealthy celebrities take an eleven-minute trip to space, jeering at those who rightly criticise the absurd and wasteful nature of this venture. Gayle King said, “So I wish people would do more due diligence. And then my question is, have y’all been to space? Go to space or go to Blue Origin and see what they do and then come back and say, ‘This is a terrible thing.’” No, Gayle, I haven’t been to space because I don’t have a spare quarter of a million dollars lying around; what I do have, is a conscience. After the trip, Katy Perry returned with a newfound respect for our Earth and how we have to protect our 'mother'. Yet this trip is undoubtedly harmful for the planet, and it is those in the global south who will suffer the disastrous effects of climate change first.

Here is a reminder of some true innovators who did not get the credit they deserved for advancing humanity’s understanding of space: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Three black women who played a crucial role in NASA’s early space missions, with their work propelling John Glenn into space in 1962. 

Let's not let feminism become another playground for the super-wealthy. Rather, let's recognise the women of the past who are so often hidden in history, and continue fighting for genuine emancipation for all women across our world.