Feminism

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Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the experiences of women. Most feminists are especially concerned with social, political and economic inequality between men and women (in the context of it being to the disadvantage of women); some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as "man" and "woman", are socially constructed. Feminists differ over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and gender-based identities should be questioned and critiqued. In simple terms, feminism is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes, and the movement organised around the belief that gender should not be the pre-determinant factor shaping a person's social identity, or socio-political or economic rights.

Most modern feminist political activists commonly campaign on issues such as reproductive rights (including the right to safe, legal abortion, access to contraception and quality prenatal care), violence within a domestic partnership, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, street harassment, discrimination and rape. Many feminists today argue that feminism is a grass-roots movement that seeks to cross boundaries based on social class, race, culture and religion. They also argue that an effective feminist movement should be culturally specific and address issues relevant to the women of the society in question such as female genital cutting, or "clitorectomies", in Africa and the Middle East and the "glass ceiling" issue in developed economies. They also debate the extent to which certain issues such as rape, incest and mothering are universal. Themes explored in feminism include patriarchy, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification and oppression.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Feminism in many forms 3 Relationship to other movements 4 Modern feminism 5 Effects of feminism in the West 5.1 Effects on civil rights 5.2 Effect on language 5.3 Effect on heterosexual relationships 5.4 Effect on religion 6 Worldwide statistics 7 Contemporary criticisms of feminism 8 Academic research about feminist issues 9 Famous feminists 10 References 11 See also 12 Books 13 External links 13.1 Feminist organizations 13.2 Supportive of feminism 13.3 Critical of feminism, or specific types of feminism 13.4 Feminism and religion

[edit] Origins

Main article: History of feminism

How long feminism has been around is a different question to when history has marked feminism as beginning. Modern feminism as a philosophy and movement is often dated to The Enlightenment with such thinkers as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the Marquis de Condorcet championing women's education. The first scientific society for women was founded in Middelburg, a city in the south of the Dutch Republic in 1785. Journals for women which focused on issues like science became popular during this period as well. Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is one of the first works that can unambiguously be called feminist.

Feminism became an organized movement in the 19th century as people increasingly came to believe that women were being treated unfairly. The feminist movement was rooted in the progressive movement and especially in the reform movement of the 19th century. The utopian socialist Charles Fourier coined the word féminisme in 1837, and had argued that the extension of women's rights underpinned all social progress as early as 1808. The organized movement was dated from the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. In 1869, John Stuart Mill published The Subjection of Women to demonstrate that "the legal subordination of one sex to the other is wrong...and...one of the chief hindrances to human improvement."

Many countries began to grant women the vote in the late 19th century and early 20th century (New Zealand being first in 1893, with the help of suffragist Kate Sheppard), especially in the final years of the First World War onwards. The reasons varied, but they included a desire to recognize the contributions of women during the war, and were also influenced by rhetoric used by both sides at the time to justify their war efforts. For example, since Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points recognized self-determination as vital to society, the hypocrisy of denying half the population of modern nations the vote became difficult to ignore.

[edit] Feminism in many forms

Some feminist theories question basic assumptions about gender, gender difference and sexuality, including the category of "woman" itself as a holistic concept, other theories question the male/female dichotomy completely (offering instead a multiplicity of genders). Still other feminist theories take for granted the concept of "woman" and provide specific analyses and critiques of gender inequality, and most feminist social movements promote women's rights, interests and issues. Several subtypes of feminist ideology have developed over the years. Early feminists and primary feminist movements are often called the first-wave feminists, and feminists after about 1960 the second-wave feminists. More recently, some younger feminists have identified themselves as third-wave feminists while the second-wave feminists are still active.

In her book A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight from Equality, Wendy Kaminer identifies another conflict between forms of feminism: the conflict between what she calls "egalitarian" and "protectionist" feminism. She sees egalitarian feminism as promoting equality between women and men through the granting of equal rights. Protectionist feminists prefer to focus on legal protections for women, such as employment laws and divorce laws that protect women, sometimes advocating restricting men's rights, such as free speech (specifically, the right to produce and consume pornography). Though the book predates third-wave feminism, Kaminer identifies both protectionist and egalitarian currents within first-wave feminism and second-wave feminism.

