Feminist Theory
Sanela Zahirovic
Danielle West
Feminism and It’s Roots
• Feminist theory is an outgrowth of the general
movement to empower women worldwide.
• Feminism is a women-centered approach to the
study of human behavior.
• Through analysis of gender roles and gender
appropriateness, feminist theory demonstrates
how women have historically been subjected to
a double standard in both treatment and in the
evaluation of their worth.
Feminism
• Feminism is: a recognition and critique of
male supremacy combined with efforts to
change it.
• Feminists fight for the equality of women
and argue that women should share
equally in society’s opportunities and
scarce resources.
First Women’s Convention
• Seneca Falls, New York, 1848 (Birthplace of
Feminism)
• More than 300 people attended
• Discussed social, civil, and religious condition of
women
• Marked the beginning of a 72 year battle to gain
right to vote in the US
• 1920, US became 17 country in the world to give voting rights to
women. New Zealand was the 1st-1893.
• Declaration of Sentiments
Declaration of Sentiments
• First draft written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Modeled on Declaration of Independence
• Paragraph 2 states: “We hold these truths to be selfevident; that all men and women are created equal;
that they are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these
rights governments are instituted, derived their just
powers from the consent of the governed”
Feminism in Germany
• Feminism though led by Marianne Weber in
early 20th century Germany.
• Active attempt to reach economic and political
equality between men and women
• 1905, another German feminist group emerged.
• Concerned with sexual autonomy, led to what is
known as erotic movement.
• Helen Stoker became the leader of erotic movement in
1906. Issues of sexual politics and matrimonial law became
the focus-Right of women to engage in sexual relations
regardless of marital and legal considerations
Max and Marianne Weber
• Criticized these women
• Believed the promoted rights of “free love” and “illegitimate”
children.
• View the erotic movement as unethical and hedonistic
• Marianne Weber, agreed with her husband
• Ehefrau und Mutter in der Rechtesentwicklung-1907
• Believed that women’s movement should focus on equality of
women and not sexual and moral emancipation.
• Women should be financial independent
• Paid for domestic chores
• Women should be treated equally in social institutions of
marriage
• Believed in marriage between man and woman only
• Alienated many other feminists (especially lesbian feminists)
Contemporary Feminist
Movement
• Second wave of Feminism-1960s
• “Free love” helped women escape the sexual
double standard
• Divorce became easier to obtain
• Women found fulfillment outside the home.
• Focused on women having equal rights and
reaching this goal through legal reform and
legislating antidiscriminatory policies
Contemporary Feminist
Movement
• Examining the race-class-gender linkage
originated with African American feminists in the
1960s.
• Feminization of Poverty
• Women more likely then men to be poor
• Usually single women, women of color and elderly women living
alone
• Mainstream white feminists often negligent of
the reality of women of color
• More concerned with poverty than disadvantages associated with
gender
Liberal Feminism
• Most mainstream perspective
• Based on idea that all people are created equal
and should not be denied equal opportunity
based on gender
• Best exemplified by National Organization for
women (NOW)
• Formed in 1966
• Works within established socioeconomic and political systems to
advocate social change on behalf of women
Liberal Feminism
• Obstacles to equality lie in traditional laws and
behaviors
• Primary obstacle is sexism
• Sexists attitude about appropriate gender roles for men and
women continues to lead to discrimination and prejudice against
women
• Equality also hampered by women who are
reluctant to exercise their rights
• Strive for equality and civil rights for all
individuals
Liberal Feminism
• Equality is best accomplished through programs
that prohibit discrimination and education
program that teach children that society's roles
are not gender-specific
• Ex. men-doctors, women-nurses
• Educating that gender roles are learned not
innate
• Criticized for failing to explain institutionalized
social classes and racial oppression
Marxist Feminism
• Similar to thoughts of Karl Marx and conflict
theory
• Division of labor was related to gender role
expectations
• women-homemakers, men-breadwinners
• Means of production controlled by men
• Women exploited by existing social systems
• Working class women are paid less then their
male counterparts
Marxist Feminism
• Social system needs to change to the point where
women have equal access to the control of the
means of production
• Steps to equality
• First step: entering workforce
• Second step: advancing to management
• Ultimate goal: women owning the means of production
• Acknowledged class differences
• Invites all women to understand that the women’s
oppression is the product of political, social, and
economic structures associated with capitalism
Radical Feminism
• Views patriarchy as sexual system of power in which male
possesses superior power and economic privilege
• Sexism is the ultimate tool used by men, to keep women
oppressed
• Male power and privilege is the basis of social relations
• View patriarchy as having emerged from men’s attempt to
control, females sexuality
• Through patriarchal gender socialization
• Creation of norms of acceptable sexual behavior
• Men exercise sexual power in many violent forms
• Rape, incest, sexual harassment and battery
• Not always physical-ex. encouraging certain style of dress,
motherhood, unpaid housework
Radical Feminism
• Heterosexuality as a tool of male dominance
• Many ways to escape the cage of femininity
• Androgynous culture, replacing male culture with female culture,
celibacy, lesbianism
• Refusing to reproduce is the most effective way
for women to escape
• All existing structures are created by men
• Ex religion: God is male.
