FEMINIST THEORY

FEMINIST THOERY

• INTRODUCTION – FEMINISM: THE BASICS

• INEQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IS UNIVERSAL AND THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FORM OF
INEQUALITY.
• GENDER NORMS ARE SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED NOT DETERMINED BY BIOLOGY AND CAN THUS
BE CHANGED.
• PATRIARCHY IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF GENDER INEQUALITY: WOMEN ARE SUBORDINATE
BECAUSE MEN HAVE MORE POWER.
• FEMINISM IS A POLITICAL MOVEMENT; IT EXISTS TO RECTIFY SEXUAL INEQUALITIES,
ALTHOUGH STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE VARY ENORMOUSLY.
 TYPES OF FEMINISM

• THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF FEMINISM – RADICAL, MARXIST, LIBERAL, AND

DIFFERENCE.
•
 RADICAL FEMINISM

• SOCIETY IS PATRIARCHAL – IT IS DOMINATED AND RULED BY MEN – MEN ARE

THE RULING CLASS, AND WOMEN THE SUBJECT CLASS.
• BLAMES THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN ON MEN. IT IS PRIMARILY MEN WHO
HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THE SUBORDINATION OF WOMEN. WOMEN ARE ‘AN
OPPRESSED GROUP.
• RAPE, VIOLENCE AND PORNOGRAPHY ARE METHODS THROUGH WHICH MEN
HAVE SECURED AND MAINTAINED THEIR POWER OVER WOMEN. ANDREA
DWORKIN (1981)
• RADICAL FEMINISTS HAVE OFTEN BEEN ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN SETTING UP
AND RUNNING REFUGES FOR WOMEN WHO ARE THE VICTIMS OF MALE
VIOLENCE.
• ROSEMARIE TONG (1998) DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN TWO GROUPS OF RADICAL
FEMINIST:
• RADICAL-LIBERTARIAN FEMINISTS BELIEVE THAT IT IS BOTH POSSIBLE AND DESIRABLE FOR
GENDER DIFFERENCES TO BE ERADICATED, OR AT LEAST GREATLY REDUCED, AND AIM FOR A STATE OF
ANDROGYNY IN WHICH MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT.
• RADICAL-CULTURAL FEMINISTS BELIEVE IN THE SUPERIORITY OF THE FEMININE. ACCORDING TO TONG
RADICAL CULTURAL FEMINISTS CELEBRATE CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH FEMININITY SUCH
AS EMOTION, AND ARE HOSTILE TO THOSE CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH MASCULINITY SUCH
AS HIERARCHY.
• SOME ALTERNATIVES SUGGESTED BY RADICAL FEMINISTS INCLUDE SEPARATISM – WOMEN ONLY
COMMUNES, AND MATRIFOCAL HOUSEHOLDS. SOME ALSO PRACTISE POLITICAL
LESBIANISM AND POLITICAL CELIBACY AS THEY VIEW HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS AS “SLEEPING
WITH THE ENEMY.”
 CRITICISM OF RADICAL FEMINISM

1. THE CONCEPT OF PATRIARCHY HAS BEEN CRITICISED FOR IGNORING

VARIATIONS IN THE EXPERIENCE OF OPPRESSION.
2. IT FOCUSES TOO MUCH ON THE NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN, FAILING TO
RECOGNISE THAT SOME WOMEN CAN HAVE HAPPY MARRIAGES FOR EXAMPLE.
3. IT TENDS TO PORTRAY WOMEN AS UNIVERSALLY GOOD AND MEN AS
UNIVERSALLY BAD, IT HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF MAN HATING, NOT TRUSTING ALL
MEN
 MARXIST FEMINISM

• CAPITALISM RATHER THAN PATRIARCHY IS THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF

WOMEN’S OPPRESSION, AND CAPITALISTS ARE THE MAIN BENEFICIARIES.
• THE DISADVANTAGED POSITION OF WOMEN IS BECAUSE OF THE EMERGENCE OF
PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE FACT THAT WOMEN DO NOT OWN THE MEANS OF
PRODUCTION.
• UNDER CAPITALISM THE NUCLEAR FAMILY BECOMES EVEN MORE OPPRESSIVE
TO WOMEN AND WOMEN’S SUBORDINATION PLAYS A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT
FUNCTIONS FOR CAPITALISM:
 MARXIST FEMINISM

• WOMEN REPRODUCE THE LABOUR FORCE FOR FREE (SOCIALISATION IS DONE

FOR FREE)
• (2) WOMEN ABSORB ANGER – WOMEN KEEP THE HUSBANDS GOING.
• (3) BECAUSE THE HUSBAND HAS TO SUPPORT HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, HE IS
MORE DEPENDENT ON HIS JOB AND LESS LIKELY TO DEMAND WAGE INCREASES.
 MARXIST FEMINISM

