Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. While generally providing a critique of social relations, many proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing Gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues.
Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on Gender politics, power relations and Sexuality. Feminist political activism campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression and patriarchy.
The basis of feminist ideology is that society is organised into a patriarchal system in which men are privileged over women.
Modern feminist theory is predominantly, but not exclusively, associated with western middle class academia. Feminist activism, however, is a grass roots movement which crosses class and race boundaries. It is culturally specific and addresses the issues relevant to the women of that society, for example, genital mutilation in Sudan (see also: female circumcision), or the glass ceiling in North America. Some issues, such as rape, incest, mothering, are universal.
__History__
First International Convention of Women in Washington D.C. Susan B. Anthony is third from the left, front row.The earliest works on 'the woman question' criticized the restrictive role of women without necessarily claiming that women were disadvantaged or that men were to blame. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written by Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the few works written before the 19th century that can be called feminist. By modern standards, her metaphor of women as nobility, the elite of society, coddled, fragile and in danger of intellectual and moral sloth, does not sound like a feminist argument. Wollstonecraft believed that both sexes contributed to this situation and took it for granted that women had considerable power over men.
However, there has probably always existed other works about the equality between the sexes. For example, the Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex, written by the occult philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in the year 1529.
Feminism is generally said to have begun in the 19th century as people increasingly adopted the perception that women are oppressed in a male-centered society (see patriarchy). The feminist movement is rooted in the West and especially in the reform movement of the 19th century. The organized movement is dated from the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.
Emmeline Pankhurst was one of the founders of the suffragette movement and aimed to reveal the institutional sexism in British society, forming the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). After many members were jailed repeatedly under the Cat and Mouse Act for trivial misdemeanours in activism, they were inspired to go on hunger strikes. The resultant force feeding caused these members to be very ill, serving to draw attention to the brutality of the legal system at the time and, thus, further their cause.
Over a century and a half the movement has grown to include diverse perspectives on what constitutes discrimination against women. Early feminists and primary feminist movements are often called the first-wave and feminists after about 1960 the second-wave. There is a so called third-wave, but feminists disagree as to its necessity, its benefits, and its ideas. These three "waves" are called so because like ocean waves, each wave comes on top of the one before, drawing on each other.
A very important supportive factor in modern feminism was the publication of a book by anthropologist Margaret Mead, entitled "Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies" (1935). She was a professor at Columbia University, where Bella Abzug studied (Abzug eventually became one of the main leaders of American feminism). In Mead's book, women were reported to be dominant in the Tchambuli tribe, without causing any problems. Among intellectuals of Abzug's era, the book inspired the belief that European ideas of masculinity and femininity were very much cultural, rather than being indelibly instinctive.
__Feminism in many forms__
The name "feminism" suggests a single Ideology, but in reality the movement has many subgroups. Due to historical precedents, the current legal status of women in certain countries, and other factors, feminist ideology has been compelled to move in different directions to achieve its goals. As a result, there are many different kinds of feminism.
One subtype of feminism, Radical feminism, considers patriarchy to be the root cause of the most serious social problems. This form of feminism was popular in the so-called second wave (a "wave" being a large major change in general feminist ideas), though it is not as prominent today. However, many still equate the word "feminism" to mean solely the ideas proposed by Radical feminism. Some find that the prioritization of oppression and the universalization of the idea of "Woman", which was part of traditional Radical feminist thinking, too generic, and that women in other countries would never experience the same experience of being "woman" than women in Western countries did. Western women may find gender oppression to be the root oppression that they face, but women in other parts of the world may be able to trace their oppression to their race or economic status, rather than their status as females.
Some radical feminists advocate separatism—a complete separation of male and female in society and culture—while others question not only the relationship between men and women, but the very meaning of "man" and "woman" as well (see Queer theory). Some argue that gender roles, gender identity, and sexuality are themselves social constructs (see also heteronormativity). For these feminists, feminism is a primary means to human liberation (i.e., the liberation of men as well as women, and men and women from other social problems).
Other feminists believe that there may be social problems separate from or prior to patriarchy (e.g., racism or class divisions); they see feminism as one movement of liberation among many, each affecting the others.
