Feminist Views of Politics
“Women constitute half the world’s population, perform nearly two third of its
work hours, receive one tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one
hundredth of the world’s property.” – The United Nations Report, 1980
Defining Feminism:
David Bouchier in his The Feminist Challenge says that feminist movement
includes, “any form of opposition to any form of social, personal or economic
discrimination which women suffer because of their sex.”
Gerda Lerner in her The Creation of Patriarchy emphasizes that, “It (feminism)
is not always a movement, for it can be a level of consciousness, a stance, an
attitude, as well as the basis for organized effort.”
Sushila Singh in her article “Recent Trend in Feminist Thought: A Tour de
Horizon” in Feminism and Recent Fiction in English observes, “As a philosophy
of life, it (feminism) seeks to discover and change the more subtle and deep-
seated causes for women’s oppression. It is a concept of ‘raising the
consciousness’ of an entire culture.”
A common starting point for all feminist ideas is the belief that women are
disadvantaged in comparison with men, and that this disadvantage is not a
natural and inevitable result of biological difference but something that can
and should be challenged and changed.
Unlike traditional political theories and ideologies, feminism provides a
way of looking at the world that sees women’s situation and the
inequalities between men and women as central political issues; as such it
provides a fundamental challenge to dominant assumptions about the
nature and scope of politics.
Beyond this, there is enormous disagreement as to the nature, causes and cure
for women’s inequality, subordination or oppression, for feminism is certainly
not a unified ideology but it contains certain competing strands. These have
frequently been identified as ‘liberal’, ‘Marxist’, ‘radical’ and ‘socialist’
feminisms; ‘black feminism’ and increasingly ‘postmodern feminism’ also
represent distinct and important approaches.
Forms of Feminism:
Liberal feminism can be understood as ‘equal rights’ feminism. It asserts that
women are rational beings like men, and that they should therefore, have the
same legal and political rights and the opportunity to compete equally with
men in politics and paid employment.
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Marxist feminism argues against this, and says that, women’s oppression is
essentially a byproduct of class based society, and the full equality will only be
achieved when capitalism is replaced by genuine socialism. Both these
approaches use existing male theories and apply them to the situations of
women.
Radical feminism, however, claims to provide a new perspective based on
women’s own experiences, and they argue that the patriarchal domination of
women by men is both – the most basic form of power in the society and one
that has its source in such apparently private areas of life as the family and
sexual relationships. This analysis involves a redefinition of power and politics,
and an attack on the allegedly artificial distinction between public and private
lives.
Modern socialist feminism seeks to combine this radical perspective with
Marxist class analysis by exploring the interrelationship between capitalism
and patriarchy. Feminism has frequently been seen as the preserve of the white
middle-class women.
Black feminism argues that the experiences of the black women must not only
be involved in the feminist analysis, but should be considered as its starting
point.
Finally, a number of feminists have recently endorsed postmodernist
critiques of western philosophy and are attempting to use these as a basis for
exploring new woman-centric forms of knowledge and understanding.
It is important simply to point out the diversity of approaches that are
contained in the one word ‘feminism’ and to stress that feminism is very much
more than that of a catalogue of the wrongs that have been done to women. Far
from being a static ideology, it involves a complex and dynamic set of ideas that
have evolved over the last 300 years and that is still constantly developing and
challenging its own assumptions, as well as contributing and reacting to what
many feminists now refer to as ‘male stream’ ideologies.
Liberal Feminism:
Early liberal feminism: The term ‘feminist’ was first used in a French medical
journal text in 1871. Then it was also used by a French writer and politician –
Alexander Dumas fils in 1872 in a pamphlet to describe women behaving in a
supposedly masculine way. But in these two occasions the term was not used
to signify its present meaning. In spite of such initial vagueness regarding the
meaning of the term ‘feminism’ the feminist ideas and movements emerged long
before – in late 18th century – during the early years of the French Revolution.
In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) wrote A Vindication of the Rights of
Women, which provides the first full expression of early liberal feminism. She
argued that women are, like men, rational individuals and that, as such, they
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should have equal rights. She established the principles underlying later
campaigns for women’s rights to education, employment, property and the
vote.
