Feminism

Core themes of: Patriarchy, Intersectionality, Equality & Difference feminism, The personal is political and Sex & Gender

What is feminism

A political ideology that seeks to achieve equality between men and women by challenging and ending gender-based inequality and oppression from the patriarchy in society

What are the different types of feminism

• Liberal feminism: Sees individualism as the basis of gender equality

• Socialist feminism: Believes that gender inequality stems from economics and that capitalism creates patriarchy

• Radical feminism: Believes that the biggest problem facing society is gender inequality

• Post-modern feminism: Argues that patriarchy manifests in different ways depending on a women’s race, class etc.

What is the public sphere

The area in society where relationships are public, specifically life outside the home, particularly society and work

What is the private sphere

The area in society where relationships are even as private, specifically home and domestic life

Sex vs Gender

• Sex refers to biological differences between men and women such as external and internal anatomy in which they are assigned at birth

• Gender is used to explain the gender roles of men and women - majority of feminists argue they are socially constructed

To what extent do feminists agree on Sex & Gender - Agree (Gender is a social construct)

• Most (Lib, Rad, Soc, PM) agree that gender is a social construct

  • And that our gender roles aren’t determined via biology

• Most agree that we have been socialised into these roles from a young age via play etc

  • Kate Millet & Bell Hooks both perceived social construction to start within the family unit - thus socialisation is neither natural nor inevitable

  • Supported by BBC & UCL study in which physical expressions of gender were swapped to see how adults interacted with them

  • Simone DeBeauvoir “One is not born but becomes a women”

• De Beauvoir: Men had successfully used gender norms to characterise themselves as the norm and women as other (otherness) which places them as the first sex and women as the second sex

  • This justifies the subjugation of women and their confinement to the domestic sphere

• Women are equally as rational as men & biological differences between men and women aren’t important (use to segway to differences)

To what extent do feminists agree on Sex & Gender - Disagree - Differences

• Some feminists believe that biological differences between men and women are important as they are difference feminists and believe in essentialism

• Carol Gilligan: These biological differences shape how men and women think and thus their roles in society

  • Different traits: women are nurturing, men are competitive

    • Delegates them to public vs private sphere

  • However they believe that these differences should celebrated

• Cultural feminists are a substandard of difference feminists and they believe that the “female characteristics” are superior to those of men and thus we should upend the patriarchy into a matriarchy

To what extent do feminists agree on Sex & Gender - Disagree (Sex is a social construct)

• However,

• Some post-modern feminists - trans-feminists argue that sex is also a social-construct as it can be changed