__Subtypes of feminism__
* Amazon Feminism
* Anarcho-Feminism
* Cultural Feminism
* Ecofeminism
* Existentialist Feminism
* Fluffy Feminism or Girly Feminism
* French Feminism
* Gender Feminism
* Lesbian Feminism
* Libertarian Feminism or Individualist Feminism
* Male Feminism or Men's Feminism
* Marxist Feminism or Socialist Feminism
* Material Feminism
* Multi-Cultural Feminism
* Pop Feminism
* Post-Colonial Feminism
* Postmodern Feminism
* Psychoanalytical Feminism
* Radical Feminism
* Separatist Feminism
* Sexually Liberal Feminism or Sex-Positive Feminism or Pro-Sex Feminism
* Social Construct Feminism
* Socialist Feminism
* Spiritual Feminism
* Standpoint Feminism
* Third-World Feminism
* Transfeminism
* Womanism
Certain actions, approaches and people can also be described as proto-feminist or post-feminist.
Although many leaders of feminism have been women, not all women are feminists and not all feminists are women. Some feminists argue that men should not take positions of leadership in the movement, because men, having been socialized to aggressively seek positions of power within a leadership hierarchy, would apply this tendency to feminist organizations. This would make the feminist movement a male-controlled movement, and not fulfill the feminist ideal of representing women. However, most feminists do accept and seek the support of men. Compare pro-feminist, humanism, masculism.
Feminism has been principally a movement in 20th century Western societies. Some limited advances have been made in non-Western countries; but the movement has been principally Western in origin and effects. Feminists hope that their movement will have an equal effect across the rest of the world in the 21st century.
__Relationship to other movements__
Most feminists take a holistic approach to politics, believing the saying of Martin Luther King Jr., "A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". In that belief, some feminists usually support other movements such as the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and, more recently Fathers' rights. At the same time many black feminists such as bell hooks criticise the movement for being dominated by white women. Feminist claims about the disadvantages women face in Western society are often less relevant to the lives of black women. This idea is the key in postcolonial feminism. Many black feminist women prefer the term womanism for their views.
However, feminists are sometimes wary of the transsexual movement because they challenge the distinctions between men and women. Transsexual women are excluded from some transphobic "women-only" gatherings and events and are rejected by some feminists who say that no one born male can truly understand the oppression women face. On the other hand, transsexual women are quick to retort that the discrimination and various struggles (such as that for legal recognitions) that they face due to asserting their gender identity, more than makes up for any they may have "missed out on" growing up, and that discrimination against gender-variant people is another face of heterosexism and patriarchy. See transfeminism.
Feminists such as Rosi Braidotti (1994), interviewed by Judith Butler, criticized gender studies as, "the take-over of the feminist agenda by studies on masculinity, which results in transferring funding from feminist faculty positions to other kinds of positions. There have been cases...of positions advertised as 'gender studies' being given away to the 'bright boys'. Some of the competitive take-over has to do with gay studies. Of special significance in this discussion is the role of the mainstream publisher Routledge who, in our opinion, is responsible for promoting gender as a way of deradicalizing the feminist agenda, re-marketing masculinity and gay male identity instead."
__Effect of Feminism in the West__
Feminism has effected many changes in Western society, including women's suffrage; broad employment for women at more equitable wages ("equal pay for equal work"); the right to initiate divorce proceedings and "no fault" divorce; the right of women to control their own bodies and medical decisions, including obtaining birth control devices and safe abortions; and many others. Some feminists would argue that there is still much to be done on these fronts, while third-wave feminists would disagree and claim that the battle has basically "been won". As Western society has become increasingly accepting of feminist principles, some of these are no longer seen as specifically feminist, because they have been adopted by all or most people. Some beliefs that were radical for their time are now mainstream political thought. Almost no one in Western societies today questions the right of women to vote or own land, a concept that seemed quite strange only 100 years ago.
In some cases (notably equal pay for equal work) major advances have been made, but most feminists still struggle to achieve their complete goals.
Feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using "Ms." to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term "herstory" instead of "history". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind", or "he or she" in place of "he" where the gender is unknown. Feminists in most cases advance their desired use of language either to promote an equal and respectful treatment of women or to affect the tone of political discourse. This can be seen as a move to change language which has been viewed by some feminists as imbued with sexism - providing for example the case in the English language the word for the general pronoun is "he" or "his" (The child should have his paper and pencils), which is the same as the masculine pronoun (The boy and his truck). These feminists purport that language then directly affects perception of reality (compare Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis). However, to take a postcolonial analysis of this point, many languages other than English may not have such a gendered pronoun instance and thus changing language may not be as important to some feminists as others. Yet, English is becoming more and more universal, and the issue of language may be seen to be of growing importance.
__Effect on moral education__
Opponents of feminism claim that women's quest for external power, as opposed to the internal power to affect other people's Ethics and values, has left a vacuum in the area of moral training, where women formerly held sway. Some feminists reply that the education, including the moral education, of children has never been, and should not be, seen as the exclusive responsibility of women. Paradoxically, it is also held by others that the moral education of children at home in the form of homeschooling is itself a women's movement. Such arguments are entangled within the larger disagreements of the Culture Wars, as well as within feminist (and anti-feminist) ideas regarding custodianship of societal morals and Compassion.
__Effect on heterosexual relationships__
The feminist movements have certainly affected the nature of Heterosexual relationships in Western and other societies affected by feminism. While these effects have generally been seen as positive, there have been some negative consequences.
In some of these relationships, there has been a change in the power relationship between men and women. In these circumstances, women and men have had to adapt to relatively new situations, sometimes causing confusions about role and identity. Women can now avail themselves more to new opportunities, but some have suffered with the demands of trying to live up to the so-called "superwomen" identity, and have struggled to 'have it all', i.e. manage to happily balance a career and family. Instead of the onus of childcare resting solely on the female, it has shifted somewhat, and men are expected to assist in managing family matters more than in previous times. In response to the family issue, many Socialist feminists blame this on the lack of state-provided childcare facilities, but this lack is not evident in all societies.
Men in some circumstances have also felt a loss of power and identity, and have struggled to come to terms with the changing social environments and differing demands made upon them.
There have been changes also in attitudes towards sexual morality and behaviour with the onset of second wave feminism and "the Pill": women are then more in control of their body, and are able to experience sex with more freedom than was previously socially accepted for them. This sexual revolution that women were then able to experience was seen as positive as it enabled women and men to experience sex in a free and equal manner. However, some feminists felt that the results of the sexual revolution only was beneficial to men.
Marriage has also suffered, with some women of the opinion that marriage is an institution that oppresses women, thus opting for cohabitation instead. Many feminists do disagree with this, however.
__Effect on Religion__
Feminism has had a great effect on many aspects of religion. In liberal branches of Protestant Christianity, women are now ordained as clergy, and in Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism, women are now ordained as rabbis and cantors. Within these Christian and Jewish groups, woman have gradually become more nearly equal to men by obtaining positions of power; their perspectives are now sought out in developing new statements of belief. These trends, however, have been resisted within Islam and Roman Catholicism. All the mainstream denominations of Islam forbid Muslim women from being recognized as religious clergy and scholars in the same way that Muslim men are accepted. Liberal movements within Islam have nonetheless persisted in trying to bring about feminist reforms in Muslim societies. Roman Catholicism has historically been seen to abuse women (for example, the Magdalen Asylum system in Ireland) -- one example given is that does not allow women to hold any positions as clergy except as nuns; they are excluded from entering the main Church hierarchy.
Feminism also has had an important role in creating new forms of religion. Neopagan religions especially tend to emphasise the importance of Goddess spirtuality, and question what they regard as traditonal religion's downgrading of women. In particular Dianic Wicca is a religion whose origins lie within radical feminism. Discussion of these views leads to critics of the view that traditional religions degrade women, suggest examining positive Christian and Islamic views and ideals of Mary, Islamic views of Fatima Zahra, and especially to the Catholic belief in the Coredemptrix, as counterexamples. However, there has been further discussion in response to this. With respect to Mary especially, it has been argued that she, with her status as mother and virgin, and as traditionally the main role model for women, sets women up to aspire to an impossible ideal, and also thus has negative consequences on a woman's sexuality.
There is a separate article on God and Gender; it discusses how monotheistic religions reconcile their theologies with contemporary gender issues, and how modern feminism has influenced the theology of many religions.
__Worldwide statistics__
Female share of seats in elected chambers in 1997 (percent)
* Sweden 40.4
* Norway 39.4
* Finland 33.5
* Denmark 33.0
* Netherlands 31.3
* New Zealand 29.2
* Austria 26.8
* Germany 26.2
* Iceland 25.4
* UK(Commons) 18.2
Despite advances made by women, who have successfully created change towards equality in the West, there is still a very long way to go to true equality, according to those who provide the following statistics:
* Women own only 1 percent of the world's wealth, and earn 10 percent of the world's income, despite making up 49 percent of the population.
* When childcare and housework are taken into consideration, women work longer than men in both the industrialised and developing world, (by 20 percent in the industrialised world, and 30 percent in the developing world).
* The number of women in all of the world's legislative bodies are disproportionate to the number of men. In 1985, Finland had the largest percentage of women in national legislature at approximately 32 percent (P. Norris, Women's Legislative Participation in Western Europe, West European Politics). Currently, Sweden has the highest number of women at 42 percent. The United States has just 11 percent. The world average is just 9 percent. (Wales, while not an independent country has 50% of its members being women.)
* In much of the third world, women are considered as effectively property, and have no legal rights in practice. Millions of women are expected to undergo female circumcision, a form of genital mutilation. In some areas, rape is used as a sentence for a crime, even crimes not committed by the women themselves. (
__Perspective: the nature of the modern movement__
Most feminists believe discrimination against women still exists in North American and European nations, as well as worldwide. How much discrimination and whether it is a problem is a matter of dispute.
There are many ideas within the movement regarding the severity of current problems, what the problems are, and how to confront them. Extremes on the one hand include some radical feminists such as Mary Daly who argues that the world would be better off with dramatically fewer men. There are also dissidents, such as Christina Hoff Sommers or Camille Paglia, who identify themselves as feminist but who accuse the movement of anti-male prejudices. Many feminists question the use of the "feminist" label as applying to these individuals.
Many feminists, however, also question the use of the term feminist to refer to any who espouse violence to any gender or who fail to recognize a fundamental equality between the sexes. Some feminists, like Katha Pollitt (see her book Reasonable Creatures) or Nadine Strossen (President of the ACLU and author of Defending Pornography -a treatise on freedom of speech), consider feminism to be, solely, the view that "women are people." Views that separate the sexes rather than unite them are considered by these people to be sexist rather than feminist.
There are also debates between difference feminists such as Carol Gilligan on the one hand, who believe that there are important differences between the sexes (which may or may not be inherent, but which cannot be ignored), and those who believe that there are no essential differences between the sexes, and that the roles observed in society are due to conditioning. Modern scientists sometimes disagree on whether inborn differences exist between men and women (other than physical differences such as anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones). Regardless of how many differences between the sexes are inherent or acquired, feminists agree none of these differences is a basis for discrimination.
This mostly Western debate about feminism should not distract from the fact that the major goal of the feminist movement in the 21st century is to improve the situation of women in non-Western countries.
__Male feminists__
Feminists disagree over the role of men as participants within the movement. Kaja Silverman (1992), among others, argues that, "masculinity impinges with such force upon femininity (that) to effect a large-scale reconfiguration of male identification and desire would, at the very least, permit female subjectivity to be lived differently than it is at present." Calvin Thomas (2000) points out that this would most likely require feminist-informed men.
Some female feminists feel that it is inappropriate to describe self-named "feminist men" as "feminist" and instead prefer the title "pro-feminist men"; however, this usage has not caught on in most of American society. Others think that the imposition of a label like "pro-feminist male" on people who prefer another label like "feminist" is comparable to the imposition of racial epithets that are not preferred by the groups they name.
