Feminist Geographies Flashcards
1
Q
Cresswell 2013
A
- ‘Feminism is not a theory as such but there are a number of feminist theories’
2
Q
Is Geography male-dominated?
A
- Geography’s histories are distinctively gendered; virtually all geographers mentioned have been male.
- traditionally, geography has been male-dominated and functioned through excluding women from participation or consideration.
- Livingstone 1992 (The Geographical Tradition) only 2 women feature.
- In Kitchin’s 2008 (International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography) three of sixty are female.
3
Q
Geography and women in the 19th Century:
A
- Geography in US + Europe was formed in late 19th/early 20th century. Highly exclusionary in terms of class, race/ethnicity and gender’ (Dixon and Jones, 2015).
- 19th Century - RGS excluded or discouraged women from membership.
- the exploratory origins are clearly gendered: the figure of the explorer as a particular type of male ‘hero’ or exemplar.
4
Q
What happened as modern science grew
A
- As modern science grew and consolidated in universities, women were again frequently excluded from participation.
- in the 1970s/80s as the number of female students, lecturers, etc began to gradually rise, new agendas began to rise.
- this began with challenging in-built gendered assumptions, e.g., the basic level of language.
5
Q
First phase of feminist geographies:
A
- involved exploring and giving visibility to the previously neglected and marginalised geography of women in economy and society.
- in parallel with wider societal battles for equal rights for women - especially in relation to work.
- in 1970 - women in the US earned roughly 60% of the annual wages of men.
6
Q
Second phase of feminist geography:
A
- The second phase focuses on the geographies of gender:
- Gender is not biologically determined but rather socially constructed
- ‘Gender is a set of socially produced norms and expectations about what is “masculine” and what is “feminine” (Cresswell 2013:153-154)
- We learn how to be ‘masculine’, ‘feminine’ etc. as we go to school, develop friendships & relationships.
7
Q
Gender relations:
A
- Gender relations: a key focus for feminist geographies (1990s)
- Relations between men and women in society – the role of power and inequality in these
- Essentialism: the belief that such characteristics are innate, such that different types of activities or characteristics are associated with different genders
- These characteristics are not innate; they are socially produced
- Patriarchy: structures and systems which enable and perpetuate the domination of society by men
- ‘Patriarchy can be defined as a set of social relations between men which, although hierarchical, establishes an independence and solidarity between them which allows them to dominate women …’ (Cresswell 2013)
8
Q
Third stage of feminist geographies:
A
- in the 1990s turned their attention to geography itself – and showed how geography was ‘masculinist’ (Rose 1993)
- The positivist philosophy undergirding much of 19th and 20th century geography sought a truth that was objective, value-free, and universal – and masculine
- Women were seen as being connected to emotion, nature, and the body, and thus unable to detach themselves from the world and arrive at objective knowledge
9
Q
Why weren’t women heard:
A
- It was not that women hadn’t been part of geographical explorations …
- Rather: the knowledge that they produced had simply not counted as scientific knowledge – it was subjective, too emotional, too personal
- As a result, their contributions had been erased, and their voices silenced.
10
Q
Feminist geographies:
A
- Feminist geographers played a vital role in expanding the research methods and approaches that geographers use
- key to the widespread adoption of qualitative research methods and approaches
Working against traditional assumptions. - Feminist geographies often involve close engagement with research subjects and stress the value of situated knowledge
