Feminism

Question 1

What is feminism?

Answer 1

An ideology that aims to establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes.

Question 2

What are the 4 waves of feminism?

Answer 2

• 1790s-1950s: First-wave feminism (liberal feminism) Women’s Suffrage
• 1960s-1980s: Second-wave feminism (liberal/radical/socialist feminism) Women’s Lib
• 1990s-early 2000s: Third-wave feminism (emergence of postmodern feminism and transfeminism)
• Early 2000s to date: Fourth-wave feminism: (further development to postmodern/liberal/radical and transfeminism)

Question 3

What are the 5 core ideas and principles of feminism (in the spec)?

Answer 3

1) sex and gender
2) patriarchy
3) the personal is political
4) equality feminism and difference feminism
5) intersectionality”

Question 4

What ideas do feminists share about human nature?

Answer 4

There is a distinction between the concepts of sex and gender.
- sex is the biological differences between men and women
- gender is the cultural differences between the sexes that are socially constructed from childhood within the family unit.

Question 5

What ideas do feminists share about the state?

Answer 5

Part of patriarchal society. The modern state is part of a wider oppression of women in a male-dominated society. The state can act to improve the position of women through legislation.

Question 6

What ideas do feminists share about society?

Answer 6

Society is deeply patriarchal in nature and part of every aspect of society – politics, economy, culture, media, religion, education, sport etc.

Question 7

What ideas do feminists share about the economy?

Answer 7

Women are discriminated against economically:
- Unpaid labour in home
- Low paid/part-time dispensable labour
- Pay gap
- Glass ceiling

Question 8

How do feminists differentiate between sex and gender?

Answer 8

Sex = biological differences between men and women (debates between difference/equality feminism and Transfeminism/sceptics)
Gender = ‘gender roles’ of men and women

Question 9

What is difference feminism?

Answer 9

Difference feminists believe in essentialism, that biological differences between women and men lead to distinct male and female characteristics and each sex has a specific ‘nature’. They argue that these differences should be accepted, valued and even celebrated. Radical ‘Cultural Feminists’ assert women’s values are superior. (Difference feminist Carol Gilligan)

Question 10

What is essentialism?

Answer 10

A contested idea within feminism that the fundamental nature of the biological differences between men and women is essential to understanding the status of women. Many consider it to be irrelevant.

Question 11

What is equality feminism?

Answer 11

Equality feminists oppose the view of difference feminists an see that women’s nature is socially constructed. They seek to eliminate cultural differences between the sexes in the pursuit of absolute equality. (Most feminists are equality feminists but liberal, radical, socialist and postmodern feminists disagree on how to achieve equality)

Question 12

What is transfeminism?

Answer 12

Transsexual refers to those whose gender identity differs from the biological sex that they were assigned at birth. Transfeminism emerged in third and fourth wave feminism and argues that sex is also socially constructed. Most feminists agree that sex is a biological fact.
- Radical second-wave feminist Germaine Greer ‘transgender women are not women’.
- Transfeminist Andrea Dworkin supports the socially constructed definition of sex and that the state should finance sex-change operations

Question 13

What is patriarchy?

Answer 13

A society dominated by men where women are seen and treated as inferior.

Question 14

What is otherness?

Answer 14

The position of women in patriarchal society, treated as separate to society, an inferior minority, subordinate to men.

Question 15

What does the term ‘the personal is political’ mean?

Answer 15

Liberal feminists advocate the separation of the private sphere from the public sphere. Radical feminists do not recognise this distinction and consider that everything, including family life, is political.

Question 16

What ideas do feminists share about the intersectionality?

Answer 16

The acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression. We must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.

Question 17

What is androgyny?

Answer 17

An idea associated with radical feminism that we have both female and male characteristics and people should be free to choose their sexual identity including non-at all.

Question 18

What are the 4 different strands of feminism? (in the spec)

Answer 18

1) liberal feminism − sees individualism as the basis of gender equality
2) socialist feminism − believes that gender inequality stems from economics and that capitalism creates patriarchy
3) radical feminism − believes that the biggest problem facing society is gender inequality
4) post-modern feminism – argues that patriarchy manifests in different ways depending on a woman’s race, class etc

Question 19

What is liberal feminism? Who are the examples from the key thinkers?

Answer 19

Liberal feminism sees individualism as the basis of gender equality and argues that gender stereotypes can be eliminated through democratic reform. Based on liberal principles of liberty, equality of opportunity, civil, democratic and private rights, it focuses on the public sphere rather than the private. (Mary Wollstonecraft, Betty Friedan)

Question 20

What is socialist feminism? Who are the examples from the key thinkers?