In February 2003, history was made at Oxford University when students elected a man, second year English student Adam Webster, to the position of their Women's Officer.
__Criticisms of feminism__
Feminism has attracted attention due to its large effects in social change in Western society. While feminism in some forms is generally accepted, dissenting voices do exist.
Some critics (both male and female) find that some feminists are effectively preaching hate against males or claiming male inferiority, citing that if the words "male" and "female" were replaced by "black" and "white" respectively in some feminist writings, the texts could be viewed as racist propaganda. While some feminists generally disagree with the view that men are equally oppressed under patriarchy, other feminists, especially third-wave feminists agree that men are similarly oppressed and that gender equality means oppression of neither gender.
Some find that because of feminism, males are beginning to be oppressed. While this view is rejected by many sociologists, those who make this claim often note that males die from suicide 4 times more frequently than females attempting suicide in the USA; rates climbed dramatically during the 1980s and early 1990s; 72% of all suicides are white males; slightly over half of all suicides are adult men, aged 25-65; critics conclude that the USA is becoming a country where males especially white males are severely oppressed. There could be various reasons for these suicide rate increases, and they may not indicate a greater level of male oppression. Some studies of the 20 year increase in male suicide rates (ending in 1998, when the rate began to decrease) have found only a correlation between it and: local economic health and employment rates, suicide methods preferred by men, male isolation if divorced, women seeking treatment for depression in far greater numbers than do men, and (especially) aging populations. It should be noted that during the same approximate period (1952 to 1995) the rates for teen and elder suicide nearly tripled.
Many people object to the feminist movement as trying to destroy traditional gender roles. They say that men and women have many natural differences and that everyone benefits from recognizing those differences. For example, children are thought to benefit from having a masculine father and a feminine mother; in this view, divorce, single parenthood, or non-traditional gender roles are all seen as harming children more than do conflict in the home, dual but poor role models, or new definitions of masculinity, femininity, or family. The traditional nuclear family is now an exceptional background in the US, and has been the subject of many critiques characterizing it as a racist or culturally ignorant or nostalgic idealized model.
Arguments have been made that social change and legal reform have gone too far and now negatively affect men and families with children. For example, it has been suggested that custody hearings in divorces are biased towards the mother, and several organizations have formed to fight for fathers' rights.
Some men also express worry that a belief in the glass ceiling for women has led to women being promoted more than men for the purpose of public relations than for their merit. This could be compared to affirmative action; thus, feminists who favour such a method of reform usually present arguments similar to those used for defending affirmative action (i.e. that such a system is required to offset the results of previous discrimination).
Although efforts to curb sexual harassment against women in the workplace are normally applauded, there are those who note that the situation is such that the concern directed towards women in resolving disputes of sexual harassment is indirect discrimination, in that less concern is given to men when they are the subject of the claims, or when they are claiming a case of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can occur towards men in different ways than towards women. It is claimed that women are more empowered to make claims towards men of sexual harassment, whilst male victims of sexual harassment are not encouraged to make claims themselves, are derided by others, or widely go unnoticed by others. Since the 1990s, proving sexual harassment in the United States (by either men or women) has been made much more difficult by Supreme Court decisions.
Postcolonial feminists criticise Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and its universalization of female experience. These feminists argue that the assumption of a global experience as a woman is based on a white middle-class experience in which gender oppression is primary, and cannot apply to women for whom gender oppression may come second to racial or class oppression.
Today, young women most commonly associate "feminism" with radical feminism, and this has put off a lot of these women from being active in feminism, spurring a move away from second-wave labels. However, the basic values of feminism (gender equality of rights and opportunities) have become so integrated into Western culture as to be accepted over-whelmingly as valid, and non-conformity to those values characterized as unacceptable, by the same men and women who reject the label "feminist".
Many believe that feminism ceased being about equality long ago, and is now about preferential treatment and extra rights for women only. It is unlikely, for example, that one would see traditional feminist groups campaigning for equal father's rights in the family court, or against a perceived lighter sentencing of women occurring with crimes such as murder and statutory rape.Off White X Nike Design