feminism

feminism

1. ideals

   • society is male dominated
   • seeks to explain the change in position of women in socieety

2. 1. Liberal/reformist

   • liberals
     • more concerned with the human and civil rights and freedoms of the individual
     • in keeping with the enlightenment tradition they believe that all human beings should have equal rights
     • laws and policies against sex discrimination in employment and education can secure equal opps
       • discrimination act
       • education- girls in school
     • cultural change : traditional prejudices and stereotypes are a barrier to equality. w.g. beliefs that women are less rational and dominated by emotion legitimates their exclusion from decision making and their confinement to childbearing and housework.
       • link to feminist view of housework
       • they are critical of parsons
   • reformist
     • is the idea that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by gradual reforms or piecemeal changes in society, without the need for revolution
   • sex and gender
     • ann oakley
     • sex refers t o biological differences between males and females, such as their reproductive role, hormonal and physical differences
     • gender refers to culturally constructed differences the masculine and feminine roles and identities assigned to males and females. it includes the ideas that cultures hold about the abilities of males and females.
     • gender differences vary between cultures and overtime. thus, what is considered a proper role for women in society at one time may be disapproved of or forbidden in another e.g. in saudi arabia women are forbidden to drive
       • link to religion
   • they believe
     • changes in socialisation and culture are gradually leading to more rational attitudes towards gender and overcoming ignorance and prejudice
     • political action to introduce anti-discriminatory laws and policies is steadily bringing about progress to a fairer society in which a persons gender is no longer important.
   • evaluation
     • over-optimistic=- they see the obstacles to emancipatio as simply the prejudices of individuals or irrational laws that can be gradually reformed away by the onward 'march of progress'
     • they ignore the possibility that there are deep seated structures causing wome's oppression e.g. capitalism or patriachy
       • walby says they offer no explanation for the overall structure of gender inequality
     • marx and radical fems fail to recogniose the underlying causes of womes subordination and that it is naive to believe that chaqnges in the law or attitudes will be enough to bring inequality. they believe revolutionary changes are needed

3. 2. radical feminism

   • they believe
     • patriarchy is universal
       • Firestone- the origins of patriarchy lie in womens biological capacity to bear and care for children, these roles mean they become dependent on males
     • patriarchy is the primary and most fundamental form of inequality and conflict.
     • men are the enemy
     • all men oppress women. all men benefit from patriarchy
   • the personal is political
     • oppression if personal. it occurs in the private and public sphere. all relationships involve power and they are political when one person dominates. Personal relationships are therefore political because men dominate women through them
     • they focus on how power is exercised in personal relationships e.g. sexual or physical violence. this has the effect of controlling all women.
       • brownmilller- fear of rape is a powerful deterrent against women going out alone at night
     • sexuality
       • malestream sociology regards sexuality as a natural biological urge- therefore out of the scope of sociology
         • rad fems argue that patriarchy constructs sexuality as to satisfy men's desires.
           • Rich argues that men force women into a narrow and unsatisfying 'compulsory heterosexuality
   • solutions
     • separatism- given that mens oppression is reproduced through personal and sexual relationships. they suggest living apart from men and creating a new culture of female dependence
     • consciousness- through sharing their experiences in women only consciousness women came to see that other women face the same problems. this may lead to collective action. e.g. 'slutwalk' marches
     • political lesbianism- many radical fems argue that heterosexual relationships are oppressive, as they involve 'sleeping with the enemy and that lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality
   • evaluation
     • marxists- it is class not patriarchy that is the reason for inequality. capitalism is why women are oppressed
     • no explanation of why female subordination takes different forms in different societies
     • ignores other inequalities between women
     • pollert argues that the concept of patriarch6y is of little value because it involves a circular argument. e..g. male violence is explained as patriarchy, while it is seen as being maintained by male violence. therefore patriarchy maintains itself.
     • sommerville argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely for seperatism or political lesbianism
     • they neglect women;s violence against men and within lesbian relationships

