French Feminism

1683 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay about gender equality

Feminism -- it is a term that inspires a spectrum of emotions that range from undying passion to unabashed disgust. The first time that I gave serious thought to where my heart stood on this spectrum was in a Women's Studies course during my freshman year of college. In my mind was the American stereotype of a feminist: a bra-burning, man-hating, and somewhat-hairy old maid. As a self-proclaimed, loudmouth liberal that despises patriarchy and other forms of gender discrimination, I wanted to call myself a feminist, but I could not align myself with that unfeminine stereotype.

Being a collector of high heels, lover of men, and an abuser of feminine guile, I felt as though claiming to be a feminist would be in turn proving to be a hypocrite. Then I came to the revelation that perhaps it is not feminism that I could not come to terms with, but rather le féminisme à l'américaine. It turns out that despite the United States label on my passport, my personal feminist philosophy is unpatriotically un-American, and instead fantastically French. I want equal pay, but I still want him to pay for the check.

As a political science major by choice, and a female by nature, I am very interested in how this "have your cake and eat it too" attitude of French feminism will apply to my future approach to gaining power in the male-dominated sphere of law and politics. Both the United States and France are historic, as well as modern, oppressors of women, and despite liberation movements on both sides of the Atlantic, women are still extremely disproportionately represented in positions of power. Subsequently, this paper will tie together the fields of Women's Studies, Political Science, and French Culture by discussin...

... middle of paper ...

..., Françoise and Farhad Khosrokhavar. "The Headscarf and the Republic." Trans. Eva Valenta. Beyond French Feminisms: Debates on Women, Politics, and Culture in France, 1981-2001. Ed. Roger Célestin, Eliana DalMolin, and Isabelle de Courtivron. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 61-67.

Inter-Parliamentary Union. " Women in Parliaments." Inter-Parliamentary Union. 10 April 2005. 15 April 2005. <www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm>

McMillan, James. France and Women 1789-1914: Gender, Society, and Politics. London: Routledge, 2000.

Sineau, Mariette. "Parité in Politics: From Radical Idea to Consensual Reform." Trans. Heidi Kyser Genoist and Margaret Colvin. Beyond French Feminisms: Debates on Women, Politics, and Culture in France, 1981-2001. Ed. Roger Célestin, Eliana DalMolin, and Isabelle de Courtivron. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003, 113-125.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Lynn Peril Pink Think

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout history, women were challenged with inequality and discrimination within a patriarchal society such voting in presidential elections, owning property and having job opportunities. During the last century, there have been many achievements that guarantee women rights and equality. For example, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920 and the Equal Employment Opportunities Law prohibited employers from discriminating against gender in 1988.1 In her essay, “Pink Think”, Lynn Peril argues about the pressure on women that follow the rules of femininity.2 She describes the word “Pink Think”, as ideas and attitudes of proper women behavior.2 Although there are still some aspects of “Pink Think” culture that is still recognized today, the shifts in cultural and political events in recent centuries have increased attention to women’s issues against social injustice. Nevertheless, Peril neglects the fact that women today are living in a totally different time than how she pictures it because of the newly evolved cultural attitudes of gender roles and identity, labor, and living the American Dream.

    Read More

  • Political Feminism and its Misrepresentation

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    One theory of feminism that exists is the world is “Second Wave feminism” (Mandle, 2014). This is the most known form of it. These were the successors to the First-Wave feminists who primarily focused on suffrage and legal rights in the 19th and 20th century (Burkett, 2013). The fundamental goals of Second Wave feminism are different from the first, since they primarily center themselves on abolishing workplace inequality, such as the proverbial glass ceiling and salary difference, through anti-discrimination laws.” (Tavaana, 2014). The ideals proposed by this kind, were adopted by the government in the form of bills and laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014). This again, is what one would consider the mainstream feminism.

    Read More

  • How Does Feminism Shape Society?

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    With the strong belief and desire to have equality for all people, feminists shape our society in ways to which they fight for the betterment of humans. “Feminist” is a genderless and raceless noun, meaning anyone can be a feminist if they please. Feminism is performed and executed differently amongst varying communities—such as white, black, or brown communities. There are no written procedures one must do or go through to become a part of feminism. The only requirements for feminism are having the personal want for equality, and the personal preference to be labeled as a feminist. Many times, people think of feminism to be a movement in which women try to become superior to men. Along with this, being called a “feminist” to some is frowned upon and seen as a form of domination. These thoughts tend to be due to the lack of understanding feminism. What many people believe to be the hatred for men and the

    Read More

  • Third Wave Feminism Analysis

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Feminism is a group of movements and ideologies that have a common goal: the political, economic and social equality of the sexes ("Feminism," 2015). Historians have debated the origin of feminism (Rampton, 2015). Did it begin with the greek poetess Sappho? Or with the french author, Christine de Pizan, who is regarded as the the first woman to take up her pen in defense of her sex (Beauvoir, 1953, p. 105)? Women throughout history have challenged society's attitudes when it comes to the female gender and their contributions overtime have made a great impact for women all around the world today. It was around the eighteenth century when Mary Wollstonecraft, often distinguished as the first feminist philosopher, advocated for the same respect and rights for the female sex. However, it was not until the late nineteenth century, that the feminist movement, or rather a series of movements, emerged.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast Women’s Suffrage Movements

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, nothing remains of the former social role of women. Nearly all professions are open to women. The numbers of women in the government and traditionally male-dominated fields have dramatically increased. More women than men earn bachelor’s degrees. Many women's groups still prevail and are major political forces. Although the two movements hoped to achieve different things and used different tactics, they still came together to gain women’s rights and have achieved more than anyone would have ever anticipated.

