Feminism

Notes based on Baradat (2012),

Festenstein and Kenny (2010), and
Heywood (2014)
 Discussion Question:

• Why is there gender inequality?

• What is at the root of treating women and
men unequally?
 Feminism
• is a collection of movements and
ideologies

• aimed at defining, establishing, and

defending equal political, economic,
and social rights and opportunities
for women
 Feminism
• seeks to establish equal opportunities for
women in education and employment.

• A feminist is an advocate or supporter of the

rights and equality of women.
 Feminism
• Feminist theory emerged from a number of
feminist movements
• It aims to understand the nature of gender
inequality by examining women's social roles
and lived experience
 Feminism
• Some of the earlier forms of feminism have
been criticized for taking into account only
white, middle-class, educated perspectives.
This led to the creation of ethnically specific or
multiculturalist forms of feminism.
 Feminism
• Feminist activists campaign for women's rights
in
-contract law,
-property,
-voting,
-education,
-public participation and more.
 Feminism
• Feminists have worked to protect women and girls from
domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
• They have also advocated for workplace rights, including
maternity leave, and against workplace discrimination
against women.
• Feminism is mainly focused on women's issues, but
because feminism seeks gender equality, some feminists
argue that men's liberation is a necessary part of
feminism, and that men are also harmed by sexism and
gender roles.
 Feminism
• According to most feminists, all societies are
characterized by patriarchy.
• “ Patriarchal societies are those in which men
have more power than women, readier access
than women to what is valued in the society,
and, in consequence, are in control over many
if not most aspects of women’s lives” (Lorraine
Code, 1988, p. 18)
 Three waves of feminism
First-wave feminism
• Developed in mid-nineteenth century
• Based on the pursuit of sexual equality in the
areas of political and legal rights, particularly
suffrage
• Seneca Falls Convention – the birth of US
women’s right movement
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
• Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
 Three waves of feminism
Second-wave feminism
• Emerged in 1960s and 1970s
• Was characterized by a more radical concern
for “women’s liberation”, including issues
related to private sphere
• Betty Friedman wrote Feminine Mystique in
1963 where she discussed the frustration that
many women experience as a result of being
confined to roles of housewife and mother
 Three waves of feminism
Third-wave feminism
• Emerged in 1990s by a younger generation of
feminists
• More radical engagement, trying to make a
difference in political sphere
• Criticized earlier feminists for including only
middle-class white educated women in
developed societies
 Mary Wollstonecraft
(1759-1797)
an eighteenth-century British writer,
philosopher, and advocate of women's rights.
she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a
history of the French Revolution, a conduct
book, and a children's book.
 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Vindication – justification, proving right
• Wollstonecraft is best known for it.
• She argues that women are not naturally
inferior to men, but appear to be only because
they lack education.
• She suggests that both men and women
should be treated as rational beings and
imagines a social order founded on reason
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

• Wollstonecraft rejected the common notion

that women’s nature was to please men and to
have children.
• She argued that women have the same capacity
of rational thinking as men and therefore
should have the same rights.
• She advocated for more education for women
and for more opportunities to develop
themselves.
 John Stuart Mill

“The Subjection of Women”

Subjection – placing under circumstances
• This essay states an argument in favour of
equality between the sexes.
• It was published in 1869
 The Subjection of Women
• Mill defends the emancipation of women on
utilitarian grounds.
• Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics
holding that the proper course of action is the
one that maximizes overall happiness.
 The Subjection of Women
• Human beings - morally and intellectually
capable of being educated and civilized.
• Mill believed everyone should have the right
to vote, with the only exceptions being
barbarians (referring to savages) and
uneducated people.
 The Subjection of Women
• Mill was convinced that the moral and
intellectual advancement of humankind would
result in greater happiness for everybody.
• He asserted that the higher pleasures of the
intellect yielded far greater happiness than
the lower pleasure of the senses.
 Voting
• Mill argues that people should be able to vote
• By doing so they can defend their own rights
and learn to stand on their two feet, morally
and intellectually.
• This argument is applied to both men and
women.
 Women’s suffrage
• Women’s suffrage is the right of women to vote
and to stand for electoral office.
• 1893 – New Zeeland (then self-governing British
colony) gave adult women the right to vote.
• 1902 – Australia gave women the right to vote (this
did not include Aboriginal women and men until
1962)
• 1913 – Norway granted full women’s suffrage
• 1918 – Canada granted women the right to vote
• 1920 – USA granted women the right to vote
 Jane Addams
(1860-1935)
• Social campaigner, philosopher, sociologist,
author, and leader in woman suffrage and
world peace.
• concerns of mothers, the needs of children,
public health, and world peace.
 Jane Addams
• Women are interested in public education and
legal protection
• Widening of women’s sense of obligation
beyond the domestic sphere is inevitable
• Education
 3 categories of feminism:
• 1) Liberal Feminism
• 2) Social Feminism
• 3) Radical feminism
 Liberal feminism
• The key problem is discrimination against
women that limits their opportunities, such as
education and employment
• Liberal feminists focus on achieving equality to
ensure that they have freedoms and
opportunities to engage in politics, business,
education and employment.
 Social feminism
• The main problem is oppression of women
both by the male-dominated society and the
capitalist system.
• The note that women’s housework and
childrearing are unpaid, yet critical
components of capitalist growth.
 Social feminism
• Social feminists seek the transformation of
society towards becoming more egalitarian
social society (e.g. providing free childcare and
assistance with house work)
• More recently social feminism has broadened
its analysis and now includes the focus on
race, ethnicity, disability, age and other forms
of discrimination
 Radical feminism
• The main problem is that patriarchal values
are deeply embedded in cultures and societies
and affect most women and men.
• States, governments, schools and families
perpetuate discrimination of women.
 Radical feminism
• Examples of male domination include
domestic violence or threat of domestic
violence, rape.
• The goal of radical feminists is liberation which
is more than freedom.
• Liberation involves fundamental
transformation of social institutions, values
and relationships.
 Discussion Question:
• How have feminist campaigns changed
societies?
– What changed?
– What didn’t change?
 Discussion Question:
• Is Feminism still relevant today?