FEMINIST THEORY

San Juan | Tee | Enriquez

11 HUMSS – A
FEMINIST THEORY

 Feminism – is the radical notion that women are people.

 In society, women hace traditionally been treated as subordinate
to men, and that feminism can help in granting women their rightful
status in society.
 Basically, feminism promotes the belief that women and men
should be treated equally and that steps have to be taken to
realize the goal of gender equality.
 Feminist theory as an approach is still considered by some as being
in the developmental stage compared to other theoretical
approaches in social sciences.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Women have been fighting for their rights to achieve equal status
with men as early as the 19th century.
 Suffrage and Labor Rights – so-called first wave feminism
 Liberation – second wave feminism characterized in 1960s
 The Feminine Mystique – was considered an important work of Betty
Friedan; it tackled the issue of what Friedan called “the problem
with no name”
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Liberal Feminism – oldest of all feminist theories, advocated for

political and social rights for women
 Socialist Feminism – served as a critique of Marxist feminism’s
gender-blind approach to women’s subordination
 Radical Feminism – is not rooted in any political ideology. Feminists
believe that women’s oppression is the most basic feature of
society, and all other forms of oppression are only secondary
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 New forms of feminist traditions (postmodern feminism, black

feminism, and psychoanalytical feminism) have emerged in 1960s.
 A Vindication on the Rights of Women – a Mary Wollstonecraft’s
work published in 1792 considered the first feminist text
 Feminist theory has only become visible starting in the late 1980s
KEY CONCEPTS

 Sex – biological differences between males and females

 Gender – sociocultural attributes associated with being man and a
woman
 Gender ideology – attitudes regarding the suitable roles, rights, and
responsibilities of men and women in society
 Gender inequality – unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals
based on their gender
 Gender oppression – manner in which certain groups are privileged
or disadvantaged because of gender
THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

1. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

 In 1792, she published “A Vindication of the
Rights of Women.
 In this work, she stressed that women should
have equal rights with men and scorned the
widespread impressions on the helplessness
and uselessness of women
THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

2. Betty Friedan (1921–2006)

 Mother of Women’s Liberation
 Her work ‘The Feminine Mystique’ stimulated
the emergence of second wave feminism
 In her book, Friedan explained how female
domesticity causes a sense of frustration and
despair among women
 She labeled this phenomenon as “the
problem with no name”
THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS

3. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)

 Her book ‘The Second Sex’ intensified the
issue of gender politics, foretelling the themes
later developed by radical feminists.
 She stressed that women’s subordination was
caused by social, not natural factors
 “Women are made, not born.”