Feminism Flashcards
(38 cards)
Def of feminism
Ideology that aims for gender equality.
First wave
First wave (1850s-1940s): focused on the legal and political rights of women, most famously in the UK through the suffragette movement, which culminated in equal suffrage with men in 1928 (see page 5 for more on efforts to reform democracy in the UK).
Second wave
Second wave (1960s-1980s): focused on the different roles that society expected of men and women. Many books on feminism were written, including The Second Sex (1949) by Simone de Beauvoir, The Feminine Mystique (1963) by Betty Friedan and Sexual Politics (1970) by Kate Millett.
Third wave
Third wave (1990s): was concerned that
wo
feminism had failed to identify and recognise the concerns of women of other cultures.
Authors such as bell hooks in Ain’t I a
Woman (1981) wrote about the experiences of women of colour and wanted feminism to widen its embrace to understand how cultural variations affect women’s oppression.
Fourth wave
Fourth wave (2008 onwards): is feminism entering a fourth wave, reacting against online misogyny? For example, Laura Bates’s website The Everyday Sexism Project seeks to document everyday examples of sexism; Project Unbreakable seeks to give a voice to victims of sexual violence by posting photographs on Instagram of quotes from their attackers.
Feminist view on gender stereotypes
No justification
Sex def
refers to biological differences between men and women:
body shape, size, sexual and reproductive organs
is categorised by the words (‘male’ and ‘lemale remains the same regardless of time and culture
Gender def
refers to the social and cultural differences between men and women
is categorised by the words
‘masculine’ and ‘feminine expectations differ across time and culture
What is patriarchy and key features
Feminists identify patriarchy as a system run by and for men. Sylvia Walby in Theorizing Patriarchy (1990) identified six areas through which patriarchal ideas dominate society:
The state: women have been denied representation and are underrepresented in the formal positions of power.
Household: women have been discouraged from occupations outside the home.
Culture: society has always reinforced messages to women through culture. Adverts emphasised a woman’s domestic role. There are now unrealistic expectations of women’s appearance.
Sexuality: women were made to feel abnormal for having sexual feelings while encouraging men to fully explore their sexuality.
Paid work: when women were allowed to take up paid jobs, they were pushed towards low-paid or part-time jobs, or jobs that put them in an assistant position to men.
Violence: domestic abuse has only recently been taken seriously in society; previously, it was considered a private matter.
The personal is political
Feminists challenge the idea that what goes on between men and women in the private sphere beersonal” relationships) has nothing to do with the rest of society. These private’ issues include:
• household division of labour
• attitude towards women who want to work
•’morality associated with women’s sexuality
• objectification of women.
Feminists argue that in fact these ‘private’ issues were all ways of keeping women in their subordinate place in society. This distinction between the public sphere (society) and private sphere (home) were therefore about power, and were thus ‘political?.
‘The personal is political’ is a slogan that arose with second-wave feminism, which sought to challenge all of society’s views about women, specifically the public and private sphere.
Personal is political in each area
Human nature- Feminists reject the view that women’s nature makes them more suited to domestic roles and are naturally less capable than men.
The state- Feminists argue that the state perpetuates the artificial distinction between private and public oppression.
Society- Feminists seeks to change society by removing the distinction in patriarchal society to enable oppression in the private sphere to be removed.
Economy- Feminists believe that women are restricted from entering the economy as equals to men because of misconceptions that their key role should be at home.
Equality feminism
Most feminists studied come under the heading of ‘equality’ feminists (see page 137 for an overview of different types of feminists), meaning that they believe that the differences between men and women are irrelevant and both can be considered equally capable of fulfilling all roles in society (bar child-bearing).
Difference feminism
This is also known as essentialism. Difference feminists angue that the differences between men and women are innate (natural). They argue that equality feminism has encouraged women to reject ‘womanhood and instead to try to be like a man, replicating male behaviour (see page 137).
Intersectionality
Intersectionality in feminism emerged in the 1980s and criticised feminism for considering only the concerns of white (largely middle-class) women and ignoring all other classes and cultures.
Intersectionality suggested that feminism needed to embrace women of different ethnicities, religions and classes. This movement, identified by bell hooks among others, argued that the feminist movement had left ‘women of colour and other differences (class, ethnicity, religion, etc.) feeling estranged as their experience of oppression was different to that discussed by feminists so far.