These principles found concrete expression at the first ever ‘Women’s Rights
Convention’ held at Seneca Falls in USA in 1848. This paved the way for the
equal rights feminism throughout the industrializing world.
In England John Stuart Mill (1806-73) introduced the question of women’s
suffrage to the House of Commons in 1867. He also provided a full scale
analysis of the women’s situation and the advantages to the society of giving
them full legal and political equality with men, in his book The Subjection of
Women (1869).
From the late 19th century till the World War I the campaign for women’s
suffrage gained momentum. Some of the campaigners argued about equal
potentialities of women vis-à-vis men; others pointed out the differences and
uniqueness of women than the men folk.
New Zealand was the first nation to enfranchise women in 1894. In Britain
women over 30 were given the right to vote in 1918 and this was extended to
all women on the same terms as men in 1928. In America the 1920
Constitutional Amendment enfranchised all adult women.
When voting right was achieved the ‘equal rights’ movement gave way to a new
strand – ‘welfare feminism’. Which in 1920s and 30s pleaded for protective
legislation for women to secure them from hazardous and unhealthy
occupations and long working hours.
Modern Liberal Feminism: French writer and feminist Simon de Beauvoir
(1908-86) initiated a new era in liberal feminism with the launch of her book
The Second Sex in 1949. In this book she provided various evidences to argue
that femininity and domesticity are not natural attributes of womanhood, but
artificial creations which limit women’s freedom and deny them expression of
their full humanity. In the past, she stated, women’s biology made their
secondary situation inevitable, but modern technology and contraception now
made biology irrelevant. This is so, to expose the processes by which femininity
is manufactured and to show women the possibility of living differently. This
idea profoundly influenced the modern liberal feminists of 1960s.
The central premise of modern liberal feminism is that, women are individuals
possessed with reason and that as such they are entitled to full human rights.
So, they should be free to choose their role in life and to compete equally with
men in politics and paid employment. This has been the focal theme of the
‘Second Wave’ of feminist movement in America during 1960s.
Betty Friedan (1921-2006) in her book The Feminine Mystique (1963)
proclaimed that, women had been socialized and manipulated into believing
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that their only fulfillment lay in the home, and that the purpose of their lives
should be to catch and keep a husband and to service the needs of him and his
children. She encouraged the women to join men in pursuing careers in the
public sphere.
With this goal the National Organization for Women (NOW) was established
in the USA in1966. Its founding statement was: “We aim…to take action to
bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now,
exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal
partnership with men.” The NOW secured the ‘Equal Rights Amendment’ (ERA)
to the US Constitution for women.
The campaigns by the liberal feminists led to the introduction of the ‘Sex
Determination Act’ in 1975 and establishment of the ‘Equal Opportunities
Commission’ in the UK.
Naomi Wolf’s (1962- ) book Fire with Fire (1993) asserted the liberal approach
of the new generation. She claimed that, women must refuse to see themselves
as victims. Rather they must embrace ‘power feminism’, which demands that
women realize the right to determine their own lives and teaches them to
overcome their fear of success.
More sophisticated versions of liberal feminism was developed by Janet
Radcliffe Richards (1944- ) in her book The Sceptical Feminist (1980) and
Susan Moller Okin (1946-2004) in her book Justice, Gender and the Family
(1989), by using the language of philosophy and political theory. Richards
argued in favour of temporary ‘reverse discrimination’. Following John Rawls
(1921-2002), she developed a theory of justice that would allow women as well
men to develop their full potential. Okin pleaded for increased state support for
child care, more flexible patterns of employment and a sharing of domestic
work with men. Both of them stated that, women’s improvement will in fact
lead to the wholesome manifestation of the society at large.
Critical appreciation:
Critics say that, even within its own terms liberal feminism has failed. There is
still no real equality in the worlds of employment or politics. Positions of power
and authority continue to be dominated by men and women’s earning capacity
remains dramatically less than that of men.
The objectives set by the liberal feminism have been rejected by many who
argue that they are fitted only to needs and ambitions of the middle-class
career women. They ignore the realities of a competitive, hierarchical society in
which most must be the losers and in which many men as well as women are
oppressed in the name of class and race.
Some of the critics claim that ‘womanly values’ must be preserved and asserted
rather than abandoned. They want male ideas of autonomy, competition and
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rationality should be supplemented or replaced with nurturing, cooperation
and empathy.
