FEMINISM APPROACH

MAULIDAR PUTRA 64146/2005

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGE LITERATURE AND ART PADANG STATE UNIVERSITY 2010

I.

INTRODUCTION Feminism is a movement to take it right back from the Patriarchy. Patriarchy is a

system that gives advantages to the men rather than women. Feminism does not agree with that ideology and wants to break the system and takes their right back. According to PageWise, Inc (2010):
Women constantly must fight for their right and sometimes they struggle just to survive without the power and domination of men threatening them. Whether an individual woman wants to conquer patriarchy will come from her desire to be independent and defined outside the context of men.

From the quotation above, its clear that patriarchy system gives advantages to men to dominate the women. Women must fight to take their right back and they have to survive in injustice because the domination of male. Feminism is interested to discuss because it shows that most countries in this world follow the patriarchy system. Patriarchy system is the system that gives advantages to men rather than women. Patriarchy also makes women contaminated with their ideology. It makes women become focus to their physic rather than their mind. They will be less awareness, less confident, and easier to be exploited. The impact of that, Capitalist are easier to hegemony them. They make a role model to make them sure that women have to be like the role model. According to patriarchy, the role model must be slim, white, and tall. Women who are

contaminated with patriarchy system will do anything to be like the role model. Indirectly, it shows that they are less awareness and less confident. Feminism is a movement that rejects the patriarchy system. It rejects the inequality which gives most advantages to men rather than women. Feminist, peoples who support feminism, are people who have awareness and confident. They reject patriarchy system. They also persuade other people to give same portion between men and women in all aspect of life such as social, politic, and economic. Feminism also destruct they issue that woman is born to be wife. Today, many countries have been applying the equality between man and women.

II.

DISCUSSION Feminism is a theory that relate to the social and political practice because there is a

system, patriarchy system, which benefit the men rather than women. In general, feminism theory is motivated by gender inequality because it wants to break the system. Feminist are person who support feminism. It can be men or women. Feminist questions several issues such as the power in sex, social life, political and economic. They question it because those aspects are often happen the inequality. Based on patriarchy system, in social life, women are controlled and constructed by the culture. For example, women must work in the kitchen and take care of the children; in general, their area is domestic area. They are not allowed to join public area. In political view, womens opinions are not accepted. Men claim their though is based on emotional thinking and irrational. In economic relationship, they cannot receive salary equivalency. Their salaries always lower than men. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker in Wikipedia (2010) stated that the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first feminist wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from

the 1990s to the present. A. The First Wave The first feminist wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It focused on the promotion of equal contract and property rights for women and the opposition to chattel marriage and ownership of married women and their children by their husbands. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage. B. The Second Wave The second of feminist was in the 1960s and 1970s. It focused on the civil right movement. It raised the issues of equality and justice. Flanagan (2005) said that Feminist movements waned in Chicago thereafter, as they did across the country, reviving during the 1960s with new movements seeking to use law and legislation to overturn institutionalized political and economic inequality. It means that the second wave of feminist wanted to get the justice in political view and also equal salary in economic.

C. The Third Wave Gender and sexuality are the main focus in the third wave. Feminism in this wave said that gender is created of patriarchy not God. It makes terms masculine for the stereotype of men and feminine for the stereotype of women. Gender is also determined by the culture. It makes women to be dressed with pink color. It also constructs women to be weak. For the men, they are doctrine to be strong. Feminist also comes into literature area. According to literature, modern womens literary development also are divided into three phase. Based on Elaine Showalter in Barry (2002), the modern womens literary development are divided into three phase. The first phase is Feminine Phase (1840-1880), the standard aesthetic and artistic norms of male are imitated by women writer. The second Phase is Feminist Phase (1880-1920), in which radical and often separatist are maintained. In this phase, women advocated for their right. The last phase is Female Phase (1920- present), in this phase the domination male text is replaced

particularly with female writing and female experience. Based on the ideology, feminism can be divided into five, Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism, Marxist Feminism, Socialist feminism and Black Feminism. a. Liberal Feminism Liberal Feminism argues that all human have same rational ability. Liberal Feminism tends to look for the same equality between men and women. Based on it, Liberal Feminism persuades women that they have capability to be same equality and ability with men. Thus it focuses on womens ability to show that they have the same rational thinking and maintain it through their action. Liberal feminism looks for the equality in all aspect like social, politic and economic. b. Radical Feminism Radical Feminism claims that women are always pressed by men thus they have to fight them back. They have strong opinion that men are their enemies so that they cannot live with them. If Radical Feminist marries with men, it means she serves, lives, sleeps with the enemy. Radical Feminism focuses on politic. Radical Feminism tends to be lesbian. It is the way to separate them with men. They make their own community which is called Lesbian.

c. Marxist Feminism Marxist Feminism focuses on the class. It wants to fade the class because labor women have lower class than men. The impact of it, women get the salary lower than men. Based on Marxist Feminism, Patriarchy makes the relationship between men and women like the landowner with his labor, men as the landowner and women as the labor. Indirectly, patriarchy shows that they have power toward women because women like as labor. Marxist Feminism also states that marriage is a place for women exploitation. It stated it because women are obligated to do everything in domestic area without salary. Sheila Cronan in Wikipedia (2010) take the view that marriage constitutes slavery for women and that freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition

of marriage. Related with Cronan, Marxist Feminism view the marriage is a way in practicing the exploitation toward women. d. Socialist Feminism Socialist Feminism argues that social construction is the main reason of injustice toward women. Eveyn Reed (1970) said
Women, then, have been condemned to their oppressed status by the same social forces and relations which have brought about the oppression of one class by another, one race by another, and one nation by another. It is the capitalist system - the ultimate stage in the development of class society which is the fundamental source of the degradation and oppression of women.

