Types of Feminism

LIBERAL FEMINISM

Gradual- march of progress theory

TASKS FOR LIBFEMS

• full scale equality
• equality of opportunity

• Reform

• Equality of opportunity

• Accepting choice over lifestyles and relationships

Each individual woman should have CHOICE!

public/private life- clear divide

reform not revolution!

Changes to the law

Liberals- against private life interference

• some aspects of our lives aren't the concern of the state, law or public attention

only important thing is to avoid harm to others

fundamental structrures of modern society do not need to be changed significantly

women can achieve equality within these structures

Issues

• political correctness
• language- history/herstory

multiculturalism: traditional role of women in some cultures

>FGM and forced marriage

Betty Friedan- "The Second Stage" 1983-

reaction against the excesses of the feminist movement

• women should be free to take up the traditional role of "love, nurture and home"

people cause harm to women...

AT HOME

EMPLOYMENT

• sexual harassment
• restrictions on pay
• access to employment
• GLASS CEILING

• Rape
• Domestic violence
• Financial control
• behavioural control
• housewifes+caregivers

irrational to oppress women

wont be able to reach enlightenment

Key distinctions lib/rad

Common beliefs lib/rad

• Economic exploitation of women isn't isolated from other forms of exploitation
• Liberals see economic equality and freedom as key to all other forms of liberation- radfems argue all forms are interconnected and shouldn't be treated separately
• EG- exploitation entailed by porn and prostitution or suffered by women who find themselves in violent/alienating relationships are part of the same patriarchal system. Granting economic independence isn't true freedom
• Radical feminists believe women will only achieve true consciousness and self-realisation if they separate themsvles from male dominated culture
• Liberals aspire to achieving objectives in existing culture

• Patriarchy doesn't distinguish between private and public spheres- liberals made gains in public life- not in private sphere
• Root of exploitation lies in private life, families and sexual relationships between m/f- these must be addressed first if true emancipation is to be achieved
• Most basic building blocks of society and its structure must be dismantled and reformed

• Radical feminists warned that by failing to transform society- liberals were winning illusory victories
• Without dramatic changes in consciousness of sex and gender differences- can never be true freedom

• Inequalities experienced by women are not based on natural inferiority- biological differences don't justify prejudices
• Male dominance originates in early social conditioning of both men & women- feminists task to alter social consciousness so equality is accepted

• Women must be able to take control of their own circumstances- who and what women are is the business of women themselves
• All aspects of m/f relations that exploit, degrade or control women should be eliminated- women must never fall under the control of male-dominated social structures

• Status of women as 'victims' must be combated. This raises issues such as rape, violence in marriage, pornography and prostitution

RADICAL FEMINISM

Types of Feminism

1960s- Friedan stimulated formation of modern feminism...

she was criticised for failing to identify the FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE of women's oppression

• Revolution

• Sexual Equality

• Consciousness raising to eliminate gender difference

Radical feminism is fragmented but all agree on these:

Sexual oppression

GREER/FIRESTONE

personal sexual relations between men and women involve exploitation and subservience

FIRESTONE- The dialectic of sex

Women are an alienated class.

SEX to Firestone is what CLASS is to MARX- Scientific analysis

"Liberal struggles are not about assimilation, but about asserting difference, endowing that difference with dignity and prestige and insisting on it as a condition of self-definition and self-determination"

- Shulamith Firestone, The Whole Woman (1999)

GREER

sexual differences shouldn't be suppressed but restored and celebrated with mutual dignity

Males have subverted female sexuality for their own purposes- it needs to be restored

• Patriarchy is extremely pervasive and exists in all aspects of life
• Biological differences are important but cannot be used to justify gender differences

• All relationships between men and women are inevitably oppressive
• The solution to women's problems require a radical transformation of social structures

POSTMODERN FEMINISM

MARXIST FEMINISM

broader picture

• reaction against essentialism- all people have essential characteristics which are defining- conclusions drawn
• RADFEMS- make a number of assumptions about both men and women
• Discourses- involve language derived from essentialist assumptions
• HANISCH- 'personal is the political'- all relations between m/f are political- involve exercise of power

not all socfems are marxfems

• If society is equal, women will rewarded equally

• origins in utopian socialism- a truly socialist society would liberate women from the imprisonment of marriage

feminists see the family as a model which places women under the economic control of men

• abolition of capitalism

• equality of outcome

• Capitalism relies on the exploitation of women

• nature of women & their relationships to men & society are of infinite variety- every woman's situation is unique
• Up to the individual to find her own path to liberation and equality- may be radical- but not bound my rigid feminist values

• feminism sees women as just women- circumstance seen in terms of femininity- Postmodern women in terms of class, ethnicity, sexuality etc.

• to end alienation and achieve liberation- women must work across a number of fields

• Post modernism stresses influence of language
• Attitudes towards women are partially determined by language
• Prevalence fo the term 'he' especially when describing people in positions of high status and power whose gender is unspecified
• Assumption made that high-status roles should be held by men
• example of postmodern attack on sexist language oppressing women- support for The Women's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton- rewriting to remove false representations of women as inferior as men

Juliet Mitchell

clear link between women's psychological inferior status and their economic position

consciousness of women is manipulated by men in the home and then into the workplace

Engles- Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)

• before private property, society was matriarchal
• Property is equal to the subjection of women- as capitalism advanced, this intensified

women's emancipation requires the abolition of capitalism

Status

Women are an exploited part of the workforce

• they reproduce the future workforce
• they are the reserve army of cheap labour
• free domestic labour

DIFFERENCE FEMINISM

THIRD WAVE FEMINISM

The notion that every woman's experience of patriarchy is individual to them

• Links with post modernism- pick n mix- people respond to patriarchy differently

• Individualism and diversity factors like social class, age, race...

• product of the 1990s- natural extention of 2nd wave feminism
• fundamental problems still remain- modern radfems concentrate on specific issues to a greater extent
• Third wave- radical not revolutionary

• Aims summarised in Richards & Baumgardner's 13 point manifesta published in 2000
• elements both a radical and liberal synthesis

• less emphasis should be placed on difference between men and women

POSTFEMINISM

• Belief that feminism has succeeded in its fundamental aims
• Critical of modern feminists- by and large achieved equality in modern society
• Women have achieved fundamental reform and there's more to achieve- one basic principle established-

• Women have ability to make their own choices in all fields- released from the cultural pressures that lead them to make no choice at all