Liberal feminists are thoroughly confused as to the nature of state power and
gender interests. They are criticized for naively thinking that the state is a
neutral institution which can be used to promote equality. The critics say that
the state is not only dominated by men, but it also reflects the interests of the
capitalist economic system. When the needs of the women come into conflict
with those of the men or the pursuit of profit, they will be oppressed. The
demands of the liberal feminists for greater protective actions from the state
are also contradictory to the liberal principles of limited government and non-
intervention.
According to the critics the liberal perspective on power and politics is based on
an uncritical acceptance of male definitions which serve to conceal the real
roots of women’s oppression. Especially when the liberal feminists accept an
artificial distinction between the public world of politics and the private sphere
of personal relationships, they are unable to see the actual site of sexual
politics and the incidents of domestic violence and rape as related to the power
structure of the society.
Critics also argue that the individualistic assumptions of liberalism can not be
reconciled with the feminist politics which is based on shared gender interests.
In spite of all these criticisms liberal ideas of freedom, justice and equality
embody important principles that can be extended to women and in the
process they can be re-examined and improved.
Radical Feminism:
Radical feminism arose out of the women’s own experiences in the Civil Rights,
Anti-War, New Left and students’ movements throughout 1960s in America.
During these movements the participating young women often found
themselves as being treated like sex-objects, secretaries or housewives, rather
than equal political partners. Resistance to such treatments led to a new and
revolutionary ideological position of direct and fundamental challenge to all
existing political and social perspectives. The women found their problems were
not private, but widely shared.
Radical feminism is essentially a theory of, by and for women. As such, it is
firmly based on women’s own experiences and perspectives. It sees no need to
compromise with the existing political perspectives and agenda. Radical
feminism regards oppression of women as the most universal and
fundamental form of domination. It seeks to understand this patriarchal
form of domination and bring an end to this.
According to the radical feminists the women as a group have interests
opposed to those of men, which unite them in a common sisterhood that
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transcends the divisions of class or race. That implies that the women should
struggle together to achieve their own liberation. This struggle involves a
redefinition of the very nature of politics. As per radical feminism, the male
power is not confined to the public sphere only, but is extended to such
‘personal’ areas of life as the family and sexual relationships. Both of them are
seen as the key instruments of patriarchal domination.
According to the radical feminists the invisibility of gender issues in dominant
political discourses is a part of the process by which male power is maintained.
So, they argue that the role of the feminist theory is to explore the political
aspects of life that have hitherto been deemed as personal and to challenge the
male power by naming them.
These ideas of radical feminism have been propagated and popularized in the
USA and UK by the authors like Germaine Greer (1939- ) through her book
The Female Eunuch (1970) and Kate Millett (1934- ) in her Sexual Politics
(1970).
Critical appraisal:
Radical feminism has been severely criticized for being based on a false
prejudice that ‘all men are the enemy’. This logically leads to lesbian
separatism. This has little acceptance to the majority of women. The critics
argue that this theory is a-historical and is founded on a ‘false universalism’
that reflects only the experiences of the white middle-class women.
Again, they say the methods of this theory are mainly descriptive, rather than
analytical. And in the end it fails to provide an adequate strategy to end male
supremacy. Finally, radical feminism is denounced for treating women simply
as passive victims, rather than as the makers of history.
Irrespective of all these the importance of radical feminism can not be denied
as it has extended the horizons of politics into the hitherto private corners of
life and in doing so added new dimensions into politics.
Marxist Feminism:
Early Socialist and Marxist Feminism: The ‘Utopian Socialists’ of the early
19th century considered that the existing relationships between men and
women could only be understood as part of the competitive capitalist society,
which not only produced women’s subordination but was also upheld by it.
They sought to develop an analysis that linked sexuality to economic and
political issues. However these early socialists believed that a better society
could be brought about through reforms, and not through violent revolution.
Although feminism was not the central theme of Karl Marx’s (1818-83)
philosophy, yet he claimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of human
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history, society and their development. Latter writers have applied his
‘worldview’ on many issues, including the feminist ones.