• HE TRADITIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY ALSO PERFORMS THE FUNCTION OF ‘IDEOLOGICAL

CONDITIONING’ – IT TEACHES THE IDEAS THAT THE CAPITALIST CLASS REQUIRE FOR
THEIR FUTURE WORKERS TO BE PASSIVE.
• MARXIST FEMINISTS ARE MORE SENSITIVE TO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WOMEN WHO
BELONG TO THE RULING CLASS AND PROLETARIAN FAMILIES. THEY BELIEVE THERE IS
CONSIDERABLE SCOPE FOR CO-OPERATION BETWEEN WORKING CLASS WOMEN AND
MEN TO WORK TOGETHER FOR SOCIAL CHANGE.
• THE PRIMARY GOAL IS THE ERADICATION OF CAPITALISM. IN A COMMUNIST SOCIETY
GENDER INEQUALITIES SHOULD DISAPPEAR.
 CRITICISMS OF MARXIST FEMINISM

1. RADICAL FEMINISTS – IGNORES OTHER SOURCES OF INEQUALITY SUCH AS

SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
2. PATRIARCHAL SYSTEMS EXISTED BEFORE CAPITALISM, IN TRIBAL SOCIETIES
FOR EXAMPLE.
3. THE EXPERIENCE OF WOMEN HAS NOT BEEN PARTICULARLY HAPPY UNDER
COMMUNISM.
 LIBERAL FEMINISM

• NOBODY BENEFITS FROM EXISTING INEQUALITIES: BOTH MEN AND WOMEN ARE
HARMED
• THE EXPLANATION FOR GENDER INEQUALITY LIES NOT SO MUCH IN
STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS OF SOCIETY BUT IN ITS CULTURE AND VALUES.
• SOCIALISATION INTO GENDER ROLES HAS THE CONSEQUENCE OF PRODUCING
RIGID, INFLEXIBLE EXPECTATIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN.
 LIBERIAL FEMINISM

• DISCRIMINATION PREVENTS WOMEN FROM HAVING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.

• LIBERAL FEMINISTS DO NOT SEEK REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES: THEY WANT
CHANGES TO TAKE PLACE WITHIN THE EXISTING STRUCTURE.
• THE CREATION OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH POLICY IS THE MAIN AIM
OF LIBERAL FEMINISTS – E.G. THE SEX DISCRIMINATION ACT AND THE EQUAL
PAY ACT.
• LIBERAL FEMINISTS TRY TO ERADICATE SEXISM FROM THE CHILDREN’S BOOKS
AND THE MEDIA.
• LIBERAL FEMINIST IDEAS HAVE PROBABLY HAD THE MOST IMPACT ON
WOMEN’S LIVES – E.G. MAINSTREAMING HAS TAKEN PLACE.
 CRITICISM OF LIBERAL FEMINISM

1. BASED UPON MALE ASSUMPTIONS AND NORMS SUCH AS INDIVIDUALISM AND

COMPETITION, AND ENCOURAGES WOMEN TO BE MORE LIKE MEN AND THEREFOR
DENIES THE VALUE OF QUALITIES TRADITIONALLY ASSOCIATED WITH WOMEN SUCH
AS EMPATHY.
2. LIBERALISM IS ACCUSED OF EMPHASISING PUBLIC LIFE AT THE EXPENSE OF PRIVATE
LIFE.
3. RADICAL AND MARXIST FEMINISTS – IT FAILS TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF DEEPER
STRUCTURAL INEQUALITIES.
4. DIFFERENCE FEMINISTS ARGUE IT IS AN ETHNOCENTRIC PERSPECTIVE – BASED
MOSTLY ON THE EXPERIENCES OF MIDDLE CLASS, EDUCATED WOMEN.
 DIFFERENCE FEMINISM/ POSTMODERN
FEMINISM

• DO NOT SEE WOMEN AS A SINGLE HOMOGENOUS GROUP.

• THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN THE EXPERIENCES OF WORKING CLASS AND
MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN, WOMEN FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND WOMEN
OF DIFFERENT SEXUALITIES.
• CRITICISE PRECEDING FEMINIST THEORY FOR CLAIMING A ‘FALSE
UNIVERSALITY’ (WHITE, WESTERN HETEROSEXUAL, MIDDLE CLASS)
• CRITICISE PRECEDING FEMINISTS THEORY OF BEING ESSENTIALIST.
• CRITIQUE PRECEDING FEMINIST THEORY AS BEING PART OF THE MASCULINIST
ENLIGHTENMENT PROJECT .
• POSTMODERN FEMINISM IS CONCERNED WITH LANGUAGE (DISCOURSES) AND
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POWER AND KNOWLEDGE RATHER THAN
‘POLITICS AND OPPORTUNITIES’.
• HELENE CIXOUX IS AN EXAMPLE OF A POSTMODERN/ DESTABILISING THEORIST.
 CRITICISMS OF DIFFERENCE FEMINISM

1. WALBY ARGUES THAT WOMEN ARE STILL OPPRESSED BY OBJECTIVE SOCIAL

STRUCTURES, NAMELY PATRIARCHY.
2. DIVIDING WOMEN INTO SUB-GROUPS WEAKENS THE MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE.