Feminism
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| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| What is feminism? | The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. |
| What are the two main strands of feminism? | Equality feminism and difference feminism |
| What is equality feminism? | A strand of feminism that seeks to create equality for men and women and create a gender blind world |
| What is difference feminism? | A strand of feminism that believed there are intrinsic differences between men and women such as women being more caring etc and therefore they shouldn’t take on male characteristics such as aggression or greed. |
| What is the key disagreement between equality and difference feminists? | Their view on sex and gender and how intertwined they are. |
| What doe equality feminists believe about sex and gender? | Believe that gender roles are created, not innate |
| What do difference feminists believe about sex and gender? | Men cannot be reformed and their human nature is predisposed to dominance over women |
| How do difference and equality feminism differ on their views of sex and gender? | Equality feminists views things such as femininity and masculinity as attributes of social conditioning whereas difference feminism views it as innate features of men and women on the same level as biological differences. |
| What group makes up most of the equality feminism? | Liberal feminists |
| What group makes up most of difference feminism? | Radical feminists |
| Key quote by Simone de Beauvoir? | "society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiority only by destroying the male's superiority" |
| Key quote by Dr Helena Cronin? | “men are by nature more competitive, ambitious, status-conscious, dedicated, single-minded and persevering than women” |
| What is sex? | Biological aspects of an individual as determined by their anatomy, which is produced by their chromosomes, hormones and their interactions |
| What is gender? | A social construction relating to behaviours and attributes based on labels of masculinity and femininity |
| What was historically believed about sex and gender? | It was believed that gender differences in society are natural; that women and men fulfil different roles in society that nature designed them to do |
| What is this outdated idea of sex and gender called? | ‘biology is destiny’ |
| What does Simone de Beavoir claim about sex and gender? | Beauvoir was an equality feminist. She famously said “women are made, not born” but the problem is they were made by men. This has led them to be characterised as different, making them the Other. |
| What to most feminists believe about sex and gender? | Many feminists believe that human nature is androgynous (neither ‘masculine’ nor ‘feminine’). |
| What is essentialism? | The belief in the importance of biological differences as a way of explaining why women have been seen or are still seen as inferior. |
| What would radical feminists argue about sex and gender? | Yes sex differences played a role in making women inferior in the past, but there is no reason this should continue today |
| What do most feminists claim about the link between sex and gender? | They claim that there is no necessary link between the two. |
| What did Bell Hooks have to say about sex and gender? | Hooks was a difference feminist. She believed the patriarchy taught women to hate themselves and see themselves as inferior. Furthermore her analysis on equality as a whole, and not just on the basis of gender led her to be more intersectional. |
| What did Charlotte Perkins Gilbert have to say about sex and gender? | Gilman could be seen as an equality feminist, her attack on Darwinism which put men on a superior pedestal shows that she believed due to the change in economic activity there was no reason why women couldn’t play an equal part in modern economies. |
| What did Sheila Rowbotham have to say about sex and gender? | An equality feminist who believes a socialist future is the best hope of liberation for women. She does note that women are oppressed in the home too, and men need to relinquish their dominant positions. |
| What did Kate Millet have to say about sex and gender? | Millet doesn’t have a lot to say in terms of equality and difference feminism. However, it could be argued that she is a difference feminist as she does advocate for women’s equality in terms of work class women being neglected by the feminist movement. |
| Historically were sex and gender linked? | The dominant attitude os society was that sex and gender were linked to women's roles being biologically determined. women couldn't take on demanding jobs because they were seen as genetically weaker. it was also argued women had a more caring attitude so were better with children in the home, This made them seem less important than men as they were tied to the home without earning a wage |
| What are the areas of agreements along the three branches of feminism on sex and gender? | Socialist feminism is closely aligned with equality feminism, so thinkers such as Rowbotham and Gilman would agree with the idea that women are equal to men due to economic advancements men and women offer the same value. They are all seen in this sense as equality feminists as they all want some form of equality between the sexes. They see this discrimination as the fault of patriarchal attitudes in society. They want to liberate women from ‘difference’. |
| What is the response of liberal feminists? | No reason why sex differences should mean gender differences. Change will happen through legislation and education to break the cycle |
