- JS mill in his essay- The subjugation of women- All forms of slavery have been abolished but the slavery of women continues . The discrimination against women is so universal that it appears natural.
- Intro-the belief in the principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men.(Virginia woolf)
- It is a meta ideology( has lot of internal debate)
- First wave: do not recongise the difference between sex and gender
- Liberal feminists: civil and political right
- Mary wallstonecraft- mother of feminism. Wanted voting rights for women during french revolution
2:
emmeline Pankhurst and her two daughters- Elizabeth and Sylvia. They were associated with suffragate movements.
- 2nd wave- radical feminists- developed by women for women and hence called True feminism.
- Differentiated gender and sexuality
- Concept of patriarchy is central to this phase.
- The raidical feminists talk about sexual revolution for female liberation
- Carole Hanisch
- Personal is political. The separation b/w the two means that women face no discrimination at homes. Private sphere create the psychological conditions that govern public life .
- Gender division of labour within the private sphere with women taking on most of the caring tasks create barriers for women in all other spheres
- A policy research paper by world bank says reservations in PRI in india have affected the bargaining power by enhancing their participation in intra- household decision making on spending for consumption, health, and education.
- Bihar govt banned alcohol because women faced domestic violence at homes
- Rejected essentialism(essential qualities of women- loving,caring)
- Susan moller okin- Gender, justice and family.believes that the family perpetuates gender inequalities throughout all of society, particularly because children acquire their values and ideas in the family's sexist setting, then grow up to enact these ideas as adults
- Catherine mackinnon - book- feminism unmodified-
- gender is a system of dominance rather than of difference
- She reveals a political system of male dominance and female subordination that sexualizes power for men and powerlessness for women. She analyzes the failure of organized feminism, particularly legal feminism, to alter this condition, since she argues state laws have been made to perpetuate patriarchy.
- Being woman is not bad but being woman in a patriarchal society is bad.
- It is not destiny but customs that have conspired against women . Myths insitutionalise inequality.
- Since birth women are taught to acquire gender roles and qualitites that are feminie which are supposed to complement men’s superior masculine traits.
- Simone de Beauvoir - book-The second sex
- Women not the second sex but the secondary sex.
- One is not born woman, one becomes woman.
- Women exist only provisionally. They are the extension of men.
2- Betty freidan -book: feminine mystique; did survey of white rich women and said they were not happy. Called it a problem with no name. Said patriarchy was the problem.
How patriarchy is perpetuated-
- Family is the first and core institution of patriarchy
- Highlight relation between myth and subordinate status of women. Ex menstruating women can’t enter religious places, there is a right age of marriage else women lose attraction, Women have no right to property as they go to another family
- Says patriarchy is perpetuated even through knowledge systems, for example sigmund Freud said main objective of women is to appear attractive to men (focoult’s KP connection)
- Says “Unless patriarchy ends no amount of civil,political,socio-economic rights can uplift women.”
3- Kate millet- sexual politics
4- Shulasmith Firestone- "dialectics of sex" rather than dialectics of class as not economy but patriarchy is the basic structure of society. Women need to use technology to free themselves from constraits of motherhood.
6.Iris Marion young
calls for differentiated citizenship and affirmative action. Acc to her we have to differentiate equality to equalise the differences.
- Contemporary ex:
- Metoo movement
- 8th march international women’s day, hashtags are tweeted
- Support for women is poured from across the world through social media. This is a form of digital feminism/ radical feminism in a digital age
- Conclusion-Feminism isn't about making women stronger, women are already strong, it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength.
- Globalisation and women
- Effect on women:
- Negative-
- the images of ideal feminine beauty and the pressure to emulate these ideals, force women to use diets and cosmetic products designed to “enhance” faces,hair and bodies.
- Exacerbated gender inequality in a patriarchal society, especially in third world countries.
- Further marginalisation of women in informal sector through loss of traditional jobs.
- Women exposed to occupational hazards
- Health education privatised—>costly—>women denied facilities.
- Male migration due to industrialisation so feminisation of agriculture
- positive-
- Promoted equality and liberal thoughts
- Work and education for women
- Women no longer a caged parrot but a free butterfly to pursue whatever she wants