Feminism

core ideas - sex and gender (sex = biology, difference = essentialists (biology is important), most = gender socially constructed, gender = roles based on stereotypes, sex used to justify these roles)

sex = there are biological differences between men and women / difference feminists are essentialists (biological differences are important as they lead to ‘natural’ gender differences / but most feminists think sex is biological and gender is socially constructed / gender = gender roles are based on stereotypes, socially constructed, sex has been used by the patriarchy to justify these roles (e.g. women as mothers and homemakers)

core ideas - patriarchy (social system supporting… / all agree but differing…)

patriarchy = a social system supporting male domination and female oppression / all agree that a patriarchy exists - differing degrees + methods

core ideas - personal is political (Carol Hanish, focused on public sphere, private sphere politicised too because, social pressure and gender roles, reinforces)

term coined by Carol Hanish / feminism often focused on the public sphere (liberal feminists) / private sphere has to be politicised because the patriarchy is also present in the home + issues in the private sphere often taken less seriously (e.g. nuclear family) / social pressure pushes young girls to conform to gender roles - gender expectations in the home reinforces the patriarchy

core ideas - equality and difference feminism (highly split ideology / maj. = equality, biology inconsequential, gender socially constructed, legal equality / minority = difference, essentialism, biologically better, embrace femininity, misandrists or separatists)

feminism is a highly-split ideology - can be split into equality and difference feminists / maj. = equality feminists, biological differences are inconsequential in a modern society, gender is socially constructed, focus on legal equality / minority = difference feminists, essentialism, women are biologically better (more nurturing, less war mongering), women should embrace their femininity - can become misandrists or separatists

core ideas - intersectionality (bell hooks criticised, inspired by Crenshaw, feminism must include all, overlapping identities = cannot be generalised, multiple aspects to identity and oppression)

arose when bell hooks criticised 2nd wave feminism + inspired by Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality - too focused on the perspective of white, middle-class women / feminism must include all minorities/oppressed groups as women have overlapping identities - the female experience cannot be generalised / multiple aspects to identity and therefore oppression in a patriarchy

strands - liberal feminists (HN - just as rational, deserved… / state - legal equality / focus on property rights / democratic rights / against otherness)

HN - women just as rational as men, therefore deserve legal equality + equality of opp. / state - role of an enabling state to ensure legal equality / special focus on equal access to private property rights (stemming from Locke + liberalism, links to the economy) / also focused democratic rights (liberal democracy, link to HN) / argued against ‘otherness’ - women in a patriarchal society are treated as separate and inferior

strands - radical feminists (patriarchy everywhere, esp. home, destroyed, rejects… / society - matriarchy or even separatists / HN - difference feminists, female consciousness / more than legal)

patriarchy exists everywhere - esp. the domestic sphere, must be destroyed - they reject the nuclear family and traditional concepts of motherhood / society - they want a matriarchy, some are even separatists / HN - difference feminists (view women as superior), they stress the importance of female consciousness / more than legal equality is needed (de facto vs de jure)

strands - socialist feminists (based on…, Engels + reserve army of labour, capitalism = patriarchal, underpins, want…, collective ownership, more moderate (democracy), change in attitudes)

based on ideas of Marx and Engels - Engels understood women’s role in capitalism (reserve army of labour - they, like the working class, were oppressed by capitalism) / so capitalism = patriarchal, and this underpins a patriarchal society (capitalism is the root of all evil) / they want a destruction of capitalism / state must ensure state/collective ownership - socialist feminists more moderate, want a democracy not revolution / change in attitudes also needed (no nuclear family)

strands - intersectional feminists (more complex - different explanations + effects, importance of language, own experiences = up to each women, acknowledge the state)

feminism is much more complex - differing explanations for the oppression of women and how it affects/affected by other aspects of life / stress the importance of language in carrying patriarchal attitudes, they drive the concept of ‘political correctness’ in society / women have their own experiences so it’s up to each woman to choose their own liberation (link to HN) / acknowledge the importance of the state in ensuring legal equality

liberal feminist thinkers - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (contrasted Darwin, biological differences are no longer important, equal brain power justifies equality, equality of opp., economic interdependence is key, socialised into gender roles)

contrasted Darwinist theory - in a modern society, biological differences are no longer important (equality feminist) / women had equal brain power to men - this justifies equality in a modern society / focused on equality of opp. being the best way to reach equality (role of the state to ensure this) - because economic independence = key to escaping patriarchy + domestic duties / argued that girls are socialised from an early age into gender roles (compared housework to domestic slavery)

liberal feminist thinkers - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - key works (economics book + quote on domestic labour enabling men / wallpaper book + gender roles / home + nuclear family)

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (liberal) / Women and Economics - ‘The labour of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth than they otherwise could’ / The Yellow Wallpaper - argued against gender roles / The Home - argued against a nuclear family

liberal feminist thinkers - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - key quotes (HN - mind, society - developed outside the home, economy - food supply’

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (liberal) HN: ‘There is no female mind’ / society: ‘Only as we live, think, feel, and work outside the home, do we become humanly developed’ / economy: ‘the female… is economically dependent on the male. He is her food supply’ + Women and Economics quote

liberal feminist thinkers - Simone de Beauvoir (constrained by standards, developed otherness, equality of opp., deserved same freedoms, state’s role - legal equality but also…)

women were constrained by standards imposed upon them by men and the patriarchy / developed the idea of ‘otherness’ and women being seen as ‘other’ in society (i.e. different and inferior) / focused on equality of opportunity - women had to escape housework and family roles through education and economic freedom / women deserved the same freedoms as men / state had to ensure this through legal equality, but also through state-funded childcare, contraception, etc.

liberal feminist thinkers - Simone de Beauvoir - key works (book rejecting the nurturing instinct)

Simone de Beauvoir (liberal) / The Second Sex - rejects the notion that girls are born with a nurturing instinct, they learn this from society

liberal feminist thinkers - Simone de Beauvoir - key quotes (HN: defines relative to him, not autonomous + made not born / society: codified by a man, decrees that + no name / economy: only equal workers)

Simone de Beauvoir (liberal) / HN: ‘man defines woman not in relation to herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being’ + ‘women are made, not born’ / society: ‘society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior’ + ‘the problem with no name’ (i.e. more focus on private sphere) / economy: ‘there would no longer be men and women but only workers equal with one another’

radical feminist thinkers - Kate Millet (focused on the patriarchy in…, exploitation in marriage, dominate in power - hence…, male chauvinism, lesbianism, domestic revolution, family unit)

focused on the patriarchy in the domestic sphere, arguing that women are both sexually and economically exploited in marriage (links to society) / men dominate in politics, allows them to exercise their power - hence more than just state-led change or legal equality is needed / popularised the idea of male chauvinism / argued that all heterosexual relationships are patriarchal - lesbianism is the best way to reach personal liberation / wants a revolution in the domestic division of labour + undoing of the traditional family unit

radical feminist thinkers - Kate Millet - key works (book criticised the role of men in patriarchy)

Kate Millet (radical) / Sexual Politics - criticised the role of men in the patriarchy, men oppress women in all fields

radical feminist thinkers - Kate Millet - key quotes (HN - care of children better left to (link to equality feminists), society - patriarchy still + historical societies + women don’t recognise, state - no representation so oppression continues)

Kate Millet (radical) / HN: ‘the care of children is infinitely better left to the best trained practitioners of both sexes’ / society: ‘patriarchy, reformed or unreformed, is patriarchy still’ + ‘all historical civilisations are patriarchies’ + ‘many women do not recognise themselves as being discriminated against’ / state: ‘certain groups have no representation in political structures… so their oppression is so continuous’

socialist feminist thinkers - Sheila Rowbotham (economic roots, but also family + culture, economic liberation = precondition, redistribution needed)

female oppression has economic roots, but also stems from patriarchal attitudes surrounding the nuclear family and male cultural dominance / economic liberation of women is a precondition needed for the sexual revolution (gender equality) / socialism and state welfare redistribution is needed to ensure less economic dependence on men

socialist feminist thinkers - Sheila Rowbotham - key works (book about domestic work enabling women)

Sheila Rowbotham (socialist) / Women’s Consciousness, Men’s World - argued that domestic work enabled men to work while oppressing women (in line with Engel’s ‘reserve army of labour’ argument)

socialist feminist thinkers - Sheila Rowbotham - key quotes (society - truly democratic society = communism)

Sheila Rowbotham (socialist) / society: ‘the possibility of a truly democratic society… such a democracy would be communism’

intersectional feminist thinkers - bell hooks (extends beyond gender, argued against traditional feminists (unrepresentative + don’t acknowledge), hate themselves, 2 methods, education is key, collectivist)

criticised women for not recognising how inequality for women extends beyond gender / argued that traditional feminists aren’t representative of all women - they don’t acknowledge the plight of working class women/WOC / argued that the patriarchal society has taught women to hate themselves / 2 methods to achieve equality = more equal society (reduce barriers) + improve male-female relationships (men must understand + hate the patriarchy too) / argued that education is key in liberating and reforming society - she’s a collectivist, everyone must help (links to HN)

intersectional feminist thinkers - bell hooks - key works (book + quote about female self-hatred)

Feminism is for Everybody - ‘Feminist thinking helped us unlearn female self-hatred' (links to society)

intersectional feminist thinkers - bell hooks - key quotes (HN - fixed static entities, economy - communalism, society - class and knowledge + greatest movement for social justice) links to methods

bell hooks / HN: ‘do away with the idea of people as fixed static entities’ / economy: argued for the ‘ethic of communalism that promotes the sharing of resources’ / society: ‘class is about more than money. Class is about knowledge’ + ‘the greatest movement for social justice our country has ever known is the civil rights movement’

essay structure for all feminist essays

agree - X is patriarchal / disagree - different views on the extent of how X is patriarchal/how X perpetuates the patriarchy / disagree - disagreement over how to dismantle the patriarchy in X