| Response of radical feminists? | Gender differences are deeper rooted than liberal feminists believe. Juliet Mitchell believes that the male gender exists in all aspects of life - work home and personal relationships. There should be a cultural revolution to combat the patriarchy. Sulamith Firestone - believes we should remove all sex differences. Remove all sexual functions of women and all live in a state of androgyny. |
| What is the response of social feminism? | The oppression of women is bound up in capitalism, women are an oppressed class as patriarchal societies make women inferior so they can be used for cheap labour ( the gender pay gap, occupational crowding) they are dispensable and can be fired when times are hard. |
| What is the patriarchy? | The oppression and exploitation of women in a male dominated society |
| What has conventional political analysis failed to do? | To recognise sexism as important and, as a result, feminists have had to create their own theories. |
| What is the definition of patriarchy? | ‘rule by the father’ |
| What do many argue male dominance in families lies in the heart of? | The systematic process of the male dominance of women, as it reproduces this problem in all other walks of life- because the family shapes attitudes. |
| What are the two principles the patriarchy contain according to Millet? | ‘male shall dominate female’ and ‘elder males shall dominate younger’. |
| What do all feminists believe about the patriarchy? | The concept of patriarchy is, however, a broad one. Feminists agree that men have dominated women in all societies but to differing degrees. They argue that in western counties the position of women significantly improved during the twentieth century. However, in other parts of the world, there is still the cruel and violent domination of women by men. |
| What do liberal feminists believe about the patriarchy? | Use the term to describe the unequal distribution of rights and entitlements in society. It represents the underrepresentation of women in senior positions and professions. it is rooted in the public world of education work and politics. therefore reform is the solution rather than revolution as it is a characteristic of society not fundamental. |
| What do radical feminists say about the patriarchy? | Radical feminists stress the importance of patriarchy, seeing it as a systematic and powerful tool of male domination that oppresses all women. It is pervasive and complex as the state itself is patriarchal. the progress that has been made is superficial as it doesn't address the systemic nature of sexism |
| What do socialist feminists say about the patriarchy? | Socialist feminists argue that patriarchy is focused on economic domination and inequality. Some socialist feminists reject the term arguing that inequality is a consequence of capitalism and the class system. |
| What are the six structures of the patriarchy proposed by Walby? | State, Household, Violence, Paid work, Sexuality and Culture |
| What is the structure of the state? | (women have been denied access to formal power/representation) |
| What is the structure of violence? | (women are much more likely to be victims of domestic abuse, which was not even a criminal offence in the past) |
| What is the structure of paid work? | (women are more likely to take jobs in subordinate positions to men, such as assistants, secretaries, nurses) |
| What is the structure of sexuality? | (women have been encouraged to suppress natural sexual desires) |
| What is the structure of the household? | (women have been discouraged from pursuing any occupations other than a domestic role) |
| What is politics usually thought of as? | ‘Politics’ is usually thought of as an interactive activity that takes place in the public sphere of life- activities such as governmental institutions, protest groups and so on. |
| What is the personal/private life? | Private life such as the family is usually seen as the private sphere of life and therefore non-political. |
| What was the start of the personal is political movement? | Second wave feminism, however, insisted that politics takes place wherever there is any kind of human relationship and not merely in public life. Politics is thought to exist wherever social interaction and conflict is found. |
| What does Millet define politics as? | ‘power-structured relationships’. |
| What does Millet's definition allude to? | The relationship between state and citizens is therefore clearly political but, relationships such as those between husbands and wives or parents and children are also political. |
| How does this definition of politics help explain the feminist argument of sexual inequality | They claim that inequality and oppression are underpinned by the sexual division of labour that runs through society and has been thought of as ‘natural’ rather than political. Men have traditionally inhabited public spaces which include politics whereas women inhabit private spaces, which means women are excluded from politics |
| What is the response of radical feminists to the personal is political? | Radical feminists have been the keenest opponents of the idea that politics stops at the front door, arguing that the ‘personal is political’. Female oppression is thought to operate in all walks of life and is preserved and created by the family institution. They have therefore challenged the ‘politics of everyday life’ – for example – child-rearing responsibilities, domestic chores and other so-called ‘female duties’. |