Some radical feminists, such as Mary Daly, Charlotte Bunch and Marilyn Frye, have advocated 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.)

Many— certainly not all— feminists are women. There are exclusively male organisations sympathetic to the feminist view who believe the dominant model of manhood or masculinity is oppressive to women and limiting for men.^[1]

There is debate about feminism concerning which types should exclusively be labeled or considered. There are also overlapping beliefs such as in oppression by patriarchy and/or capitalism, and the belief they are synonymous.

[edit] Relationship to other movements

Some 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 self-identified feminists support other movements such as the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement. At the same time, many black feminists such as bell hooks criticize the movement for being dominated by white women. Feminist claims about the alleged 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.

Feminism is often linked with gay, lesbian and transgender studies and Psychoanalytic feminism places focus on psychosexual development. Some feminists are wary of the transgender movement because they view it as challenging the distinction between men and women. Transgender and transsexual individuals who identify as female are excluded from some "women-only" gatherings and events and are rejected by some feminists, who say that no one who was assigned as male at birth can fully understand the oppression that women face. This exclusion is criticized as "transphobic" by other feminists and transgender people alike, who assert that their political and social struggles are linked to those of feminists, and that discrimination against gender-variant people is a facet of the patriarchy. (See transfeminism and gender studies.)

In the 1800s the women's rights movement in the United States splintered over questions concerning the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Consititution granting African American men the right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, among others, contended that black men should not be franchised unless similar rights were granted to all women. From 1868 to 1870, when the 15th Amendment was passed, this created division in the broader U.S. civil rights movement and, in 1869, caused a schism the women's suffrage movement, leading to the creation of the separate National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman's Suffrage Association (AWSA) in the United States.

[edit] Modern feminism

Most feminists believe discrimination against women still exists worldwide. But there is disagreement within the movement regarding the severity of current problems, what the problems are, and how to confront them.^{[citation needed]}

Extremes on the one hand include some radical feminists such as Gloria Allred and Mary Daly who argue that human society 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 prejudice.

Many feminists question the use of the term feminist to groups or people 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 simply 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.

In Marilyn French's seminal works analyzing patriarchy and its effects on the world at large, she defines patriarchy as a system that values power over life, control over pleasure and dominance over happiness. According to French, "it is not enough either to devise a morality that will allow the human race simply to survive. Survival is an evil when it entails existing in a state of wretchedness. Intrinsic to survival and continuation is felicity/pleasure. Pleasure has been much maligned, diminished by philosophers and conquerors as a value for the timid, the small-minded and the self-indulgent. "Virtue" too often involves the renunciation of pleasure in the name of some higher purpose, a purpose that involves power (for men) or sacrifice (for women). Pleasure is described as shallow and frivolous in a world of high-minded, serious purpose. But pleasure does not exclude serious pursuits or intentions, indeed, it is found in them, and it is the only real reason for staying alive.".^[2] This philosophy is what Marilyn French offers as a replacement to the current structure where power has the highest value.

Carol Tavris, author of Anger: the Misunderstood Emotion and The Mismeasure of Woman: Why Women Are Not the Better Sex, the Inferior Sex, or the Opposite Sex, maintains that as long as men's experiences are considered to be the default human experiences, women will always face discrimination in North America or elsewhere. She holds that too much emphasis is placed on innate differences between men and woman, and that it has been used to justify the restriction of women's rights.

[edit] Effects of feminism in the West

While a number of feminists argue that there are many battles for equity to be waged, others disagree and observe that many challenges have been overcome. For example, in developed nations, women now outnumber men in both high school graduation rates [1] and university enrollment [2]. Women are admitted to professional schools at rates equal to or greater than males, the only notable exception being dentistry. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Effects on civil rights

Feminism has effected many changes in Western society, including women's suffrage, broad employment for women at more equitable wages, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and the introduction of "no fault" divorce, the right to obtain contraception and safe abortions, and the right to university education.