Marx’s friend Frederick Engels (1820-95), in his book The Origin of Family,
Private Property and the State (1884) developed the idea that, the family and
sexual relationships are like other forms of social organization. They are the
products of a particular stage of economic development. As such, they can not
be altered at will, but only as a result of a radical socio-economic change
expressed through class conflict and revolution. He also argued that the motive
of controlling women by men will disappear with the collapse of capitalism.
Then women would no longer be dependant on men and the socialization of
housework and childcare would liberate them from domestic bonds.
Later on August Bebel (1840-1933) produced similar ideas in Germany. Clara
Zetkin (1857-1933) developed and defended this idea within the German Social
Democratic Party. They had also provided the ideological basis for Marxist
feminism in Russia.
Alexandra Kollontai (1873-1952), the first ever woman cabinet minister,
fought to prioritize the women’s issues in the post-1917 Bolshevik Revolution
Russia. She aimed at involving women in the processes that she considered
would liberate them. She also insisted that the questions of sexuality and
family organisation would not be automatically resolved through economic
change, but must be tackled directly. But later on under Stalin’s regime her
ideas were rejected and the ‘Woman Question’ was officially declared resolved.
Central to all Marxist feminism is the belief that women’s subordination is not
a permanent, natural or inevitable feature of human relationship; rather it is a
historically specific product of class society. In its most ‘orthodox’ form, it is an
argument of economic determinism, which rejects the idea that gender
relations might have a dynamic of their own or women may have common
group interests cutting across class divisions. On the other hand, many
modern writers have developed a more flexible form of Marxism while others
have added radical feminist perspectives to explore the interrelationship
between capitalism and patriarchy. This led to the development of ‘socialist
feminism’ during 1970s.
Modern Marxist & Socialist Feminism: The idea that women’s subordination
serves capitalist interests has prompted some writer to argue that, we have a
system of capitalist patriarchy. Others claim that, although capitalism and
patriarchy are often mutually reinforcing, they may also come to a conflict. So,
there are two tires of dynamic forces at work in society – the class and the
gender struggle. This is called as a ‘dual systems’ approach.
Moreover, some others have tried to apply Marxist ideas to explore the so called
‘private’ or non-political spheres of life. Juliet Mitchell (1940- ) in her book
Psychoanalysis and Feminism: Freud, Reich, Laing And Women (1974) has
argued that, women’s situation is determined by four structures: production,
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reproduction, sexuality and the socialisation of children. Although she stresses
upon production as basis of all these structures, yet she concedes to the
‘relative autonomy’ of the other structures. Some modern Marxist feminists
have used the Marxist concept of ‘alienation’ to describe the lack of control of
the women over the process of reproduction and even their own sexuality.
Socialist feminism believes that both women and men will benefit from the
socialist transformation of society, which would eliminate all forms of
oppression. It insists on the proper understanding of the persisting oppressive
economic system for challenging and ultimately, changing it.
Criticisms:
Radical feminists consider Marxism as yet another form of patriarchal ideology.
They insist that even in the so called Communist societies like the then USSR
or present China, patriarchal structures remain intact. According to the critics,
while the Marxism is itself in disarray, the status of Marxist feminism is bound
to be vulnerable.
Critics also argue, Marxist feminism wrongly ignores the fact that patriarchy
predates capitalism by several thousand years and as such can not be
understood merely as a ‘product’ of capitalism. They also say that, a purely
Marxist approach pays very little attention to reproduction as an important
form of production in the society. Some others accuse them of being ‘elitist and
racist’.
In Conclusion:
The women have made significant achievements during the 20th century and
many of their demands for which they have fought are now considered as
obvious entitlements. So, for the 21st century young women feminism may
seem at best – outdated and at worst – an anti-male obstacle to genuine gender
equality. But even in the most ‘advanced’ countries women remain
disadvantaged in comparison with men. Positions of public power remain
largely in the male hands. In this context any claim to a ‘post-feminist era’ is
unfeasible.
In spite of the differences among various strands of feminism, an important
area of agreement is the increasingly general acceptance of the radical feminist
claim that the ‘Personal is Political’. Which imply that power relations are not
confined only to the public spheres of law, the state and economy; but they
pervade all aspects of life. So, according to the present feminist views politics is
not simply something ‘out there’, but a part of everyday experience. At the same
time they insist that gender issues cannot be addressed in isolation of their
socio-economic contexts.
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