14.2 - Different Types of Feminism

Question 1

What is reformism?

Answer 1

The belief that society can be reformed.

Question 2

What is equality of opportunity?

Answer 2

Everyone should have the same life chances.

Question 3

What is political equality?

Answer 3

Women should have the same rights as men to vote.

Question 4

What is gender equality?

Answer 4

Men and women should be treated the same within society.

Question 5

What is legal equality?

Answer 5

Everyone should be treated the same in the eyes of the law.

Question 6

How do liberal feminists think gender stereotypes can be eliminated?

Answer 6

Reformism.

via democratic pressure.

Question 7

What liberal values are liberal feminists inspired by?

Answer 7

Individualism
Foundational Equality
Equality of Opportunity

Question 8

What assumptions do liberal feminists make about political equality?

Answer 8

Via political equality, gender and legal equality will follow.

Question 9

What was the most important chapter in Betty Friedan’s book ‘The Feminine Mystique’?

Answer 9

The Problem that Has No Name

Question 10

What did liberal feminists campaign for?

Answer 10

End to discrimination via gender equality.
End to outdated cultural attitudes via education.
Changes in the law to facilitate legal equality.

Question 11

How was liberal feminism later criticised by radical feminists?

Answer 11

A reluctance to analyse the private sphere of family life.

Question 12

How can socialist feminism be split?

Answer 12

Revolutionary
Reform

Question 13

What socialist qualities did Gilman think were inherently female?

Answer 13

Collectivism
Cooperation

Question 14

Name some changes inspired by liberal feminism in the UK?

Answer 14

The Married Women’s Property Act 1870
First sitting MP 1919
Equal Franchise Act 1928
Equal Pay Act 1970
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
First female PM 1979
Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Act 1986

Question 15

How did Gilman anticipate intersectionality?

Answer 15

Gender and capitalism were interconnected forms of oppression.

Question 16

How could women be given freedom and equality?

Answer 16

Economic independence.

Question 17

What type of living did Gilman champion?

Answer 17

Communal living.

Question 18

Who was the first to argue that capitalism created a patriarchy?

Answer 18

Friedrich Engels.

Question 19

Why did Engels think capitalism caused the patriarchy?

Answer 19

Pre-existing societal structures are tampered with by capitalism.

Women were needed as unpaid helpers to enable male workers to be employed in the workplace.

Question 20

What is a reserve army of labour?

Answer 20

Women can constitute a spare workforce to be called upon when needed.

Question 21

Why did Engels think women were complicit in continuing capitalist oppression?

Answer 21

Reproducing the workforce and socialising their children.

Question 22

Where did working class women find employment in Victorian era England?

Answer 22

Factories.

They are paid less than men with no childcare provision.

Question 23

What are the four social functions that women must liberate themselves from to end the patriarchy according to Juliet Mitchell?

Answer 23

• Their role in the workforce and production
• Childbearing role
• Socialisation of children
• Societal position as sex objects

Question 24

How do radical feminists think the patriarchy is exemplified in society, and how do they think it can be solved?

Answer 24

• Political lesbianism (Bunch, Dworkin)
• Communal living (Millett, early Greer)
• Artificial insemination to reproduce (Firestone)

Question 25

Why did Camille Paglia criticise feminism?

Answer 25

The portayal of women as ‘victims’, arguing that women need to take responsibility for their own life and sexual conduct.

Question 26

Why has post-feminism been broadly criticised?

Answer 26

It almost exclusively focused on white, middle-class women.

Question 27

What are some of the themes of postmodern feminism?

Answer 27

Cyberpatriarchy
Genital Mutilation
Honour Killings
Transfeminism
Rape and Sexual Assault

Question 28

Why does Cochrane argue technology is a source of the patriarchy?

Answer 28

Diane Abbott received the most Twitter abuse out of all MPs during 2017 campaign.

The way people talk online is not how they talk about in real life.

Increasing levels of hypersexualisation aimed at young / teenage girls.

Question 29

How is genital mutiliation intersectional?

Answer 29

Gender, racial, religious and historical.

Question 30

How is rape and sexual assault intersectional?

Answer 30

Factors such as sexual orientation, disability status, ethnicity and country of origin can increase women’s vulnerability to violence.

Question 31

What are some examples of postmodern feminist success?

Answer 31

Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985.
Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.
First black female MP 1987.
Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Question 32

To what extent do feminists agree over the concept of patriarchy? (Agree)

Answer 32

• Most feminists are equality feminists. ‘Patriarchy’ is a society dominated by men and oppresses women.
• Gender stereotyping
• The patriarchy is not a static concept.
• The patriarchy must be opposed in the public sphere.

Question 33

To what extent do feminists agree over the concept of patriarchy? (Disagree)

Answer 33

• Liberal and radical disagree on where to challenge it.
• State, society and economy can be reformed according to liberal feminists, radical feminists argue that revolutionary change is necessary.
• Post-feminists argued most feminist goals had been achieved and the patriarchy had been largely defeated.
• The patriarchy is far more complicated due to intersectionality according to postmodern feminists.