[edit] Effect on language

Many English-speaking feminists are often proponents of what they consider to be non-sexist language, using "Ms." to refer to both married and unmarried women or "he or she" (or other gender-neutral pronouns) in place of "he" where the gender is unknown. Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind". Feminists in most cases advance their desired use of language either to promote what they claim is 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 in which 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 argue that language then directly affects perception of reality (compare Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis).

In postcolonial feminism the issue of language is often less emphasized as many non-Indo-European languages do not have grammatical gender.

A different tendency can be seen in feminism inspired changes to the French language. Grammatical gender is much more pervasive in French than in English, making it virtually impossible to create inclusive language. Instead, nouns that originally had only a masculine form have had feminine counterparts created for them. "Professeur" ("teacher"), once always masculine regardless of the teacher's sex, now has a parallel feminine form "Professeure". In cases where separate masculine and feminine forms have always existed, it was once standard practice for a group containing both men and women to be referred to using the masculine plural. Nowadays, forms such as "Tous les Canadiens et Canadiennes" ("all Canadians", or literally "all the male Canadians and female Canadians") are becoming more common. Such phrasing is common in Canada and in France, where President Jacques Chirac routinely uses "Françaises et Français" (French women and French men) in political speeches, but is practically unknown in other French-speaking countries.

An equivalent tendency in Germany where male and female terms are both required in the plural is to use the male term, followed by the female plural ending. An example of this is instead of the bulky phrase sehr geehrte Kollegen und Kolleginnen, meaning dear male colleagues and female colleagues, is the use of sehr geehrte KollegInnen, which expresses the plurality of both genders.

[edit] Effect on heterosexual relationships

The entry of women into the workplace and the demands of child-rearing has modified gender roles. Some men argue that the de-emphasis on their being a primary provider harms their ability to attract mates. Furthermore, while many women have the choice to try to "have it all," they argue that societal expectations placed upon men preclude them from devoting themselves fully to domestic activities and child-rearing. Several studies support this belief, and point out the fact that although men are derided for not devoting enough time to childrearing and domestic tasks, few women seem attracted to men who engage in these activities to the detriment of their careers.^[3][4] Some argue that men devote less time to household chores because they devote more time to work outside the home. According to the International Labor Organization, "the average American father works 51 hours a week, whereas those mothers of young children who do work full time (themselves in the minority) work a 41-hour week.".^[5] It has also been argued that women often hold the power in a relationship because they direct the majority of purchases made by a household, whereas men direct the few large purchases.^[6]

Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild attempted to counter these arguments with her books The Second Shift and The Time Bind. These books present some evidence that married men might contribute more time to their wives than to child care and housework. However, Hochschild's statistical evidence did not apply to two-career couples. According to the studies she cites, in two-career couples, men and women on the average spend about equal amounts of time working, but women still spend more time on housework. Feminist critiques of men's contributions to child care and domestic labor are typically centered around the idea that it is unfair for women to be expected to perform more than half of a household's domestic work and child care when both members of the relationship also work outside the home. Several studies provide statistical evidence that married men may contribute a smaller share of housework, regardless of whether or not they earn more than their wives.^[7][8] However, in general, in couples where one or both partners do not work outside the home, gender-based division of labor is less of a point of contention for feminists.

It should be noted that the preceding arguments mainly apply to middle-class women.

In her 1996 book Dubious Conceptions, Kristin Luker discusses the effect of feminism on teenage women's choices to bear a child, both in and out of wedlock. She argues that as childbearing without being married has become more socially acceptable for women, young women, while not bearing children at a higher rate than in the 1950s, now see less reason to get married before having a child, especially in the case of poor young women. To explain this, she argues that the economic prospects for poor men are slim, and so poor women have a low chance of finding a husband who will be able to provide reliable financial support.

There have also been changes in attitudes towards sexual morality and behavior with the onset of second wave feminism and "the Pill." Women are more in control of their bodies, and are freer to experience sex with fewer repercussions. This sexual revolution was seen as positive (especially by sex-positive feminists) as it enabled women and men to experience sex in a free and equal manner.

Evangelical (Christian) feminists sometimes argue that life-long monogamy ideally promotes egalitarianism in sex, especially when viewed in light of some other alternatives to monogamy (e.g., polygamy, swinging, open marriages, or infidelity). However, some feminists endorse polyamory, open marriage, cohabitation and swinging as egalitarian lifestyles (see sex-positive feminism).