Answer 20

Socialist feminism believes that gender inequality stems from economics and that capitalism creates patriarchy. (Reformist socialist feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Revolutionary socialist feminist Sheila Rowbotham, Simone de Beauvoir, Charlotte Perkins Gillman)

Question 21

What is radical feminism? Who are the examples from the key thinkers?

Answer 21

Radical feminism argue that both the public and private spheres must be addressed, as ‘the personal is political’. believes that the biggest problem facing society is gender inequality. (Kate Millett)

Question 22

What is post-modern feminism post-modern feminism? Who are the examples from the key thinker?

Answer 22

Postmodern feminism (forth-wave) rejects the simplistic broad generalisations of earlier feminist traditions and argues that patriarchy manifests in different ways depending on a woman’s race, class etc. It varied themes include cyberpatriarchy, FGM, honour killings, transfeminism, rape and assault (bell hooks)

Question 23

Where do the feminist strands disagree about human nature/sex and gender?

Answer 23

1) liberal feminism – Accepts the significance of sex differences but argues gender differences are a social construct. First wave feminists extended classical liberalism’s ideas on human nature (self-interest, rational, not fixed) to include women
2) socialist feminism – Capitalism assigns an inferior gender role to women. Only a socialist revolution can solve the inequalities of both capitalism and female oppression. (Rowbotham) Collectivism and cooperation are female qualities (Gillman)
3) radical feminism − patriarchal gender differences are deep in human consciousness and exist in all aspects of life. The family unit is the foundation of patriarchal thought and heterosexualism reinforces it. The nuclear family should be abolished and replaced by lesbian communities. (Millett). Some difference feminists argue that men and women speak with distinct voices, women are naturally more nurturing, caring and communal than men and should not attempt to replicate male behaviour (Carol Gilligan)
4) post-modern feminism – women have multiple identities and experience multiple forms of oppression. Transfeminism and TERF.

Question 24

Where do the feminist strands disagree about the state?

Answer 24

1) liberal feminism − reformist democratic pressure can gradually eliminate inequality through law, rights and provide equality of opportunity
2) socialist feminism – the state facilitates capitalism, which oppresses women
3) radical feminism − the state facilitates the patriarchy
4) post-modern feminism – white men dominate the state

Question 25

Where do the feminist strands disagree about society/patriarchy?

Answer 25

1) liberal feminism − The solution to the patriarchy is legal, political and cultural reform.
2) socialist feminism − Female consciousness is created by men as part of the capitalist machine and a revolution is needed to destroy both capitalism and the patriarchy. They highlight the misery of women’s private lives and the exploitative nature of domestic roles with pressure to conform to motherhood with gender specific clothes and toys. Gillman argued for gender-neutral garments and playthings.
3) radical feminism − The patriarchy is in both the public and private spheres. There are overlapping patriarchal structures (the state, the household, violence, paid work, sexuality, culture). It is too pervasive to be reformed so must be destroyed. The family was not a natural arrangement but a social construct in which women lost their identity and the patriarchy granted men ownership over their wife and children. The family entrenched sexism and socialised the young who were socialised into recognising masculine
4) post-modern feminism – women of different ethnicities and socioeconomic classes have been neglected by mainstream feminism.

Question 26

Where do the feminist strands disagree about the economy?

Answer 26

1) liberal feminism – legal equality and property ownership will naturally follow from political equality and the right to vote. State laws will end discrimination and inequality in the workplace. Women should be able to choose their position in the labour force.
2) socialist feminism − Capitalism has worsened the oppression of women, forcing them to sell their labour to survive in the workplace and exploiting their labour in the family home. Capitalism changed social structures so women were needed as unpaid helpers, to reproduce the workforce and socialise children in the capitalist system. Women were also a reserve army of labour - a spare workforce that can be called on as and when needed. (Rowbotham)
3) radical feminism – similar to socialism but less important
4) post-modern feminism – Women face different levels of oppression. Technology and the digital economy is a new realm for the patriarchy and female oppression.

Question 27

Where do feminists disagree about the personal and private spheres?

Answer 27

1) liberal feminism − focus on the public sphere and argue that radical feminists are imposing their own views on female consciousness which seeks to remove the freedom of choice provided by legal and political equality. Women should be free to choose their own status in the private sphere.
2) socialist feminism – The domestic economy is undervalued and most labour done by women. Marriage is like feudalism with women serfs paying feudal dues to the husband (Rowbotham). A socialist revolution will not automatically liberate women from oppression in home life, personal relationships and the wider culture. Communal forms of living to share child-rearing and housework (Gillman)
3) radical feminism − ‘the personal is the political’ and the patriarchy is also in the private sphere of family life. The ‘family’ is a social construct granting men ownership over their family, power over sexual relationships and socialises the young to maintain the patriarchy (Millett)
4) post-modern feminism – technology as a source of patriarchy across the public and private spheres is also intersectional. Genital mutilation and honour killings are intersectional forms of the patriarchy (gender, racial, religious and historical). Transfeminism. Rape and sexual assault.

