UK: Feminism Flashcards
Define “The private is the political” (Feminism)
Power relations are dictated by private life, which has implications on political: for example, if your husband helps with housework the wife can take a job and make independent money. Liberal feminists do not believe this, as they see private housework as a choice (where there is legislation to allow them to do otherwise).
What is Essentialism and who is a Key thinker?
Men and women are “essentially” different, that is why there are different power levels. A key thinker of this is Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as she believed women were naturally better at caring for children.
Who is Simone Beauvoir and what does she argue?
author of “The Second Sex” wherein women are seen as incomplete men. She is largely into Existentialism (Existence precedes essence, a woman is not born she is made) and argues women in politics is very important as they must partake in society for it to serve them. Also believed women should work outside the home, there should not be the choice for housework, and she was a Marxist.
Who is Kate Millet and what does she argue?
author of “Sexual Politics” a PhD thesis in Columbia, which introduced the word “patriarchy” to the mainstream. Describes it as a type of government used to oppress women. She also says that fiction is damaging because people will strive to replicate it at home.
Who is Betty Friedan and what does she argue?
author of “The Feminine Mystique” believed that women should be served by society as much as men.
Who is Charlotte Perkin Gilman and what does she argue?
author of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She believed in formal equality, the removal of stereotypes and heavily opposed domestic oppression- arguing that women must have a life of their own and the life structure of a career.
TWE do feminists agree the personal is political: introduction
INTRO: feminists disagree over the level of oppression exercised by the patriarchy over the role of the private sphere in women’s lives (e.g. heteronormativity, occupation and the resolution of the patriarchy). Liberal feminists do not fully acknowledge the role of the patriarchy, while socialist/radical feminists blame it entirely.
TWE do feminists agree the personal is political: heteronormativity
Kate Millet, radical feminist
- Advocates for “political lesbianism” to break down power dynamics between men and women in heterosexual relationships which perpetuate male dominance
- Furthermore, non-sexual domestic sphere such as housework and childcare
- “Coitus can scarcely be said to happen in a vacuum”
Betty Friedan, liberal feminist
- Did not see social change as a frontier for feminism, only advocated for legislative equality (no gender discrimination in hiring or paying and reproductive and maternal rights, such as contraception and childcare)
- Does not go as far as Kate Millet in involving the private lives and social inequality in the political fight against structural inequality and therefore there is disagreement between feminists
TWE feminists agree the personal is political: occupation and engagement with the public sphere
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, technically liberal feminist (but let’s really not get into that)
- Argues strongly for a woman’s right to work, intellectually damaging for women to only be subjected to housework (Yellow Wallpaper)
- Acknowledges the inequalities outside of the political sphere and structural inequality, but does not condemn capitalism as an extension of this
Sheila Rowbowtham
- Women’s labour is a “double whammy” as they both have to sell their labour to support their family and also to look after their family
- “Reserve army of Labour” ensuring there is always capitol when shortage of men, and women are paid half as much (economic solution mixed with patriarchy)
- Her writings are more condemning of the use of female labour in society, therefore, slight disagreement between her and CPG
