Feminist theories

Question 1

What are the feminist approaches?

Answer 1

• liberal or reformist, radical, Marxist, difference and post structuralist feminist

Question 2

What is the liberal view?

Answer 2

• concerned with the equal rights of all and progress towards this can be achieved by gradual reforms in society
• liberal feminists call for a cultural change through education and media promoting role models that challenge stereotypes e.g. that women are less rational than men

Question 3

What do liberal feminists distinguish between?

Answer 3

• sex and gender
• sex= biological differences while gender= socially constructed roles and identities assigned to males and females
• sexists attitudes are thus transmitted through socialisation > therefore we must change society’s socialisation patterns e.g. promoting appropriate role models in education and the family
• men and women are equally capable of performing the same role

Question 4

What are radical feminist views on society?

Answer 4

• patriarchy is universal
• patriarchy is fundamental and primary form of inequality
• all men oppress women > all men benefit from patriarchy

Question 5

What do RF are argue about sexual politics and women’s liberation?

Answer 5

• they argue that the personal is political as all relationships involve power and they are political when one individual tries to dominate another > personal relationships are therefore political as men dominate women
• they thus focus on the ways in which patriarchal power is exercised through personal relationships (sexual & physical violence)
• they argue that patriarchy socially constructs sexuality so as to satisfy men’s desires
• advocate for separatism, consciousness raising and political lesbianism

Question 6

Evaluation of radical feminists

Answer 6

• Marxists argue that class is the primary from of inequality and that capitalism is the main cause of women’s oppression and not men
• critics argue that vague utopian notions of separatism are unlikely to be achievable

Question 7

How do Marxists feminist view society?

Answer 7

• see women’s subordination as rooted in capitalism
• this results from their primary role ass unpaid homemaker which places them in a dependent economic position in the family
• their subordination performs a number of functions for capitalism:
• reserve army of labour > women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour for employers, they can be hired & fired to suit the needs of capitalism because it us assumed their primary role is in the home
• absorbing male workers anger > Ansley > takers of shit who soak up the frustration of their husbands because of the alienation & exploitation they suffer at work
• reproduction of labour> women reproduce the labour force through their unpaid domestic labour

Question 8

What factors do some Marxist feminist argue must be take into account if we are to understand and change women’s position?

Answer 8

• non economic factors
  ideology of feminism > Bartlett argue that we must give more emphasis to women’s consciousness and motivations and the role of ideology in maintaining women’s oppression
• particularly the ideology of familism > presents the NF as natural and normal
• thus she believes we must also overthrow the ideology of familism