Reed makes clear that society has main role to make oppression toward women. Society and culture make womens occupation only in domestic area. If women work in public area, they will be claimed as deviance. Socialist Feminism also said that men and women can work together. e. Black Feminism Black Feminism claims it is the hardest movement even from other feminism because the oppression not only comes from White men but also comes from Black man. Beside the injustice toward them, they also oppressed by racial. Feminism also rejects the binary of position. Binary of position is the separation between men and women. It is made by patriarchy to give advantages to men. It also makes the stereotype of women. Here some example of binary of position. Aspect Way of thinking Men Rational Open Minded Logic Decision Maker Occupation Stereotype Power Public Area Strong Superior Inferior Women Irrational Narrow Minded Emotional Decision Accepter Domestic Area Weak

From the binary of position above, the advantages go to men. Based on the occupation, men are given the opportune to work in public area. To work in public area, men are given the change to get high education. Indirectly it impacts to their economic life. They will be independent because they have skill, education and change to work in public are. Different with men, women are not allowed to work in public area. Thus they are not obligated to get high education. It makes they become dependent. Without skill and education, they cannot stand by themselves. Feminism breaks that system. It assumes that the entire human are same. Both men and women must get the same education, change to work. Feminism argues that sex cannot be the reason to separate men and women in occupation and education because sex is related with biology of human. It means both men are women are created by God. Human cannot decide to choose their sex. Feminist tends to fade their negative stereotype. It can be found through their work. For example, in short story A Red Sweater (1987) by Fae Myenne Ng. Ng shows the speaker, I, destructs the patriarchy system. She has her own choice and independent because she has salary so that she can maintain her live alone. From that short story, feminist tried to shows that women also have rational thinking. They can be independent and get salary like men and the most important is women can make their own decision. There is also a movement that is called Anti-Feminism. Anti-feminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms. Sigmund Freud has been labeled as anti-feminism. He assumed that women did not have social power. Jacques Lacan made one term which is called Phallogocetric. It means that men are in control of everything because they have power. III. CONCLUSION Feminism is a movement because there is injustice toward women. Men dominate the women in all aspect of life such as social, politic, and economic. Men can dominate them because there is a system that gives advantages to men. This system is called Patriarchy system. Feminism wants to destruct that system and take the womens right back. Based on the ideology, feminism is divided into five. 1. Liberal Feminism Liberal Feminism assumes that both men and women have same rational ability. It looks for the equality in all aspects of life between men and women.

2. Radical Feminism Radical Feminism has strong opinion about the injustice between men and women. It claims that women are oppressed by men thus they have to fight them back. 3. Marxist Feminism Marxist Feminism focuses on the class. It wants to fade the class between men and women. It also says that marriage is a place for women exploitation. 4. Socialist Feminism Socialist Feminism views that social construction is the main reason of injustice toward women. 5. Black Feminism Black Feminism views that their fight is harder than White Feminism because the oppression is not only from white but also from black men.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barry, Peter. 2002. Beginning Theory. New York: Manchester University Press

Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. 2010. What is feminism?. Retrieved on January, 12nd

2010 at 1.40 pm <http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.html>

Flanagan, Maureen A. 2005. Feminist Movements. Retrieved on January, 12nd 2010 at 1.40 pm <http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/444.html>

Freeman, Jo. 1996. Waves of Feminism. Retrieved on January, 12nd 2010 at 1.40 pm <http://www.jofreeman.com/feminism/waves.html>

Friedan, Betty. 1963. The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud. Retrieved on January, 17th 2010 at 9.57 pm <http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/friedan.html>

Guerin, Wilfred L. 2005. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Ng, Fae Myenne. 1987. A Red Sweater.

PageWise,Inc. 2010. What Is Patriarchy?. Retrieved on January, 17th 2010 at 9.57 pm <http://www.essortment.com/all/whatispatriarc_rhsf.htm>

Reed, Eveyn. 1970. Women: Caste, Class or Oppressed Sex. Retrieved on January, 17th 2010

at 9.57 pm <http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed-evelyn/1970/caste-class-sex.html>

Tolan, Fiona. 2006. Feminism, in Patricia Waugh (ed.), Literary Theory and Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press

Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. 2010. Feminism. Retrieved on January, 12nd 2010 at 1.40 pm <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism>