Feminism Flashcards
Liberal(Reformist) feminism
mains aims:
> slow, gradual, democratic reform to promote gender equality
> to influence the socialisation process in promoting equality
> to influence law- making to enforce equality issues
> to promote equal opportunities in the work place
> to draw upon the concept “human rights” to tackle injustices
Ann Oakley
> claims main differences between men and women are culturally produced rather than biological
she believes this is because people fail to recognise the difference between sex and gender:
Sex - biological differences between men and women
Gender - cultural differences between men and women
The process of “gendering” a person begins the moment they were born.
the label “boy” or “girl” kick-starts a process of socialising a baby into a “fixed gender identity” which is difficult to shift.
MANIPULATION: Parents unintentionally manipulate their child identity by dressing girls in pink and boys in blue - this begins a “separating the sexes” process.
CANALISATION: involves parents and other adults “steering” children into masculine or feminine identities through different toys gifted to them, or clothes.
VERBAL APPELLATIONS: adults steer gender stereotypes through language they use. Terms like “naughty boy” and “sweet little girl”.
Terms such as “man up” and “real men” show men don’t show emotion.
terms such as “tom-boy” show that girls are wrong to show an interest in toys.
EVAL - accused of assuming socialisation is not automatically a passive process which is simply done to people - children are able to shape identity for themselves.
EVAL - makes generalisations about the way in which gender socialisation takes place in different areas of the world.
Sylvia Walby (2011)
> holds the view that the most effective means of tackling gender inequality in society is to work within existing institutions and organisation.
this is a form of “gender mainstreaming” where equality issues become embedded through government policy-making
then becomes the norm to consider what impact law and policy-making might have on improving relationships between men and women
patriarchy is not fixed and inevitable - there have been many positive advancements across society for women.
one problem that remains however is that while state policies no longer confine women to the home they don’t currently do enough to allow women to excel in public/society.
there has been a shift away from “private to public patriarchy” - roles within the home are changing, for example but in public women remain subordinated.
sex discrimination acts have had some positive impact, but the problem doesn’t look like it’s disappearing. Gender pay inequality remains a huge issue.
EVAL - Walby critics have accused her of adopting an essentially structuralist approach to making sense of women’s experiences, ignoring and de-value the ways women make sense of their lives.
Evaluation of Liberal feminism
feminism had made an impact?
EXAMPLE - equal pay act and sex discrimination act recognise women deserve equality.
EXAMPLE - women count for a third of all managers in the workplace, showing a huge step forward.
EXAMPLE - 2015 - first female bishop in church of England, Libby Lane shows women have more roles in the Church.
feminism still struggling?
EVAL - liberal feminism undermines feminism, they ignore how deep-rooted gender inequalities in society are, change is needed to end male domination.
EVAL - over optimistic, other feminists reject the “march of progress” liberal feminists claim, two thirds of workplace managers are still men!
Radical feminism
main aims:
> to defeat patriarchy
> to liberate women; free them from oppression
> to promote women’s rights, not to just achieve “equality”
> to define what it means to be women
> to focus on female interests
Germaine Greer (2000)
In Greer’s study “The Female Eunuch” she claims patriarchal society has resulted in men oppressing women at every opportunity.
> a “sexual politics” exists across the world where men continually gain the upper hand.
> women are socialised into a “compulsory sexuality” which expects them to look and behave in a specific way.
> double standards exist when judging women’s sexual behaviour, compared to men’s - there is no equivalent to “slag” or “slut” for men.
> young girls instead of boys expected to help with domestic chores, wifes seen to be their husbands “possession” - changing surname for example.
the solution to these problems is:
1. women separate themselves from men: matrifocal households enables them to live away from men
2. raise awareness of women oppression.
3. Encourage “political lesbianism”: women who currently “sleep with the enemy” should change their ways.
Smulamith Firestone (1970)
in attacking marxism for obsession with social class inequality - Firestone says the problem in society is the “sexual class system” rather than social class - biology is the first thing to separate people.
Women are disadvantage by biology, for example:
> menstruation, child birth and menopause are problems for women.
> a “power-psychology” exists as women’s dependence on men takes effect.
> Male “breadwinner-providers” for example, manipulate women’s minds in making them think that it is desirable and acceptable to earn less than men.
> effective contraception/birth control allows women greater control over their fertility - women continue to be “trapped” by pregnancy though.
Evaluating of radical feminism
EVAL - female oppressors ignored - they are quick to condemn male violence yet estimates suggest that 1 in 6 men will face female violence.
EVAL - they overlook progress - more and more is being done to tackle sexual violence.
Marxist Feminism
> house work is a cheap source of “unpaid labour” - main burden of housework falls upon womens shoulders and by keeping husbands in “good running order” they ensure capitalist e,ployers have productive staff.
women considered to be “baby-making machines” reproducing future generations of capitalist workers.
poverty can lead to “working class women” into street prostitution (patriarchy) taking advantage of women.
women are “reserve army of labour” who can go into work whenever they’re needed.
Michelle Barrett (1980)
family institution supports capitalism and patriarchy.
> in capitalist societies an ideology exists which creates an impression that “family life” is natural and inevitable.
> women are brainwashed by capitalism to desire husbands and family life.
> “spinster” refers to women who fail to marry.
> women that consider themselves “happy” to be housewives and mothers are under an illusion which they are not aware of.
> Barrett claims this ideology needs to be challenged if women want to be free.
> this explains why women remain in unhappy “empty-shell marriages”
EVAL OF Marxist Feminism
EVAL - is prostitution driven by women’s poverty? marxist fem too quick to assume that poverty is the cause.
EVAL - accused of class obsession - ignore other ways women are victimised across the world, such as by ethnicity and religion.
Black feminism
> mainstream feminism is ethnocentric in automatically adopting white, western women’s of patriarchal control.
mainstream feminism can often assume black women are “passive victims” of patriarchal control; ignoring ways they resist racism .
Heidi Mirza
fundamental aim of black feminism is to provide a real voice in allowing black women’s experience to be heard - something white feminist movement has ignored.
> it highlights that women have faced oppression through sex, race and social class combined - the triple exploitation that black women face is under-estimated.
> feminists essential in helping demonstrate the ways in which black women have been ‘brave, proud and strong’ battling racism sexism and social class oppression.
EVAL - accused of weakening feminist aims - highlighting race and ethnicity as a particular issue women face across they are accused of devaluing the meaning of feminism which is fighting patriarchy.
EVAL - accused of unintentional racism
Postmodern feminism
rejects notion that there is one simple way of making sense of the position of women in society.
> traditional feminists ignore how being a women is a social construct.
> there are no ‘absolute truths’ regarding women’s experience of life.
Helen Haste
in her study ‘Sexual Metaphor’ Haste claims that gender differences between men and women go a lot deeper than simple ‘patriarchy’.
> differences are embedded in ‘language’ - often men’s use of language that women experience oppression most.
> ‘metaphors’ for example, often present men in particular ways which are different from the way women are presented - ‘man the hunter’ shows men as dominators.
> goal of femimism should not be to achieve female superiority or identical to men, it should be that men’s views of the world must sit equal to women’s views to the world. - EQUALITY is the aim.
