Summary Feminism revision notes (for Edexcel Politics A level)
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Course
Non-core Political Ideas
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
Detailed revision notes on Feminism (part of the UK Government and Non-Core Political Ideas paper). Includes access to key thinker profiles, summarised theory notes and examples. Refers to all branches and concepts specified by the exam board. Work produced by a student with four A* predictions and...
FEMINISM
- Simone de Beauvoir
- bell hooks
- Sheila Rowbotham
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Kate Millet
Liberal feminism – sees individualism as the basis of gender equality. Liberal
feminists believe in core liberal values such as individualism and self-help, they are
supporters of free-market capitalism and believe that if women were to be given
equal rights and opportunities they would operate as free agents
Socialist feminism – believes that gender inequality stems from economics
and that capitalism creates patriarchy. Examined how capitalism and patriarchy
are interlinked systems of oppression, e.g. Sheila Rowbotham argues women need
to defeat capitalism
Radical feminists – believes that the biggest problem facing society is gender
inequality. See patriarchy as systematic, institutionalised and pervasive in all areas
of life, rooted in the nuclear family structure and in the private sphere, strong belief
that ‘the personal is political’ and that social institutions, e.g. marriage oppress
women
Intersectional/post-modern feminism – argues that patriarchy manifests in
different ways. Interlinked layers of oppression affect different women in different
ways, e.g. class and ethnicity are just as oppressive
origins of feminism
- First wave (1850s-1940s) concentrated on removing formal forms of inequality,
such as unequal voting rights
- Second wave (1960s-1980s) recognised that the removal of legal and political
inequalities has not removed other forms of injustice and unfair treatment of
women, so attempted to politicise women’s personal lives as well
- Third wave (1990s) was concerned with the experience of different groups of
women, recognising that traditionally, feminism tended to reflect the concerns
and interests of white middle-class women – i.e. intersectionality
- It has been suggested that feminism has entered a fourth wave, which is a
reaction against inequality of media portrayals of women, and issues arising
from the expansion of social media, such as online misogyny
- First well-known and rigorous work on women’s rights is Mary Wollstonecraft’s
‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ where she urges for better education
- Increasing concerns about the legal and social position of women – in Britain
J.S. Mill and his wife, Harriet Taylor, campaigned for the passage of the Married
Women’s Property Act (1882) which allowed women to keep their property after
they married
, - Debates about the expansion of the franchise and formal equality
o 1890 – National American Woman Suffrage Association founded (USA)
o 1920 – Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
o Women’s Social and Political Union formed in 1903 (Britain)
o 1928 – women gain equal voting rights with men
- 1960’s saw increased attention to the domestic role of women and female
sexuality
sex and gender
Sex – for feminists, refers to the biological differences between men and women.
They are seen as inevitable, natural and unalterable.
Gender – refers to the cultural differences between the sexes, leading to feelings of
superiority among men and inferiority among women
- Betty Friedan, often described as the founder of second wave feminism, pointed
out that cultural attitudes towards gender differences were so deep-rooted that
women themselves tended to share them with men as ‘each suburban wife
struggled with it alone’
Essentialism – this is a contested idea within feminism. This term refers to the
fundamental nature of the biological differences between men and women. Some
feminists say such differences are essential to an understanding of the status of
women; others claim it should be irrelevant.
- Radical feminists mostly agree that biology may have determined the inferior
status of women in history but they argue there is no reason for this to continue
today
Liberal feminists – e.g. Friedan, accept the significance of sex differences but regard
gender differences and the superiority of men as an artificial construct, created by
male-dominated (patriarchal) societies. The apparent inferiority of women is a
learned behaviour.
Radical feminists – such as Juliet Mitchell and Kate Millet, see gender differences as
all-pervading and more deep-rooted than the liberal feminists believe. For Mitchell,
male gender exists in all aspects of life and in culture generally. It must be destroyed
in all these places. A cultural revolution is necessary to combat the iterations of
patriarchy in literature and the arts. Shulamith Firestone proposed removing all the
sexual functions of men and women, thus removing sex differences between men
and women. It would be replaced by a state of androgyny, where men and women
co-exist without sexual relations.
Socialist feminists – see the oppression of women as being bound up with the
operation of capitalism. Patriarchal societies assign an inferior gender role to women
so that they can become a cheap source of labour. In the home they are a largely
unpaid workforce and outside the domestic sphere they are forced to work for low
wages. They are dispensable workers so that when there is an economic slump they
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