Question 28

Who are the 5 key feminist thinkers?

Answer 28

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
Kate Millett (1934– )
Sheila Rowbotham (1943– )
bell hooks (1952– )

Question 29

In which book did Charlotte Perkins Gilman compare the position of women in the modern economy to horses?

Answer 29

Women and Economics (1897) ‘The labor of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth than they otherwise could ; and in this way women are economic factors in society. But so are horses.’

Question 30

What solution did Charlotte Perkins Gilman advocate to the pressures to conform to motherhood with gender specific clothes and toys?

Answer 30

Gender-neutral garments and playthings.

Question 31

Which thinker compared marriage to prostitution?

Answer 31

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
‘the transient trade wit think evil. The bargain for life we think good.’

Question 32

What did Charlotte Perkins Gilman propose to give economic independence to women?

Answer 32

Destruction of the traditional nuclear family to be replaced by communal living, centralised nurseries and cooperative kitchens to give women freedom and autonomy.

Question 33

Who wrote the Second Sex (1949) and what argument did it make about ‘otherness’?

Answer 33

Simone de Beauvoir
Otherness is imposed on women by men. Men had characterised themselves as the norm whereas women were the other and this ‘otherness’ had left women subordinate to men in society. Men were the ‘first sex’ and women the ‘second sex’

Question 34

Who wrote ‘One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.’

Answer 34

Simone de Beauvoir

Question 35

What did Simone de Beauvoir argue about innate female characteristics?

Answer 35

That they were ‘a myth invented by men to confine women to their oppressed state’. The biological differences between men and women had been used by a male-dominated state and society as a justification for predetermining the gender roles of women. Girls were not born with nurturing instincts

Question 36

What solutions did Simone de Beauvoir propose to achieve feminist goals?

Answer 36

Education, economic freedom, state-funded childcare, legalised abortion, contraception. Sexual liberation and freedom from the nuclear family

Question 37

Who wrote Woman’s Consciousness, Man’s World (1973) and Hidden from History 1973)?

Answer 37

Sheila Rowbotham

Question 38

What medieval social system did Sheila Rowbotham compare marriage to?

Answer 38

Feudalism, with women the serfs paying feudal dues to their husband.

Question 39

Who was the first to argue that economics caused gender inequality and capitalism created patriarchy?`

Answer 39

Engels. Capitalism changed social structures so women were needed as unpaid helpers, to reproduce the workforce and socialise children in the capitalist system. Women were also a reserve army of labour.

Question 40

What is a reserve army of labour?

Answer 40

A socialist idea that women are a spare workforce that can be called on as and when needed.

Question 41

Why did Sheila Rowbotham advocate for a ‘revolution within a revolution’?

Answer 41

A socialist revolution will not automatically liberate women from oppression in home life, personal relationships and the wider culture Women had always been oppressed and their alienation from capitalism and patriarchy meant there needed to be a ‘revolution within a revolution’ to destroy capitalism and the patriarchy

Question 42

How did bell hooks and Sheila Rowbotham view the contribution of men to feminist goals?

Answer 42

Men must come to understand and end the patriarchy they are imposing. Men also have a valid role to play because they can enter the struggle against inequality for all groups.

Question 43

Who wrote Sexual Politics (1969)?

Answer 43

Kate Millett

Question 44

What radical ideas did Kate Millet have about the family unit?

Answer 44

The family was not a natural arrangement but a social construct in which women lost their identity and the patriarchy granted men ownership over their wife and children. The family entrenched sexism and socialised the young to view masculine superiority which was reinforced by religion, education, myths, art and literature. The nuclear family should be abolished and replaced with communal living and childrearing.

Question 45

In what ways did bell hooks criticise earlier forms of feminist thought?

Answer 45

• Feminism had traditionally come from a white middle-class perspective and college-educated background which excluded minority groups such as ‘women of colour’
• Intersectionality challenges the feminist assumption that gender was the most important factor in determining a woman’s life experiences

Question 46

Who wrote Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981)

Answer 46

bell hooks

Question 47

Which liberal feminist Who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)?

Answer 47

Mary Wollstonecraft

Question 48

Which liberal feminist wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963)?

Answer 48

Betty Friedan

Question 49

Which radical feminist wrote The Female Eunuch (1970)?

Answer 49

Germaine Greer

Question 50

Who is an example of a difference feminist?

Answer 50

Carol Gilligan. She argued that sex was one of the most important determinants of human behaviour and that men and women speak with distinct voices; women are naturally more nurturing, caring and communal than men and should not attempt to replicate male behaviour.

Question 51

Which radical feminist advocating eliminate sex differences through androgyny and reproduction with artificial insemination?

Answer 51

Shulamith Firestone