feminism

Question 1

liberal fem basic beliefs Ao1

Answer 1

believe in reformism, that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by gradual reforms

Question 2

liberal fem - laws and policies AO1

Answer 2

women can achieve gender equality with laws and policies

Question 3

liberal fem - laws and policies Ao2

Answer 3

policies such as sex discrimination in employment and education can secure equal opportunities for women

Question 4

liberal fem - Oakley - distinguish between sex and gender - sex

Answer 4

refers to biological differences between males and females, such as reproductive role and physical differences

Question 5

liberal fem - Oakley - distinguish between sex and gender - gender

Answer 5

refers to culturally constructed differences between masculine and feminine roles

includes the ideas that cultures hold about abilities of men and women - ideas transmitted through socialisation

Question 6

liberal fem - socially constructed

Answer 6

sexist attitudes and stereotypical beliefs are socially constructed

to achieve gender equality lib fems seek to promote appropriate role models in education and the family

Question 7

lib fem AO3 - over-optimistic

Answer 7

they see the obstacles to equality as simply prejudices of individuals or irrational laws that can be reformed

ignore the possibility that there are deep-seated structures causing women’s oppression such as capitalism or patriarchy

Question 8

lib fem AO3 - Marx and rad fem

Answer 8

lib fems fail to recognise the underlying causes of women’s subordination and that its naive tithing changes in laws will be enough to bring equality

Question 9

3 claims of rad fems Ao1

Answer 9

1. patriarchy is universal
   Firestone: the origins of patriarchy lie in women’s biological capacity to bear children
2. patriarchy is the primary form of inequality and conflict
3. all men oppress all women, all men benefit from patriarchy

Question 10

rad fems AO1 - political relationships

Answer 10

patriarchal oppression is direct and personal
occurs in private and public sphere
all relationships involve power and are political when one person dominates the other

personal relationships are therefore political because men dominate women

Question 11

rad fem - political relationships AO2

Answer 11

brownmiller
fear of rape is a powerful deterrent against women going out alone at night

Question 12

rad fem - political lesbianism

Answer 12

heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’
lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality

Question 13

rad fem AO3 - marxists

Answer 13

Marxists argue that class is the primary form of inequality
and that capitalism is the main cause of women’s oppression, not men

Question 14

rad fem Ao3 - neglect

Answer 14

rad fem neglects women’s violence against men ans violence within lesbian relationships

Question 15

rad fem AO3 - difference

Answer 15

assumes all women are in the same position, ignores class and ethnic differences

Question 16

Marx fem - basic ideas

Answer 16

see subordination as rooted in capitalism

Question 17

Marx fem - the functions off women’s subordination

Answer 17

women’s subordination in capitalist society means tear main role is unpaid homemaker which places them in a dependent economic position
functions:
women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour

women reproduce the labour force - socialise kids to be next generation of workers

women absorb anger - Ansley ‘takers of shit’

Question 18

Marx fem - ideology of familism

Answer 18

Barrett
women marry and live in a nuclear family when this is what oppresses them because of the ideology of familism

the ideology presents the nuclear family and its sexual division of labour was natural and normal

keeps women subordinated

to free the sexes of stereotypes we must overthrow this ideology

Question 19

Marx fem - ideology of family AO2

Answer 19

Mitchell
uses Freud’s psychoanalytic theory to argue that ideas about felinity are so deeply implanted in women’s unconscious minds that they are difficult to dislodge

even after other throw of capitalism, it would still be hard to overcome patriarchy

Question 20

Marx fem AO3 - non-capitlaist societies

Answer 20

fails to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies
so it cannot be solely explained in terms of capitalism

Question 21

Marx fem Ao3 -not just capitals men

Answer 21

Marx fem places insufficient emphasis on the ways in which men (including working class) and not just capitalism - oppress women and benefit from their unpaid labour

Question 22

dual systems feminism

Answer 22

combine key features of marxist and radical feminism

capitalism and patriarchy

Question 23

dual system feminism as Ao3 for Marx fem

Answer 23

walby

capitalism demands cheap female labour , when patriarchy resist this to keep women subordinated

Question 24

difference fem basic ideas Ao1

Answer 24

do not see women as single homogenous group

Question 25

difference fem ‘false universality’ and essentialism AO1

Answer 25

diff fem argues fem theory has a false universality - claims to be all about women but in reality was only about white, heterosexual middle class women

accuse fem theories of essentialism - say all women are the same and share the same experiences so exclude other women and their problems

Question 26

diff fem - post structuralist feminism’s concerns

Answer 26

discourses and power/knowledge

Question 27

diff fem - post structuralist feminism’s concerns - discourses

Answer 27

are ways of seeing thinking or speaking about something

a discourse gives power over those it defines

different discourse give rise to different forms of oppression and so different experiences

Question 28

diff fem Ao2

Answer 28

the preoccupation of white western feminism is irrelevant to women in poorer countries where excess to clean water are more pressing problems

Question 29

diff fem - enlightenment project as AO3

Answer 29

butler -
white MC women who dominate the feminist movement have falsely claimed to represent ‘universal womanhood’

Question 30

diff fem AO3 - Walby

Answer 30

there are differences but they’re also important similarities - they are all faced with patriarchy

Question 31

diff fem AO3 - weakens feminism

Answer 31

by celebrating differences it divides women into infinite number of subgroups
therefore weakening feminism movement