Feminist Perspective
Women have suffered and are still suffering injustice because of their sex.
Feminism seeks effective measures for the redressal of that injustice. It basically
stands for the concern with the status and role of women in society in relation to
men.
Why Feminism ?
Mainstream political theory has neglected the role of women and they find no
mention in them.
Aristotle-Exclude women from all political activity
Rousseau - Exclude women from citizenship
Nietzche - Equal rights for women symbol of society in decline
► Large-scale exploitation of women in private as well as public sphere in forms
of wifebeating, rape, domestic violence etc.
► To end the thousand years oppression of men over women
► To change the perception of how society looks at women
► To combat against the hardcore patriarchy in the society.
What is Feminism ?
► It is the collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending
equal rights (political, social, and economic).
► Equal opportunities for women
► Divided into three thesis :
1. The entrenchment of women
2. The existence of patriarchy
3.The need for change for women empowerment
► Women should choose their life and should not be constrained by traditional or
stereotypical rules.
When the 17th-18th century, Europe was going through a process of
enlightenment, intellectuals emphasised on reason and individualism to reform the
society using reason and challenge the ideas grounded in tradition and faith. It
introduced scientific and rational thought in the human mind through thinkers
such as Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Pierre Bayle Voltaire and
Isaac Newton. This stress on individualism brought attention to the rights of man.
To enlarge the scope of rights of man, rights of women was included in it by free
thinking women like Mary Wollstonecraft and Harriet-Taylor who made an appeal
for equal rights of women. John Stuart Mill in his essay on “The Subjection of
Women (1869)” argued that women deserve equal rights with men as they were by
no means less talented than men. In 19th century, feminist theory focussed on
removing educational and professional barriers from women's life. Later on
employment rights, equal pay and equality in social benefits, taxation etc was
demanded. In the contemporary world it is accepted that women are fit to perform
most of the jobs that men do. There are various strands of feminism.
Waves of feminism :
First Wave feminism: (Early 20th century)
Mainly deals with women's suffrage(right to vote)
Tried to remove the political inequalities
Writers like Virginia Woolf describe in her book 'A room of one's own' how men
dominate over women socially and psychically.
Started in Britain. The Suffragettes demanded the right to vote.
They realized their strength on account of their part played during world war 1
when men were less and had gone for the war.
In the United States, it included Olympia Brown, Helen Pitts.
Was granted to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928.
Second Wave Feminism : (1960s-1980s)
►Apart from political rights, Economic and social rights became the central
objective of second wave feminism.
►Triggered after the book 'The Feminine Mystique' by Betty Friedman in 1963.
She described the problem of educated middle class wives and mothers including
herself who have to work only for their family, children etc. Described the life of a
woman to be monotonous and worthless restricted to her family. Women have no
social and cultural rights. Criticized the patriarchal society for creating such a
harsh and cruel society.
► As a result, a debate called 'Personal is Political' started which demanded the
personal lives of every man and woman to be political too rather than only the
public life.
►Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on suffrage and overturning legal
obstacles to gender equality ,second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a
wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, and
official legal inequalities.
► Second-wave feminism also drew attention to domestic violence and marital
rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered women's shelters, and
changes in custody and divorce law.
►However many criticized the movement by calling it 'hegemonic feminism'.
►Also, it created an image of feminists as some sort of victims demanding rights
deliberately.
Third wave Feminism : (In the beginning of 1990's)
►Rebecca Walker coined the the term to highlight its focus on queer and
non-white women.
Its purpose was to change the stereotypes, media portrayal of feminists and
redefine the 'victim-feminism' ideology developed in the 2nd wave.
Individual movement as part of the movement was to redefine feminism.
►Riot Grrrl started third wave feminism who talked about cases like rape,
patriarchy, and women empowerment.
They basically demanded freedom from oppression of "Marginalised
Communities - Non-Whites, Africans etc.
►Prominent issues :
(1)Gender violence (2)Reproductive rights (3)Rape etc.
Lacked cohesion from different parts of the world.