Friedrich Engels, in his essay The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State expresses his belief that monogamy was originally conceived as a way for men to control women. However, scientific evidence strongly suggests that monogamy evolved as a way to ensure the survival of human infants^{[citation needed]}, who are born relatively vulnerable in comparison to other animal species, and need care from both men and women in their early development.

[edit] Effect on religion

Main article: God and gender

Feminism has had a great effect on many aspects of religion. In liberal branches of Protestant Christianity (and, notably, in some theologically conservative dominations, such as Assemblies of God^[9]) women are ordained as clergy^{[citation needed]}, and in Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism, women are ordained as rabbis and cantors^{[citation needed]}. Within these Christian and Jewish groups, women have gradually become more equal to men by obtaining positions of power; their perspectives are now sought out in developing new statements of belief^{[citation needed]}.

The leadership of women in religious matters has also been resisted within Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism has historically excluded women from entering the priesthood and other clerical positions, limiting women to the roles of nuns or laypeople.

Feminism also has had an important role in embracing new forms of religion. Neopagan religions especially tend to emphasize the importance of Goddess spirituality, and question what they regard as traditional religion's hostility to women and the sacred feminine. In particular, Dianic Wicca's origins lie within radical feminism. Among traditional religions, feminism has led to self examination, with reclaimed positive Christian and Islamic views and ideals of Mary, Islamic views of Fatima Zahra, and especially the Catholic belief in the Coredemptrix, as counterexamples.

[edit] Worldwide statistics

Female share of seats in elected national chambers in November 2004 (percent)

Rwanda	49.0		Iceland	30.2
Sweden	45.3		New Zealand	28.3
South Africa	42.0		Austria	27.5
Namibia	42.0		Pakistan	21.3[10]
Denmark	38.0		Canada	21.1
Finland	37.5		China	20.2
Norway	36.4		UK(Commons)	17.8
Spain	36.0		Mauritius	17.0
Netherlands	35.0		United States	15.0
Germany	32.8		Japan	7.1

The following is a sampling of statistics related to the relative status of women worldwide.

• According to studies cited by the United Nations,^[11] on average, women work more than men, when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for. In rural areas of selected developing countries, women performed an average of 20% more work than men, or an additional 102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 20 minutes per day.
• By population, women are underrepresented in all of the world's major legislative bodies.^[12] 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, Rwanda has the highest number of women at 49 percent. The United States has 14 percent. The world average is 9 percent. In contrast, half of the members of the recently established Welsh Assembly Government are women.^{[citation needed]} and 40% of members of the Scottish Parliament are female. [3]

• In the US in 2003, for every $1 males earn, women earn 76 cents on average.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Contemporary criticisms of feminism

Criticism of feminism as a whole ideology, criticism of specific types of feminism, and criticism of specific feminist ideas have come from feminists themselves, non-feminists, masculists, social conservatives, and social progressives.

Postcolonial feminists criticize certain ideas of Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and its most basic assumption, universalization of the female experience. They argue that this assumption cannot so easily be applied to women for whom gender oppression comes second to, for example, racial or class oppression.^{[citation needed]}

From the perspective of some strands of feminism, as well as the men's movement and queer theory, inequalities and stereotypes based on gender are detrimental to both men and women and both sexes suffer from the expectations of traditional gender roles.

