Lesson 3 –Theory Feminism

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to ... Identify and define the main types of feminist theory, Identify and define the similarities and differences between feminist theories, Apply and evaluate the strengths and limitations of feminist theories

A quick reminder.....\..\..\..\..\My Videos\feminism.wmv Feminist theory A quick reminder.....\..\..\..\..\My Videos\feminism.wmv

Feminist theory Ali G interviews Sue Lees

Recap from last year... Do you consider yourself a feminist? How do you define the term ‘feminist’? Has feminism made life in the UK better?

Which of the following issues are important to you? Equal opportunities in education Equal opportunities in employment Equal pay A woman’s right to control her body Sexual freedom Violence against women (rape, domestic abuse, etc) Maternity leave Childcare

What are the 4 types of feminism? 1. 2. 3. 4. Any others?

Write down everything you can remember.... Liberal feminism Radical feminism Marxist/socialist feminism Difference feminism & poststructuralism

First Wave Feminism The first organised wave of feminist protest occurred in the mid to late-nineteenth century with the activities of the Suffragettes and Suffragists. Both these groups aimed to introduce the right to vote for women, and both would utilise radical means to achieve it.

Second Wave Feminism In 1928, all women aged over 21 were given the right to vote - and many suffrage groups disbanded. However, this did not mean that women stopped writing and campaigning for change. During the 1960s, a new, second- wave of feminism began to gain momentum in Britain - influenced by three key social events: The success of the Civil Rights movement New technologies – the contraceptive pill Women in employment during the war Civil rights – encouraged other political groups New technologies – gave women control over their own fertility for the first time – could choose between career and family Women in employment – when men came back from war they took their jobs back, but women had had a taste of independence and wanted more.

Second Wave Feminism 1960s and 70s - women's liberation groups began to appear – dual function Consciousness raising - highlighting gender inequalities and arguing that women's lives should no longer be seen as trivial and unimportant. Campaigning to bring about direct social change feminists disrupting Miss World Contest 1970 a forum for battered husbands in 2006 for instance, organising protest marches, and more specific direct actions. In 1969, for instance, feminists famously infiltrated and disrupted the Miss World contest. What do these kinds of protests do for the feminist cause?

Liberal feminism Equality through legal reform. Change the existing system “from within”. 1970 Equal Pay Act 1969 Divorce Reform Act Believe that all human beings should have equal rights. lobbying and protesting to bring about change. No need for revolution. Also call for cultural change – traditional prejudices are a barrier to progress and equality. Ideas that women are more dominated by emotion are used to legitimate exclusion from decision-making roles.

Sex and gender Oakley (1972) Sex – Gender – Must change socialisation patterns Appropriate role models in education, family, media. Sex refers to biological differences Gender refers to culturally constructed differences between masculine and feminine roles – transmitted through socialisation. Gender differences vary between cultures and over time. E.g. Female bus drivers in Britain used to be quite rare, now we see lots, but in Saudi Arabia it is forbidden for women to drive any vehicle.

Evaluation of Liberal Feminism + Very optimistic view + Their work helped to demonstrate that gender differences are not inborn, but are cultural Over-optimistic? Ignores the deep-seated structures causing women’s oppression (capitalism & patriarchy) Fails to recognise the underlying causes of women’s subordination Criticised by Marxist and radical feminists who argue that changes in the law or attitudes will not be enough to bring equality. Far-reaching, revolutionary changes are needed.

Task Use the handout on the sex discrimination and equal pay act. 1. What are the terms of the Sex Discrimination Act (1975)? 2.What are the terms of the Equal Pay Act (1970)? 3.What are the exceptions to these laws? 4.How might gender equality be improved if the 2008 Equality Bill is brought into law?

Radical feminism Society is patriarchal - that it is inherently and structurally biased towards men. Lobbying for legal change in the ways suggested by their Liberal counterparts is unlikely to bring about equality If the system itself is patriarchal, changes to the position of women brought about by working within that system will always be within the terms agreed by men. Suggest 3 ways in which patriarchal power may be exercised within the family. The bias is reflected in all of society’s institutions. Patriarchy is universal – male domination of women exists in every known society – Firestone argues that this is due to women’s biological capacity to bear and care for women. Men are women’s enemy – the key division in society is between men and women. All men oppress all women. All men benefit from patriarchy.

The personal is political Oppression in public sphere of work and private sphere of family Sexual politics Sexual and physical violence Sexuality Personal relationships between the sexes are political because men dominate women through them Patriarchal power exercised through sexual and physical violence or the threat of it – Brownmiller – fear of rape a deterrent against women going out at night alone. Patriarchy constructs sexuality to satisfy men’s desires,e.g. Women in pornography. Socially acceptable forms of sexuality.

Change Personal and sexual relationships must be transformed if women are to be free. How could this be done? Separatism Consciousness-raising Political lesbianism Which of these do you think would be most successful? What are the problems with each strategy? Separatism – men and women living apart and thereby creating a new culture of female independence, free from patriarchy. Greer argues for the creation of all-female or matri-local households as an alternative to the heterosexual family. Consciousness-raising – share experiences in women only groups – through this women come to see that other women experience the same problems – leads to collective actions such as ‘take back the night’. Political lesbianism – heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive – sleeping with the enemy – lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality.

Evaluation of radical feminism + draw attention to the political dimension of areas such as marriage, rape & pornography Marxists say that class, not patriarchy is the primary form of inequality No explanation of why female subordination takes different forms in different societies Assumes all women are in the same position Inadequate theory of how patriarchy will be abolished Marxists argue that capitalism is the main cause and beneficiary of women’s oppression. Ignores class and ethnic differences. Separatism – vague and utopian Somerville argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the nuclear family will be replaced by single-sex households. Patriarchy may already be in decline – liberal feminists argue that women’s position has improved greatly. Radical feminism neglects women’s violence against men and violence within lesbian relationships – bringing men back in.

Marxist feminism Patriarchy as a product of capitalism. Engels - the male dominated family is necessary for capitalism Subordination of women performs a no. of important functions for capitalism: Women a source of cheap, exploitable labour Women are a reserve army of labour Women reproduce the labour force Women absorb anger – Ansley – women as ‘takers of shit’ Engels – allows inheritance, etc. Homemaker role places women in a dependent economic position in the family.

What do nurturing and socialising the next generation of workers and maintaining the current generation actually involve? How might women’s domestic role enable capitalists to pay male workers less?

The ideology of familism – Michele Barrett Not just the economy that oppresses women Why do women and marry and live in nuclear families when this is what oppresses them? The ideology of familism Must overthrow this and capitalism in order to secure women’s liberation. Presents the nuclear family and its division of labour as normal and natural. This ideology helps to keep women subordinated.

Evaluation of Marxist feminism + greater understanding of the importance of structural factors than liberal feminism. Fails to explain women’s subordination in non- capitalist societies. Unpaid domestic labour may benefit capitalism, but it doesn’t explain why it is women and not men that do it.

Dual systems theory An attempt to combine Marxist feminism and radical feminism Hartmann – capitalism and patriarchy Domestic work limits women’s availability for paid work – but the lack of work opportunities drives many women into marriage and economic dependence on a man. Thus, the two systems reinforce each other. Hartmen – C&P two intertwined systems that form a single entity – patriarchal capitalism. Argue that patriarchy is universal, but it takes a special form in capitalist societies.

Evaluation of dual systems theory + shows how two systems interact and structure one another. - Patriarchy is not actually a system in the same sense as capitalism. Patriarchy is merely a descriptive term for a range of practices such as male violence and control of women’s labour.

Black feminism Arose out of a concern that mainstream feminism only accounted for the experience of white women. Due to racism, black women faced a dual-oppression, and a new form of feminism was needed in order to explain their situation. Using your textbooks, find studies to support this theory. Also provide an evaluation of this theory.

Postmodern approach to feminism The starting point for this school is the notion - first outlined by dual-systems feminism - that it is difficult to describe the experience of all women as an homogenous group. For instance, women of different ethnicities, localities, sexualities and (dis)abilities have different experiences - for which the broad-brush approach of traditional feminism fails to account. Postmodern feminists, such as Butler, therefore reject the notion of femininity as a “catch-all” - and instead argue that there are a range of different femininities. The research of postmodern feminists is consequently an attempt to sensitise the perspective to this diversity of experience.

Task Which type of feminism is being evaluated in each of the statements on the handout?

Liberal Radical Marxist Dual systems What is the main cause of oppression? How is oppression maintained? How will oppression be ended? Major strengths Major weaknesses Significant authors

Homework due next Friday Assess the usefulness of feminist contributions to our understanding of society today. (33 marks) Using lesson 3 – questionnaire on the blog and other sources complete the research methods pack.