    Read More

  • Rap Music Anti Feminist

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    Feminism, in its simplest definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. (Webster) Feminists fight for equality for women to men socially, politically, and economically. At the peak of feminist discourse is equality for men and women in education and in employment. However, feminism also focuses on more than issues regarding the rights of women in relation to men. Issues of gender equality and women’s right to control their sexuality are also at the core of feminist theory. A key argument made by many feminists is how women have very little control over their sexuality, mainly being defined and controlled by men. T...

    Read More

  • The Status of Women in the Work Force After the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

    3924 Words  | 8 Pages

    Nelson, Barbara and Chowdhury, Najma, eds. Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

    Read More

  • Feminist Theory - There is No One Definition of Woman

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    The message of Lugones and Spelman in Have We Got a Theory for You! Feminist Theory, Cultural Imperialism and the Demand for “The Woman’s Voice,” is that the entire worldwide experience of women cannot be universally articulated. Blanket definition of woman is impossible due to the many characteristics of women that make the gender so diverse, specifically race and economic status in society. “The women’s voices most likely to come forth and the women’s voices mostly likely to be heard are, in the United States anyway, those of white, middle-class, heterosexual Christian women” (Lugones and Spelman 21). Since “feminist theory” has been established without encompassing the inherently different experiences of non-white/non-Anglo women “much of the theory has failed to be relevant to the lives of women who are not white or middle class” (Ibid. 21). This displacement of a large population of the world’s women from feminist theory is extremely threatening to the development of a woman’s voice, in so far as this voice is key to fighting the battles that feminism sets out to fight: the end of re...

    Read More

  • Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

    3024 Words  | 7 Pages

    As widely cited the French Revolution served as the greatest war of liberation of the human race and decried as bloodthirsty lesson on the working of mob mentality. Women despite their extensive participation in the relatively legitimate and orderly legislative and political process, which characterized the first phase of the Revolution, as well as in the violence of the Terror were no better off in 1804 after the formulation of the Napoleonic Code. The question asked is plain. How did women after achieving hard-earned triumph, slip back to the controlling rule of men? The answer lies in the contemporary notions about women, and the image of the ideal revolutionary mother and wife propounded by philosophers, political leaders, and even women of the time. This is essentially the focus for this paper, as the paper expounds on the seemingly elusive women rights

    Read More

  • Simone de Beauvoir in Relation to Howard Gardner's Model of Creativity

    2865 Words  | 6 Pages

    When Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986, the wreath of obituaries almost universally spoke of her as the 'mother' of contemporary feminism and its major twentieth century theoretician. De Beauvoir, it was implied as much as stated, was the mother-figure to generations of women, a symbol of all that they could be, and a powerful demonstration of a life of freedom and autonomy (Evans 1).

    Read More

  • Gender Differences throughout History

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    The study of gender and its historical analysis has, itself, evolved. Linda Kerber in her essay Seperate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman’s Place: The Rhetoric of Women’s History argues that the metaphor of a separate women’s sphere which she traces back to the Victorian era and to de Tocqueville’s analysis of America—and which may, indeed, have been useful at one point, i...

    Read More

  • Gender Equity in the 21st Century

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    The “Politics” section, from the UN’s 2008 report of the progress of the world’s women, discusses in detail how women’s roles in government and politics in general have expanded and can continue to expand. Moreover, it also explores different challenges and obstacles women may encounter when it comes to politics, and how these obstacles can be overcome. In discussing these issues, the author describes a “cycle of political accountability”. This so called cycle is a process by which women’s engagement in politics results in a positive “feedback loop” whereby a more gender-balanced political system may arise. According to the report, there are five stages: mobilization, representation, legislation & policy, implementation, and transforming politics. Of course, the cycle can also go backwards leading to the loss of rights for women.

    Read More

  • Betty Weinman Lear: The Second Wave Feminism

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In short, feminism, which one might have supposed as dead as the Polish Question, is again an issue. Proponents call it the Second Feminist Wave, the first having ebbed after the glorious victory of suffrage and disappeared, finally, into the great sandbar of Togetherness.”

    Read More

  • Feminist Political Ideology

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women. Studying how the philosophies are constructed and what makes them unjust, this field constantly generates new ideas on how these philosophies need to be fundamentally reconstructed. Liberal feminism, for example, was built around promoting economic and political equality for women. By arguing the older concepts of the split between public and private realms as a way to politically protect male domination of women as “natural”, and ideas about a women’s place in the household, came evidence that supported legal cases leading “to the criminalization in the United States of spousal rape” (qtd. in McAfee). Another completely different approach is radical feminism, which advocates a separation from the whole system, perceiving that the sexual relations between male and female as the basis of gender inequality and female subordination (qtd. in McAfee). Democratic femin...

    Read More

  • Feminism

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    For some the label of feminism mean misandry (hatred of men) while others it is just a single issue label. For the former it is a movement for reform and empowerment of women. For the latter the issue of a single issue label is that it does not cover the relevant issues such as race, orientation or class. Feminism doesn’t have to be merely a label, it can be a collection of ideas that somebody can support...

    Read More

More about French Feminism

Open Document