LIBERALISM - Key Thinkers Wollstonecraft and Friedan

Question 1

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Key work

Answer 1

A Vindication of the Rights of Women

Question 2

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Quote - When can virtue flourish?

Answer 2

‘Virtue can only flourish among equals’

Question 3

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Quote - Women as birds?

Answer 3

She described women as birds in ‘gilt cages’ - they were given luxurious surroundings but were unable to fly.

Question 4

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Why was the vote important to Mary?

Answer 4

Women could not vote for those who governed them – a blatant violation, Mary pointed out, of Locke’s liberal principle of ‘government by consent’.

Women are RATIONAL!

Question 5

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Why was education important to Mary?

Answer 5

She argued that formal education should be available to as many women as possible – without this, she contested that individual could never develop their rationality, never realise their potential, and never recognise the absurdity of illiberal principles such as the divine right of kings.

By not educating women, England was restricting its wisdom and morality and consequently, would be less prosperous and successful.

Question 6

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Quote - Rationality and restricting education

Answer 6

‘Such arrangements are not conditions where reason and progress may prosper.’

Question 7

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Key idea: Human Nature

Answer 7

Mary Wollstonecraft supported the optimistic view of human nature held by liberals and she argued that women and men are equally able of rational thinking.

Restriction of education restricted women from achieving their true potential.

She stated that ‘such arrangements are not conditions where reason and progress can prosper’. It was an affront to the liberty of half the population.

Women were expected to be virtuous, but she said ‘virtue can only flourish among equals’

Question 8

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Key idea: Society

Answer 8

Society’s cultural norms had ‘infantilized’ women, and inhibited women from expressing their true individualism.

Women were held back in society by social expectations for them to undertake roles as wives and mothers.

Wollstonecraft argued for classical liberal ideas of ‘foundational equality’ to be applied to women equally to men. T

he rights that husbands held over their wives were unsupportable, and she wrote that ‘The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger’.

Question 9

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Key idea: State

Answer 9

Wollstonecraft was a republican and a supporter of the ideals of the French Revolution; She believed that monarchical states should be replaced by republics.

The state should entrench a constitution and laws that would entrench formal equality for both genders. She supported Locke’s ideas of a ‘social contract’, whereby citizens upkeep the state to protect each other, whilst the state protects ‘life, liberty, and property’

Question 10

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Key idea: Economy

Answer 10

Liberated and educated women would thrive and make valuable contributions to the free-market economy, to the benefit of all.

Resricting the opportunity for women to make a positive contribution, the economy would be ‘less prosperous and less successful’ as it wasted the talents of half the population.

Question 11

WOLLSTONECRAFT

Franchise + Formal equality

Answer 11

She wanted to extend the franchise for women too BUT she did, as classical liberals do, favour representative democracy.

Recognised that foundational equality didn’t do much for the practicality of law and enfranchising women.

Question 12

FRIEDAN

Key work

Answer 12

Feminine Mystique

Question 13

FRIEDAN

Quote - dissatisfaction of women felt as mothers and wives

Answer 13

‘Nameless, aching, dissatisfaction women felt in their limited roles as wives and mothers’

Question 14

FRIEDAN

What does Feminine Mystique mean?

Answer 14

It describes the assumption that women found fulfilment via housework, marriage, sexual passivity, and child rearing alone.

Question 15

FRIEDAN

Quote - education

Answer 15

‘Feminine mystique has made higher education for women seem suspect, unnecessary, and even dangerous’

Question 16

FRIEDAN

NOW

Answer 16

She co-founded the National Organisation for Women, which played a leading role in the liebral movement, in which she was a leading activist.

Question 17

FRIEDAN

Impact of NOW and Friedan

Answer 17

Equal Opportunities Act, Equal Pay Act, full access to educations, domestic abuse laws, and the pro-ERA movement.

Question 18

FRIEDAN

Was human nature to blame, or societal atttiudes?

Answer 18

She contested that it was illiberal attitudes in society, rather than human nature, which condemned most women to underachievement.

This was nurtured and transmitted via society’s various cultural channels e.g., schools, religion, media, literature, theatre, cinema.

These channels of cultural conditioning left women convinced their life was determined by human nature rather than their own rationality.

She rejected the radical feminist argument that the state was patriarchal and forever under the control of the dominant gender.

Question 19

FRIEDAN

Key idea: Human Nature

Quote on how subordination of women sucks for everyone

Answer 19

Culture had evolved so that human nature was ruled by patriarchy.

This was discriminatory against women and restricted their true nature and abilities. Women were portrayed by society in the 1950s and being biologically suited mainly to the role of wives and mothers (expressive).

Stated that this is not good for anyone: ‘Men are not the enemy but fellow victims.

‘The real enemy is women’s denigration of themselves’.

Friedan, like all liberals, saw freedom as the priority, to allow women’s potential to emerge. Potential is restricted by patriarchy.

Question 20

FRIEDAN

Key idea: Society

EQUAL RIGHTS

Quote! Education and the Feminine Mystique

Answer 20

The patriarchal nature of society placed men in positions of authority and restricted the role of women.

The Feminine mystique was the norm that tied women’s nature and roles to that of being the expressive caretaker. Friedan wrote that ‘The feminine mystique has made higher education for women seem suspect, unnecessary and even dangerous’.

She was co-founder of NOW, which was the largest ever women’s protest movement that campaigned for women’s liberation. Friedan’s book is often credited with having started ‘Second-wave feminism’ and showing how liberal principles should be implemented equally in society.

Question 21

FRIEDAN

Key idea: State

Answer 21

The state should intervene in the public sphere with laws to prevent discrimination against women.

Since NOW’s campaign, most western states have introduced Equal Pay Acts, Anti-discrimination Acts, and have addressed other legal inequalities to create a greater level of equal opportunity. She advocated heavily in favour of the ERA amongst other feminists like Gloria Steinem.

Question 22

FRIEDAN:

Key idea: Economy

Answer 22

Friedan argued that liberated women would thrive in and enhance a capitalist economy, once given the opportunity.

Legislation must be implemented to prevent discrimination against women in the workplace. She called for state intervention to ensure equal pay and equal opportunities in all careers and believed legislation should do the same - when women see role models emerging in occupations previously seen as male preserves, then an impetus will be created for change and innovation in the economy.

Question 23

FRIEDAN

Quote - freedom

Answer 23

She wrote ‘who knows what women could be when they are finally free to be themselves’