Feminism notes
5 key thinkers beliefs simplified
Strands of feminism
Liberal feminist
Social feminist
Intersectional/post modern feminism
Impacts of: human nature, economy, state, society
Core beliefs: personal is political, sex and gender, patriarchy, equality and difference, intersec...
● First wave: 1850-1940 legal and political rights of women
○ Suffragette movement
● Second wave: 1960-1980 different roles of women expected from men
and the society
● Third wave: 1990s feminism failed to identify and recognise concerns of
women from other cultures
● Fourth wave: 2008 + reacting against online misogyny
Sex and gender
● No justification for gender stereotypes despite biological differences
● Patriarchal society gives gender roles to women to keep them inferior
and less powerful than men
● Gender roles in the home does the most harm
○ Traditional roles eg caregiver and supporter of men’s roles
Sex v gender
● Sex
○ Biological differences between men and women
○ Male and female categories
○ The same regardless of time and culture
● Gender
○ Social and cultural differences between men and women
○ Masculine and feminine categories
○ Expectations differ across time and culture
Patriarchy
● Patriarchy is a system run by and for men
, ● Women denied representation and underrepresented in formal positions
of power in the state
● Women discouraged for occupations outside the ome
● Society reinforces messages of women’s domestic role and unrealistic
expectation of women’s appearances through culture
● Women made to feel abnormal for having sexual feelings, men were
allowed to fully explore feelings
● Women pushed towards low paid part time work or or that would put
them as assistant to men
● Domestic abuse only recently taken seriously in society before it was
considered a private matter
Personal is political
● Challenge the idea that what goes in the private sphere has nothing to
do with the rest of society. Private issues:
○ Household divisions of labour
○ Attitude to women who want to work
○ Morality associated with women’s sexuality
○ Objectification of women
● Private issues ways of keeping women in subordinate place in society
● Distinction between public and private was about power and is political
Equality and difference feminism
Equality feminism
● Belief that differences between men and women are irrelevant
● Both can be considered equally capable of fulfilling all role in society
except child bearing
● No such thing as male or female characteristics
● Character differences between males/females are due to nurture not
nature
● Women should want to remove gender roles and take equal place in
society alongside men
Difference feminist
● Aka essentialism
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