Socialist Feminism
• Women’s oppression as stemming from their work in the
family and economy
• Inferior positions of women in the social system is the
result of class-based capitalism (similar to Marxist
Feminism)
• Ex. Unpaid housework
• Capitalism is not the only cause
• Attempts to adapt socialist principles to both the
workplace and at the home to increase gender equity
• Social change will occur through increased consciousness
and knowledge of how society’s social structures are
designed and operate to oppress women
Socialist Feminism
• Private and public sphere
• Men-public (workplace), women-private (home)
• Private-invisible
• Argue for two things:
• 1. An increased emphasis on the private sphere and
the role of women in household
• 2. Equal opportunities for women in the public sphere
Postmodern Feminism
• Attempt to criticize the dominant order and to
valorize the feminine woman
• Utilizes postmodern theory and its assumption
that we no longer live under conditions of
modernity, but of postmodernity
• Postmodern world is a global world highlighted
by technology that controls and promotes
consumerism
Postmodern Feminism
• Believe that concepts and outlooks used to
examine the world in the past no longer apply to
the analysis of the world today
• All theory is socially constructed and resent the
claim of modernists that only rational, abstract
thought and scientific methodology can lead to
valid knowledge
Dorothy E. Smith
• Born: 1926 in Great Britain
• 1955: B.A. in sociology from
London School of Economics
• 1963: Ph.D. in sociology from U
of California at Berkeley
• Feminist thinking and
sociological approach are deeply
influenced by experiences of
being a lecturer at Berkeley in an
almost all-male staff and being a
single mother.
Bifurcation
“conceptual distinction between the world as we
experience it and the world as we come to know it
through the conceptual frameworks that science
invents”
• Attempt to expose gender-biased assumptions within the
social sciences
• Male-power-based gender construction of roles has
legitimized gender inequality in society
• Proposed reorganization of sociology
Sandra Harding
Born: 1935
• Professor of education and women’s
studies at UCLA
• Director of the Center for the Study
of Women
• Leading feminist and philosopher
who taught for two decades at
University of Delaware
• Given over 200 lectures
internationally and has served as a
consultant to UN organizations.
Feminist Theory
• Criticized all sociological theories
• Does not believe in idea of universal theory, but
specific theories should be designed for specific
categories of people
• Empirical research is biased
• Believes all males and all whites benefit from their
ascribed status (ignores empirical data like the poor,
war vets, and homeless)
Neutrality and Objectivity in
Science
• Science is male-dominated, biased, and lacking
in objectivity
• Objectivist methods are encouraged to eliminate
the social and political values and interests of
researchers
• Encouraged women to stop disagreeing among
themselves and encourage more feminists to
enter science. (For whistleblowing purposes
Patricia Hill Collins
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Born: 1948 in Philadelphia
1969: B.A. from Brandeis
1970: M.A. from Harvard
1984: Ph.D. from Brandeis
• Sociological concerns mirror
experiences as an African American
woman who broke many barriers
and who often felt marginalized.
• Outsider within: (Similar to
Simmel’s idea of the stranger) One
part of the group feels distanced
from the group.
Feminist Theory and
Methodology
• Believes that the focus of sociological theory
should be the “outsider” groups that usually lack a
“voice” in scientific framework
• Promotes using subjective analysis to study all of these
voices
• Agrees with Harding regarding white male
interests saturating traditional scholarship.
• She also rejects empirical data and statistical analysis in
favor of documentation of voices of black women in all
social settings.
Theory and Methodology Con’t
• Collins describes positivism as “Eurocentric masculinist”
• Emotional components like feelings are important in the
gathering of knowledge.
• Values SI approach
• Individual level of analysis
Black Feminism
• Ideas produced by Black women that clarify a
standpoint of and for Black women
• 1. The meaning of self-definition and self-valuation:
• Studying social reality of Black women
• Take that self image to black women learning to value themselves and
empower themselves in societal structure
• 2. The interlocking nature of oppression:
• Society has taught black women that racism, sexism, and poverty are
inevitable for them and keep them oppressed
• Awareness will empower and unite to fight system
• 3. The importance of African-American women’s culture
• Examination of family life and relationship between mother/child
(expectations and perceptions)