Liberal Feminism and the
Equality/Difference Debate
Week 3
Gender and Society
Recap
• Considered social construction of gender
• Considered the role of the media and
schools in the construction of gender
• Looked at how gender impacts on work
and sexuality
Outline
• The origins of Liberal Feminism
• Areas of interest
• Equality/Difference debate
Origins of Liberal Feminism
• Liberalism emerged as a philosophic movement
• Humans should be free and equal within society
• Governments should protect and
promote freedom and equality
Early liberal feminists
• Women campaigners pointed out that women
were often excluded from these calls for equality
• Women campaigners against slavery drew links
between the legal and political position of slaves
and themselves
• Abolitionist and Women’s Suffrage movements
particularly entwined
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815 -1902)
‘The prejudice against color, of which we hear so
much, is no stronger than that against sex. It is
produced by the same cause, and manifested
very much in the same way. The negro's skin
and the woman's sex are both prima facie
evidence that they were intended to be in
subjection to the white Saxon man’
Jone Johnson Lewis. "Elizabeth Cady Stanton Quotes." About Women's History. URL:
http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/ec_stanton.htm . Date accessed: (12/10/06).
The Second Sex
• 1960s saw the rise of 2nd Wave Liberal
Feminism
• Friedan published ‘The Feminine
Mystique’
• Explored the position of women in society
and the breadmaker/homemaker divide
‘The problem with no name’
‘The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the
minds of American Women. It was a strange stirring a
sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered
in the middle of the twentieth century in the US. Each
suburban housewife struggled it with it alone. As she
made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched
slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her
children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay
beside her husband at night, she was afraid to ask even
of herself the silent question: ‘Is this all?’
Friedan B (1963) The Feminine Mystique London Penguin p13
Public/Private Divide
• Demolished the myth of the contented
housewife
• Illustrate the impact of
women’s mental health
• Affirmed women’s right and need to be
active in the public sphere
• To what extent do you think the image of
women’s place as primarily a homemaker
is important in today’s society?
Liberal Feminism
• Sex/Gender distinction is a key concept
• Grounded in the ideas of the enlightenment
• Gaining formal equality is essential to change
women’s position
• Concentrate on formal measures to promote
equality
Women as individuals
• Women are seen as (potentially) equal
citizens
• Fewer numbers of women in top jobs
because of structural inequality not lack of
ability
– Women received less education
– Restricted range of occupations
– Less likely to achieve promotions
– Burdened with domestic responsibilities
Sources of gender inequality
• Gendered socialisation of children
• Women’s role as primary carer
• Gendered division of labour
– In the home
– In the workplace
• Unequal pay
• Barriers to power
Ways to overcome inequality
• Gender-neutral education
• End barriers to occupations and promotion
• Equal-representation rules for political
positions
• Shared parenting and adequate childcare
• Access to reproductive services
Changes in the public sphere
• Liberal feminism is closely associated with
campaigns to promote equality through
law and political power
– Equal Pay Act 1970 (UK)
– Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (UK)
– Equal Rights Amendment Campaign (USA)
– All women shortlists for Parliamentary seats
Formal Success
• Women can no longer legally be asked about
their marital status or children in job interviews
• But it doesn’t stop it being thought about
• Women still routinely discriminated against at
work
– 30,000 Women in the UK loose their jobs because
they are pregnant
– Recent women graduates earn 15% less than men.
(www.eoc.org.uk)
Second Shift
• Although through the reforms and
agendas sponsored by liberal feminism
women have made gains in education and
employment
• But this has left them with the double
burden of working within and outside the
home.
Work-family balance
• Why do you think men, in general, have
not taken on any of their
responsibilities for
children and the home?
Equality/Difference
• Liberal feminism has been divided over
the equality/difference debate
• Should equality mean treating men and
women the same or can you achieve
equality by treating them differently?
Equality in an unequal world?
• Promotion procedure
– Minimum of five years service
– Responsibility for supervising staff
– Best candidate for the job
Equality in an unequal world?
• Promotion procedure
– Minimum of five years service
– Responsibility for supervising staff
– Best candidate for the job
• Man
–Six years full time
continuous service
–Supervises 2 others full-time
Equality in an unequal world?
• Promotion procedure
– Minimum of five years service
– Responsibility for supervising staff
– Best candidate for the job
• Man
– Six years full time continuous service
– Supervises 2 others full-time
• Woman
– Six years service but 18 months on maternity
leave, and now works part-time as a job share
– Supervises I other, but shares this with the jobsharer
Equality in an unequal world?
• If gender-neutral, man may be offered the
promotion as has continuous services and
full-time supervisory responsibility
– Women may never achieve promotions
• If equality can mean treating people
differently then both would meet the
criteria, and promotion could be on other
qualities
What is equality?
• Discuss with the person sitting next to you
to what extent you believe that you should
treat people differently to achieve
equality?
Equal Opportunities?
• 1979 Sex Discrimination Case in the US
– Sears vs Equal Employment Opportunities
Commission
• Sears different hiring practices for men
and women
– Not discrimination
– Men & women different cultures which gave
different employment interests
• Sears won
Equal Opportunities?
• Male dominated manual occupations in
Birmingham had unsociable hours bonus
schemes not available to female
dominated occupations
– Street cleaners/care assistants
• The prize money offered for sporting
events is sometimes less for women
– The Singles Tennis Winners at Wimbledon
tournament in 2006 was different by £30,000
Equal Opportunities?
• ‘Affirmative action’ programmes encourage
applicant from disadvantaged
backgrounds
– Reduced entrance requirements
– Quotas
• Being the ‘token’ person
Equality/Difference
• Problems don’t just relate to women and
men, but also to other disadvantages:
– Class
– Ethnicity
– Sexuality
– Age
– Disability
• No universal category of woman
Working Within
• Liberal Feminism offers a critique of
current organisation of society
• But it does not formally challenge the
structure of society itself
• Nor does it account for differences
between women
Summary
• Considered in more detail the social
construction of gender
• Outlined the viewpoint of liberal feminisms
• Introduced the equality/difference debate
Next week
• Gender inequality from the perspective of
Marxist feminists
• Introduce their concept of ‘reproduction’
– paid and unpaid work
• Consider dual systems theories