key thinkers

Question 1

key thinkers and strands

Answer 1

Simone de Beauvoir - ?
Kate Milet - Radfem
Sheila Rowbotham - Soc
bell hooks - PM fem

Question 2

other thinkers

Answer 2

Mary Wollstonecraft - Lib
Betty Friedan - Lib
John Stuart Mill - Lib
Friedrich Engels - Soc

Question 3

Simone de Beauvoir Key Publication

Answer 3

The Second sex

Question 4

De Beauvior key ideas

Answer 4

1. Gender as a social construct, being male is the norm
2. A distinction should be made between sex and gender. Biological differences between men and women are minor; most differences that matter for expectations of women and their role in society are cultural – constructed by society 🡪 a ‘social construct’
3. In society being male is seen as the norm, or ‘normal’, and being female as different from that norm. That should not be the case in an equal society.
4. Initially believed capitalism was largely to blame for female oppression, but rejected the idea that a socialist revolution would automatically end patriarchy.

Question 5

kate millet key publication

Answer 5

Sexual Politics

Question 6

millet key ideas

Answer 6

1. The family is a key tool of patriarchy
2. Patriarchy is a system of oppression, and most clearly manifests itself within the family
3. Attacked the origins of marriage as giving men ownership over their wives
4. Attacked marriage as purely a contract where women’s domestic and sexual services were exchanged for financial support; she called for an end to monogamous marriage
5. The family is also the place where boys and girls are socialised into (taught) the values and expectations of patriarchy

Question 7

rowbothan key publication

Answer 7

Women, resistance and revolution

Question 8

Rowbothan key ideas

Answer 8

1. Capitalism oppresses not only the proletariat but also women
2. Women are doubly oppressed under capitalism, because they are exploited by selling their labour to survive, but also use their labour in support of their husbands and children
3. Patriarchy is partly cultural, and not purely produced by capitalism; it predates capitalism. This means that, while capitalism needs to be overthrown by a worker’s revolution, this
   is not enough to end patriarchy; there also needs to be a women’s revolution within the revolution.
4. Capitalism and patriarchy both benefit from the domestic work done by women, reproducing the labour force

Question 9

bell hooks key publication

Answer 9

aint I a woman

Question 10

bell hooks key ideas

Answer 10

1. The concerns of black women have been ignored by mainstream feminism
2. The focus of feminism has been too much on the concerns of those most active in the movement: white middle-class women.
3. Black women face double disadvantages: through racism as well as through patriarchy.
   4.Society should be based on solidarity (not division) between races and between classes.

Question 11

Wollstonecraft key publication

Answer 11

A vindication of the Rights of woman

Question 12

Wollstonecraft key ideas

Answer 12

1. All individuals, including women are rational thinkers
2. Supported foundational equality (all humans are born equal) → All individuals should have equal rights (including voting rights), and that should include women
3. Women should be able to choose to educate themselves and have a career, but may opt to be housewife

Question 13

friedan key publication

Answer 13

The feminine mystique

Question 14

Friedan key ideas

Answer 14

1. All individuals are of equal worth, and should therefore have equal rights
2. Women should be able to choose to educate themselves and have a career, but may opt to be housewife
3. Not biological characteristics, but social ideas of what is acceptable (e.g. having a career) restrict women