4. 3. marxist feminism

   • womens subordination is rooted in capitalism. the main beneficiary of this is capitalism
   • functions their subordination performs
     • women are a source of cheap exploitable labour- they can be paid less because it is assumed that they will be partially dependent on their husbands earnings.
     • reserve army of labour- moved in, in times of economic boom and out again in times of recession. they can be treated as marginal workers because it is assumed their primary role is in the home.
     • reproduce the workforce- nurture and socialise children to become the next generation of workers
     • absorb anger- that would otherwise be directed at capitalsim. Ansley - women are the 'takers of shit'. they soak up the frustration their husbands feel due to alienation and exploitation- explains dom vio. womesn interests lie in the overthrow of capitalism
   • ideology of familism: Barrett
     • all marx fems agree that women provide economic functions for capitalism. however, some argue that non-economic factors must be taken into account.
       • Barrett argues that we must give more emphasis to womesn conciousness and motivations, and to the role of ideology in maintaining their oppression
     • e.g. why do women live in NFs if it oppresses them. barrett says the answer lies with 'familism'. this ideology presents the NF and its sexual division of labour as natural and normal. the family is portrayed as the only place where women can attain fulfillment, through motherhood intimacy and sexual satisfaction. this ideology helps to keep women subordinated.
     • while Barett believed that the overthrow of capitalism is necessary to secure womens liberation, it is not sufficient. we must overthrow familism. this would free the sexes from restrictive stereotypes and ensure somestic labour was shared equally.
     • some feminists take the analysis to explain why women seem to freely accept oppressive family and marital relationships.
       • Mitchell uses freuds psychoanalytic theory to argue that ideas about femininity are so deeply implanted that they are difficult to doslodge. this shows how the overthrow of capitalism may not be sufficient.
   • evaluation
     • fails to explain womens subordination in a non-capitalist socierty
       • H- they are only trying to explain the position of women in capitalist society
     • unpaid dom lab may benefit capitalism but they do not say why it is women who perform it.
       • hartmann argues this is because marxism is sex-blind
     • place insufficient emphasis on the ways men oppress women and benefit from unpaid labour
     • it is proven that unpaid dom lab is in fact the cheapest way of reproducing labour power. e.g it might be done through the market or through state provision such as publicly funded nurseries

5. 4. Dual systems feminism

   • combination of the key features of marxist and radical feminism
   • the two systems referred are
     • the economic system: capitalism
     • the sex gender system: patriarchy
   • patriarchal capitalism
     • hartmann sees capitalism and patriarchy as a single entity. they see patriarchy as universal but they argue patriarchy takes a specific form in capitalist societies
   • to understand womens subordination we must look at their position in the domestic division of labour (patriarchy) and in paid work (capitalism)
   • domestic work limits womens availability for paid work but the lack of work opportunities drives many women into marriage and economic dependence on a man. the two systems reinforce eachother
   • Walby argues that capitalism and patriarchy are inter-related.
     • however, she argues the interests of the two are not always the same. they collide over exploitation of female labour. while capitalism demands cheap female labour for its workforce, patriarchy wants to keep women subordinated to men within the private domestic sphere
   • in the long run capitalism is usually more powerful and patriarchy adopts a strategy of segregation: women are allowed into the capitalist sphere but only in low status and subordinate to men
   • H- anna pollert argues that patriarchy id not actually a system in the same sense as capitalism, which is driven by its own internal dynamic of profit making. by contrast, patriarchy is a descriptive term for a range of practices such as male violence and control of womens labour

6. 5. difference and poststructural feminism

   • difference feminists do not see women as a single homogeneous group. they argue that all demographics of women have different experiences of patriarchy, capitalism, racism
   • they argue that the feminist theory has claimed a false universality- they were only talking about experiences of white western , MC heterosexual women
   • e.g. white feminists have neglected Black womens experienced of racial oppression. many black feminists see the black family as a source of resistance against racism
   • the problem of essentialism
     • this is the idea that all women are the same and share the same experiences fo oppression.
     • they say all the other types of feminists are essentialists . as a result they fail to reflect the diversity of women;s experiences and they exclude other women and their problems with sexuality is irrelevant to women in poorer countries who's main concern is clean water and healthcare.
   • poststructural feminism
     • Butler and Scott offer an alternative approach, poststructuralism is concerned with discourses and power/knowledge.
     • by enabling its users to define others in certain ways, a discourse gives power over those it defines e.g. by defining childbirth as a medical condition and healthy women as patients, medical discourse disempowers women. knowledge is power- to define the identities of others
     • the enlightenment project
       • poststructuralists argue that the EP is a form of discourse. butler uses this to critique other forms of feminism
         • the enlightenment ideals were simply a form of power/ knowledge that legitimated domination by western, white , M/C males. these supposedly universal ideals that claimed to apply to all humanity excluded women and other oppressed groups
         • white M/C feminists have falsely claimed to represent universal womanhoo. feminists are wrong to believe they can adapt the englightenment project to all women because all woen are not a single entity who all share the same essence.
           • for poststructuralists there is no fixed essence because our identities are constructed through discourses, and because different discourses in different times and cultures vary, there can be no fixed woman hood
             • e.g. womanhood in saudi arabia is partly constructed by islamic discourse. in the west it would be advertising and media
     • butler argues that PS allows feminists to deconstruct different discourses to reveal how they subordinate women.
     • different discourses can cause different types of oppression, identities and experiences for women
     • by rejecting essentialism and by stressing the diversity of discourses, PS recognises and legitimates the diversity of women's lives and struggles, rather than prioritising some and excluding others
   • evaluation
     • Walby- there are similarities between women e.g. they are all faced with patriarchy. women face a greater rist of low pay and dom vio
     • celebrating difference may have the effect of dividing women into infinite sub-groups, thereby weakening feminism as a movement for change.
     • segal- they abandon any notion of real, objective social structures. oppression is not just the result of discourses- it is about real inequality. therefore the focus should be on the struggle for equality of wealth and income.