| What is the response of liberal feminists to the personal is political? | Liberal feminists focus more on the equality of opportunity in the public sphere. They warn against politicising the private sphere, claiming that this is a place of individual freedom and choice. |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
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| Who was Simone De Beauvoir? | An existentialist philosopher who wrote the book "the second sex". She was influenced by the french existentialist movement. |
| What were the problems identified by Simone? | Women were made by men, not born, women need sexual liberation, Women were the 'other' restrictively living their lives |
| What was Simone's solution? | Higher education, economic freedom and to be stripped of home making roles and the nuclear family model |
| Key quote from Simone? | "For women to love... not to escape herself but to find herself" |
| What stance does Simone take? | De Beauvoir was a socialist who came to see that class struggle was not enough by itself to improve the position of women. However, de Beauvoir did not see the idea of a ‘feminine nature’ as positive |
| Who was Sheila Rowbotham? | Rowbotham is a socialist feminist who argued that women’s oppression was the result of economic and cultural factors. |
| What were her key two points? | Capitalism – women are forced to sell their labour to survive and use their labour to support their family under the capitalist system. The family – not just an instrument for disciplining and subjecting women to capitalism but a place where men took refuge from alienation under a capitalist economy. |
| What did Rowbotham criticise? | She criticised the concept of marriage, arguing that it turned women into serfs, similar to a feudal system. In addition, men are able to dominate their wives, which provides them with relief from the alienation of working in a capitalist economy. |
| What was Rowbotham's solution? | He way to improve the position of women was to radically change the ‘cultural conditioning’ of humanity, for instance by overthrowing capitalism and changing views on child-rearing and the workplace. |
| Who was Kate Millet? | Millett is an American radical feminist who argued in Sexual Politics (1970) that female oppression was political and cultural. |
| What were Millet's two key points? | Family – undoing the traditional family was the key to true sexual revolution. Portrayal of women in art and literature –patriarchal culture produced writers and literary works that were degrading to women. |
| What were the problems identified by Millet? | This is because the man dominates the family- traditionally, the wife was seen as part of the husband’s property, and the wife had no possessions of her own so was dependent on the man. Millett also argued that women are degraded in art and literature (an effect of the patriarchy), never having autonomy and being used as commodities for the gratification of men. |
| What were the solutions according to Millet? | This included the portrayal of romantic love, which needed to be overthrown in a sexual revolution. Removing the traditional family structure would be the surest way to liberate women from patriarchy. |
| Who was bell hooks? | Hooks used a pseudonym (her grandmother) and lower-case letters to empower her to fight against oppression, without the ego associated with names |
| What were hooks two key points? | Women of colour –cultural concerns of women of colour brought into the mainstream feminist movement. Intersectionality – the mainstream feminist movement had focused mostly on the plight of white, college-educated, middle/upper-class women who had no stake in the concerns of women of colour. |
| What were the problems identified by hooks? | Women of colour had been doubly disadvantaged by their race and gender, and had been torn between supporting feminism (ignoring race) and the civil rights movement (ignoring gender). |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
| Who was Charlotte Perkins Gilman? | Gilman was an American socialist feminist. |
| What were Gilman's two key points? | Sex and domestic economics are hand in hand – for women to survive, they have to depend on their sexuality and body in order to please their husbands. Societal pressure – young girls are compelled to conform in society and prepare for motherhood by playing with toys and wearing clothes that are specifically designed for and marketed to them. |
| What were the problems identified by Gilman? | Women were dependent on their husbands to survive financially, so used sex to please their husbands and continue to be supported. From an early age, girls were encouraged to fulfil a domestic role, which is done through the family structure and the culture of society (such as ‘girls toys’). |
| What were the solutions according to Gilman? | Therefore, women should achieve economic independence to be free from men, which could be achieved through communal living and changes to marriage laws. |
| What have critics seen feminism as? | A white, middle class, one size fits all movement |
| What do critics point out? | Women from different backgrounds face different problems. Black women, gay women and women from minority religious and ethnic groups face many different struggles |
| What does intersectionality say about modern day society? | We have multiple identities which overlap, gender just being one of them |
| What is the title of her book? | "feminism is for everybody" |