Many who support masculism argue that because of both traditional gender roles and sexism infused into society by feminists, males are and have been oppressed. Marriage Rights advocates oppose feminist aspirations to replace the traditional family, as illustrated by statements made by a variety of feminist leaders such as Shelia Cronan's view that marriage constitutes slavery for women, and the women's movement must concentrate on attacking this institution and that freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage. Dr. Mary Jo Bane, associate director of Wellesley College's Center for Research on Woman suggested that to raise children with equality, they should be taken from families and communally raised. Men and Family rights groups oppose feminists such as Robin Morgan, the openly lesbian editor of Ms. Magazine, who advocated 'man-hating' as an honorable and viable political act and concludes the inequities between men and women cannot be resolved until marriage is destroyed. Family and Men's Rights groups are also critical of Feminist encouragment of Lesbian agendas which undermine the traditional role of men in the family, such as Sheila Cronan's National NOW Times January 1988 interview statements declaring every woman must be willing to be identified as a lesbian to be fully feminist^{[citation needed]}. Many critics of feminism are alarmed by the prevalence of lesbians such as Patricia Ireland, the head of NOW, in feminist leadership roles. Men's Rights advocates view much of contemporary feminist issues "extremist" due to their perception that feminist demands such as equal rights has been achieved.^{[citation needed]} Issues such as the Violence Against Women Act are viewed as discriminatory of men. Father's Rights advocates are critical of feminist efforts to block shared parenting, or joint custody, after divorce.

Ann Widdecombe, a British Conservative politician and former leadership candidate, claimed that feminism slowly evolved into its antithesis[4]. She argues that 1970s rhetoric emphasized equal rights and self-sufficiency, whereas 1990s rhetoric demanded special assistance for women and implied that women could not look after themselves. She identifies with the former variant, and describes the latter as "absolute tosh".

[edit] Academic research about feminist issues

Some natural and social scientists have used science in order to question theories of innate social or cognitive differences between men and women; some examples follow:

• Anne Fausto-Sterling's book Myths of Gender explores the assumptions embodied in scientific research that purports to support a biologically essentialist view of gender.

• Carol Tavris, in The Mismeasure of Woman, uses psychology and sociology to voice the failure to identify innate differences between males and females and to pin down how these differences dictate, and account for, perceived differences between men and women. She argues there is a reliance on ever-changing hypothesizes (and the hysteria they create instead of evidence) to justify inequality. She further argues a tendency to punish women for not conducting themselves on traditional male terms, which provides a counter-argument for Warren Farrell's wage-gap ideas.

• Evelyn Fox Keller has argued that the rhetoric of science reflects a masculine perspective, and questions the idea of scientific objectivity. Many anthropologists (Haviland, Prins, Walrather, McBride) noted that a non-masculine perspective is relatively new in studies of human evolution and culture. Primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives, Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection) notes the prevalence of masculine-coined stereotypes and theories, such as the non-sexual female, despite "the accumulation of abundant openly available evidence contradicting it" (Hrdy, 1988, p.120).

• Other researchers who have exposed flaws in social and scientific theories cited by some anti-feminist authors include Barbara Ehrenreich, Kristin Luker, and Stephanie Coontz. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Famous feminists

See list of feminists.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] Books

[edit] External links

[edit] Feminist organizations Ansar Burney Trust Association for Women in Psychology The Association of Libertarian Feminists Center for the Advancement of Women Committee for Asian Women FemINist INitiative of BC Feminist Majority NOW - National Organization for Women in the United States. Women living under muslim laws Feminists for Free Expression Feminists for Life ifeminists: the home for individualist feminism on the net 1001 Feminist Links - The Lilith Gallery of Toronto. Independent Women's Forum The Women's Studies Department at Wikiversity [edit] Supportive of feminism Feminism & Nonviolence Studies Susan Brownmiller.com: Where Feminism Lives Judith Butler - Bibliography Naomi Wolf - Resources FemBio - Notable Women International Susan Faludi - Resources Hattie Gossett - Biography EServer Feminism and Women's Studies The Seneca Falls Convention: Teaching about the Rights of Women and the Heritage of the Declaration of Independence Women's Freedom Network [edit] Critical of feminism, or specific types of feminism MensNewsDaily RADAR Men's Activism News Network Equity feminism Eagle Forum The Masculist Perspective: Response to Feminist Claims Concerned Women for America Why Congress Should Ignore Radical Feminist Opposition to Marriage Female Anti-Feminism for Fame and Profit, by Jennifer Pozner criticizes so-called "dissident" feminists such as Christina Hoff-Sommers [edit] Feminism and religion Riffat Hasan on Religious conservatism: Feminist theology as a means of combating injustice towards women in muslim communities/culture Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution from the Jewish Women's Archive Islam from Patriarch