Betty Friedan
In The Feminine Mystique (1963), Friedan discussed the idea of ‘the problem with no name’, which resulted in many (white, middle-class) women questioning their role in society and demanding change. Friedan believed in foundational equality (women are as capable as men). She fought for legal and political equality as well as equality of opportunity in education and the workplace. She wanted women to fulfil their potential and have the freedom and chances in society to do so. See page 55 for more on Friedan’s views.
Liberal feminism and key principles
Liberal feminism was an early form of feminism (see page 133 to revise first-wave feminism) primarily associated with the demand for women’s right to vote. Its core ideas and principles include:
• Individualism: women (like all humans) should have the freedom they need to become autonomous individuals in society.
• Equality of opportunity: ensuring that women and men have equal chances in life.
• Foundational equality: all humans are of equal moral worth and value. In the eyes of the law, all humans, whatever their sex, are entitled to the same rights as each other, for example to vote, protest, and so on. This is known as legal equality and political equality.
• Reformist: society does not require fundamental or even radical change. As society progresses, inequalities will be rectified. This will happen by changes in the law, leading to changes in attitudes and the process of ‘role-modelling (that is, seeing women in non-traditional roles which challenge the inherent bias of society).
• Discrimination: women are discriminated against, not oppressed.
Socialist feminism and key principles
Socialist feminism believes that gender inequality in society stems from economics and capitalism. Its core ideas and principles include:
• Eradication of capitalism: capitalism creates patriarchy and subordinates women in order to fulfil the role of a reserve army of labour, do domestic work for free, reproduce children and socialise them into capitalist values, and look after their husband at home and replenish his energy for a full day’s work.
• Economic and social equality: women should be liberated through a socialist revolution. When capitalism is removed, women will be treated equally.
• Radical/revolutionary: socialist feminism is a revolutionary or a radical movement as they wish to overthrow capitalism and replace it with a socialist society. Only then will women be equal to men.
• Marriage and family: a key area of women’s oppression. Removing women from the workforce makes them financially dependent on their husbands. Monogamy guaranteed the paternity of any children who would inherit property.
What are radical feminists
The only ones who define society as patriarchal. They believe that the biggest problem facing society is gender inequality.
Radical feminism belief about gender inequality and patriarchy
Radical feminists are united by their insistence that society has a single source of female oppression - patriarchy. They reject the liberal and socialist view that feminism can be understood in association with any other ideology. Patriarchy is an independent system of oppression. They believe that only through a radical sexual revolution can patriarchy be removed and women be free.
Beyond this core belief, it is important to see radical feminism as a collection of unique contributions and extensions to this core, unifying belief.
Equality radical feminists
The vast majority of radical feminists are ‘equality’ radical feminists who are often outraged by the views expressed by difference feminists. Some feel that it gives men an opportunity to ‘put women back in the kitchen’, while others feel that the ‘man hating of some separatist feminists turns many women away from feminism.
Difference radical feminists
Difference feminists (also known as cultural feminists or essentialists) make up a very small strand of radical feminists. They suggest that women should stop denying their own, distinct female nature by trying to imitate men (see page 135 for an overview of difference feminism). Instead, they should embrace their female values, which patriarchal society has taught them to hate.
Separatist feminists
A much more extreme version of these ideas are separatist feminists, whereby women seek to separate themselves from men, believing that men are naturally predisposed to dominate women.
What are post modern feminists
Post-modern feminism is about being different, but not in the same way as difference feminism. It argues that patriarchy appears in many different ways depending on a woman’s race, class or identity, and therefore supports a wider understanding of the experiences of women. This was the key issue of third-wave feminism (see page 133 for an overview of the different stages of feminism).
Different experiences aspect of PMF
By applying post-modern ideas to feminism, postmodern feminism recognised that it is impossible to generalise about a single ‘women’s experience* because there is too vast an array of different experiences. Post-modern feminism is therefore linked to the concept of intersectionality (read more about intersectionality on page 135), which seeks to highlight that women of different colours, religions and classes all have uniquely different experiences of partiarchal oppression. Gender is not the only issue to affect women and must be seen alongside these experiences.
bell hooks criticised the second-wave ‘sisterhood’, which gave white, middle-class women a voice and bond, but discouraged women of colour from speaking about their different experiences (see page 133 for more on third-wave feminism).
