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Compare and contrast radical feminism and liberal feminism
Lobbying in government
How society is influenced by gender inequality
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Liberal versus Marxist Feminism and Women in Corporate America
Liberal feminists believe that oppression and inequality must be justified. In other words, any inequality between genders must be explained and justified, in order for it to be accepted by the liberal feminists. According to our textbook, the liberal feminism originated from the social contract theories. Such theories state that all forms of social domination or authority must be justified, according to the textbook. Liberal feminists hold a view that every member of the society should be equal. They also insist that the violent forms of oppression should be controlled throughout the society, for they find domestic violence and violence against women to an unjustifiable form of oppression. They also argue that the development of an individual is usually forced into a gender "channel", where members of different sex groups are gradually taught and instructed to follow a certain particular gender pattern.
Marxist feminism supports the idea that the biological difference cannot justify any form of oppression and inequality in human societies. Marxist feminists do believe that biological differences are not responsible for oppression and inequality between sexes. Instead, Marxist feminists argue that it is the class structure that is responsible for the oppression and inequality between sexes. Particularly, Marxist feminists state that the capitalism is primarily responsible for the class structure in our society. They further challenge the idea that the equality is possible in the capitalistic system.
Common: Both types of feminism do agree that inequality and oppression between sexes is social rather than being biological. Both systems advocate equality for mem...
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...now that there is an organization for lobbying purposes. What scares me is that most groups that desire the change in the country have representatives and lobbyists. In other word, if you need thing changed and maintained your way, make a special interest group. Similarly, the feminist movement would have a special interest group that would lobby and influence the state and federal senate to their point of view. The scary part is whether it is right. I know that such propaganda and influence is necessary in the U.S. government. I am still though scared to think that this is the only way to change our society. Whether lobbyists are the only output of our intentions on a national wide scale. I know that it is used and effective, but I am still scared. If this is the only way to move us, people, to the better or worst, then my fears have very good foundations.
By linking sociological theory and political reform, feminists aim to end inequalities between men and women in both public and private environments. Feminist theory is where things such as gender, class, and race meet. Emphasis is placed on masculine versus feminine
“The root of the word “oppression” is the element “press”… Something pressed is something caught between or among forces and barriers which are so elated to each other that jointly the restrain, restrict or prevent the thing’s motion or mobility” (Frye, 84-85). Oppression is something felt by many different social groups in societies around the world. The feminist movement is one that sets out to dismantle sexist oppression. Marilyn Frye describes an oppression that she believes is common to all women despite ethnic or racial differences. Kimberlé Crenshaw, in her Tedtalk, however, argues that there is a common experience between females of different social groups due to certain constructs in society, and Audre Lorde discusses how crucial it
The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.
Classical liberal feminism attributes the inequalities women experience to their lack of access to the economic and political spheres of social life, which in turn is caused by the legal and social restrictions that are placed upon them. With the liberal principle of universal human rights as their basis (which dictates that all humans are equal in worth), liberal feminists argue that men and women must be treated equally, which can be accomplished by eradicating any limitations (whether legal or social) that prevent women from participating in the same spheres as men. Furthermore, means that are required for women to function and flourish in these spheres, such as the right to education, must be granted to them. Classical
The ideology of feminism is that women should be treated as potential intellectual equals and social equals to men. Feminism also, by its nature, embraces the belief that all people are entitled to freedom and liberty within reason-including equal civil rights-and that discrimination should not be made based on gender, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, religion, culture, or life style. Feminists -and all persons interested in civil equality and intellectuality are dedicated to fighting the ignorance that says people are controlled by and limited to their biology, Elizabeth Blackwell is considered an important
In the U.S., feminism is understood as the rights of women (usually affluent white women) to share the spoils of capitalism, and imperial power. By refusing to fully confront the exclusions of non-whites, foreigners, and other marginalized groups from this vision, liberal feminists miss a crucial opportunity to create a more inclusive and more powerful movement. Feminist movements within the U.S. and internationally have long since accepted that, for them, feminism entails the communal confrontation of not only patriarchy, but capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, and other forms of oppressions that combine together and reinforce their struggle. It means the fighting for the replacement of a system in which their rights are negated in the quest for corporate and political profit. It includes fighting so that all people anywhere on the gender, sexual, and body spectrum are allowed to enjoy basic rights like food, housing, healthcare, and control of their labor.
Feminist theory, in particular, has influenced my sense of social justice and helped me discover my personal sense of social activism. Feminism, by definition, is a social justice movement. Its four main philosophies (liberal feminism, cultural feminism, radical feminism, and socialist feminism), as explained by Jones-Smith (2012) focus on equality. Of the four philosophies, I was very interested in social feminism. Socialist feminist has a goal of “change in institutional and social relationships” (Jones-Smith, 2012, p.365). I relate strongly to this philosophy as I believe that in order to attain social justice, change must be made at an institutional and political level. This philosophy has largely influenced my definition of social justice in the field of
Throughout the waves of liberal feminism, there is a new characteristic to be associated with the feminist group. In the first waves, it’s white, married, wealthy women who fit the criteria to be a feminist. The first wave begins in 1900 and ends around 1920, during the times of the Suffragettes. This wave began to introduce the inequalities between men and women, especially relating to voting and education. The second wave began to rise in 1950 which introduced reproductive rights, entitlement to sex, marriage, jobs, social lives, and politics. This wave continued to the 1970’s. It’s not until the third wave, which hits in the 1990’s, when inequalities among women are introduced to the feminist movement (FYS Class Notes).
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
Feminism is the movement for removing inequalities from society. Women imbued with a spirit of radicalism understand that a liberal feminist attitude, despite the seeming slowness of change that accompanies it, may transform a community more rapidly than a revolutionary approach that alienates those to be convinced and, thus, extinguishes the possibility of improvement. (Weaver 49) Feminists confront the problems of their society in hopes of altering society to be equal.
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
Feminist sociology focuses on examining and understanding gender in its relation to power within society as well as individuals. The fundamental principle of feminist sociology is the idea that in most societies, women have been oppressed and that men have been more dominant throughout history. Feminist theory directly relates to feminist sociology. According to the Introduction to Sociology 2e textbook, “feminist theory is a type of conflict theory that examines inequalities in gender-related issues. It uses the conflict approach to examine the maintenance of gender roles and inequalities” (Openstax 261). This paper aims to analyze feminist theory, discuss its history, as well as emphasizing a current social
Feminism can simply be defined as a range of movements and ideologies in which share a common ground in terms of defining, establishing and achieving equal opportunities to that of males, in regards to economic, cultural and social rights. It is a critique of male supremacy with efforts in changing this to end the social oppression of women. (Hooks, 2000)
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.
Michael Levin, a professor of philosophy and author of the book Feminism and Freedom, faults feminism for trying to impose an inappropriate equality on men and women that conflicts basic biological differences between the sexes (Levin, Taking Sides, 42). Women are not the same as men, neither physically nor psychologically. In the past, men tended to be the stronger more powerful gender, while women have traditionally been viewed as the weaker, more feeble one. The untrue assumption that men and women are the same in their ways of thinking and physical capabilities leads to the failure of the feminist message. Their agenda of eliminating all observable differences between men and women is doomed to fail and will inflict more pain than gain in the process. Recognizing the differences between the sexes and allowing each to do what they are strongest at will in the long run make society stronger, more efficient, and more effective.