Essay
Shifting the Conceptions of Equality
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Shifting the conceptions of equality in North America
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Justine Wallace James212414769
Faye Fraser
November 5, 2015
Shifting Conceptions of Equality
Liberal feminism is the form of feminism most familiar to us and its ideas and assump-
tions come from liberal principles like overcoming attitudes and policies of exclusion.
Many of us define feminism as a belief that we should all have the same rights, or that
women are equal to men and should share roles, opportunities, rights and pay. This is
modern view gives high value to self fulfillment, self- betterment in a “just society.” High
value is placed on human rights, civil liberty, and freedoms.
Early modern feminist claim that society was once made up equally of participat-
ing individuals to both men and women. The idea that women oppression was based in
nature was frowned upon and rather seen as women oppression was the result of soci-
ety mistaken ideas about women nature.
The struggle women encountered were for equal rights, to be included in political
matters, and full citizenship that guarantees both men and women the right to pursue
their interest. According to liberal feminist, gender and justice require us to make the
rules of the game fair and that no one is to be systematically disadvantaged. Liberal
feminism is intended to be a reformist movement, on existing social and political institu-
tions.
Olympe de Gouges was the first to demand equality of rights in her Declaration
of rights of women and the female citizen during the french revolution. The “mother of
liberal feminism” was Mary Wollstonecraft and was advocating schooling for girls and
believed that people had natural rights to self- determination and that it should be ex-
tended to equal partnership based on choice and not hierarchical and hereditary rule.
100 years later and Harriet and John Stuart Mill made claims for women equality
from a liberal philosophical point of view and their argument was for acceptance for
“rights of man” and personal liberty. Harriet and John believed that given greater oppor-
tunities, individuals would correct social inequalities. Women wanted the same
political,economical and educational rights as men. Giving women the right to vote gives
them the power to change systems, structures, and attitudes.
Contemporary liberal feminism is seeing feminism as a theory of women oppres-
sion by patriarchy than a theory of human rights. Sex discrimination deprives women of
their equal rights. Individuals rights are important in society because it provides them
with their own path and allows them to not deprive others of being choosers as well. So-
cial and public policy are structured to give individuals the most opportunity to their free-
doms without jeopardizing the community welfare.
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