Streams of Feminism:
► Liberal Feminism
► Radical Feminism
► Socialist Feminism
Liberal Feminism:
► Absolute equality for men and women in all walks of life.
► Equality between men and women on liberal grounds i.e political equality
► Removal of gender based discrimination in society.
► Equal pay for equal work, abortion laws reform, representation etc.
► Right to vote, right to raise their voice etc.
► Feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft, J.S Mill, Frances Wright advocated for
women's full political inclusion.Mary Wollstonecraft Who sought to establish
fundamental equality between men and women within the existing framework of
liberal democracy. John Stuart Mill Who argued that society was losing out if it
did not make use of rational qualities of women and advocated the right to property
for women.Betty Friedan (1921) Advocates equality for women in the sphere of
work, politics and private life. Her seminal works include 'The Feminine Mystique
(1963)' and 'The Second Stage (1983)'.Carole Pateman (1980) Attacked the
misconception that the liberal theory of Social Contract' overthrew the concept of
Patriarchal rule in 'The Sexual Contract (1988).
► Criticism : individualist assumptions make it difficult to see the ways in which
underlying social structures and values disadvantage women radical feminism.
Radical Feminism :
► Calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated
in all social and economic contexts.
► Radical feminists seek to abolish patriarchy by challenging existing social
norms and institutions, rather than through a purely political process.
► Shulamith Firestone and Kate Millett
► Shulamith firestone :(1995) Argued in her work 'The Dialectic of Sex' • Women
subordination is basically biological. • This is because of their capacity to bear a
child which has helped man to establish their domination over women • With
technological advancements and education to women, they can free themselves
from the tyranny of men.
► Kate Millett : (1934) Argued in “Sexual Politics'
• Men exercise their domination in two forms
• Firstly through social authority and economic force
• Now the time is when women smash men's domination.
Virginia Woolf (1882) Explained how men socially and physically dominate
women in her essay called 'A room of one's own'. She argued that women are
victims of themselves as well as of men as they act as mirrors to men.
Simone De Beuvoir The author of 'The Second Sex Challenged Sigmund Freud's
idea 'Anatomy is Destiny' (of women) and asserted that 'A women is not born, but
made' emphasising clearly on the difference between 'sex' and 'gender'.
► Criticism :
Many early radical feminists broke political ties with "male-dominated left
groups", hence criticized as anti-Marxist / anti-left.
Socialist Feminism :
★ Capitalists as well as men have been beneficiaries in the male
dominated Societies.
★ Solution lies only against uniting both the ills of the society and for
that it is necessary to combine both the struggles.
★ Sheila Rowbotham Charles Fourier (1772) Envisaged a form of
social organisation in which men and women would enter into group
marriages and live in small communities where men and women
would be treated as equal partners.Friedrich Engels (1820) Argued in
"The origins of the family, private property and the state' that origin of
sexual inequality can be traced to establishment of patrilineal
descent.Sheila Rowbotham (1943) Showed from historical evidence
that class exploitation and women's oppression are closely linked
phenomena. Some of her works are women,Resistance and
Revolution (1972), Hidden from History (1973), Past is before us
(1989).
★ They see economic dependence as the driving force of women's
subjugation to men.
★ On the other hand, the Socialist Party USA is an example of a
socialist feminist party. The party's statement of principles says,
"Socialist feminism confronts the common root of sexism, racism and
classism: the determination of a life of oppression or privilege based
on accidents of birth or circumstances. Socialist feminism is an
inclusive way of creating social change. We value synthesis and
cooperation rather than conflict and competition.
Criticism
Took different interpretations of feminism and restricted it to economic rather than
social and political bases at the same time.
Smart Facts
★ First wave feminism explains that men and women were equal as regards their
intellectual and emotional capacities and needs.
★ Second wave feminism attacked on male violence towards women particularly
sexual violence.
★ Third wave feminism insists that women should see themselves as agents and not
victims within the existing social system.
★ Third wave feminism is also called post feminism and according to them there is
no clash between sexual equality and participation in beauty practices.
