Feminism

Question 1

Define feminism

Answer 1

a perspective that views society as patriarchal and seeks to achieve full independence and equality for women

Question 2

What does feminism involve?

Answer 2

• establishing equal rights and opportunities for women
• challenging traditional values of restricting women to domestic life
• arguing that political decisions should have greater emphasis on the values of women instead of being primarily male based

Question 3

Define patriarchy

Answer 3

a system in which power is in the hands of men and many aspects of women’s lives are controlled by men

Question 4

Why did feminism develop?

Answer 4

historically, there was a division in labour in which women were believed to only be suited for domestic duties and that they were more prone to emotion than reason

Question 5

How did feminism develop

Answer 5

• the first instance of feminism was in response to the rights of man from the French Revolution
• Mary Wollstonecraft’s “The Vindication of the Rights of Woman” rejected the common notion that women’s sole purpose was to please men and birth children
• later on in the late 19th and early 20th century women were involved in political movements that further established feminism

Question 6

In what ways are women’s values important to the political community?

Answer 6

• the social roles typically assigned to women have resulted in women most likely being more nurturing, caring, and cooperative than men, who emphasize competition and aggression.

Question 7

Define liberal feminism

Answer 7

• a version of feminism that advocates equal opportunities for women in areas such as education and employment as well as legal and political rights
• views the main problem as being the discrimination against women that limits their oppurtunities

Question 8

Define socialist feminism

Answer 8

• a version of feminism that views women as oppressed by both the patrirachal society and the capitalist system
• the liberation of women is tied to the transformation of capitalism into a more egalitarian system

Question 9

Define socialist feminism influenced by marxism

Answer 9

• the belief that overturning the capitalist system is needed to achieve women’s liberation
• most socialist feminists disagree with this idea

Question 10

Define radical feminism

Answer 10

• a version of feminism that views patriarchal values as deeply embedded in culture, and seeks to liberate women through the fundamental transformation of institutions such as the state, schools, and family.
• also believes that the oppression of women is the most deeply entrenched form of oppression, and unless we uproot it it will continue to branch out into racism and class hatred

Question 11

define liberation

Answer 11

freeing the human potential that has been stifled by the organization and values of society