Gender Studies in Malaysia: HNS3073

Lecture : Seven Gender Studies: Understanding of Feminism

M Sultana Alam Sem1, 2012/2013

Outline Of the Discussion

1. 2. 3. 4. What is feminism Who are feminist Objectives of Feminism Feminist Movement - First Wave Feminism - Second Wave Feminism -Third Wave Feminism 5. Types of feminism

Understanding of Feminism
Feminism is one kind of movement or a revolution to bring the equality between men and women without boundaries. The boundaries or blockades are better known as discrimination and biases against gender, sexual differences, age, income, marital status, educational and economic status.

Understanding of Feminism (Cont..)

Feminism is an intellectual, philosophical and political movement - intellectual and philosophical as it involves various theories - Political movement as it talks about legal protection All issues are concerned with issues of gender difference; that speak in favor of equality for women and that campaign for womens rights and interests.

Understanding of Feminism (Cont..)

According Critic Bell Hooks (1984), feminism constitutes a social, economic, and political commitment to eradicating race, class, and sexual domination and reorganizing society so that individual selfdevelopment takes priority over economic expansion and material desires .

The Concept of Feminism

The basic concept of feminism is that women and men are, and have been, treated differently by the society, They believe that women have frequently and systematically been unable to participate fully in all social arenas and institutions. Therefore they had a desire to change that situation.

The Background of Feminism

The origins of women's movements are rooted in womens awareness of and dissatisfactions with their subordinate position in patriarchal societies. It was started when women are oppressed and their status and potential are downgraded in such families and societies. Throughout the past century, the feminists have expanded womens private and public roles to political, cultural, economic, sexual, racial and ethical dimension.

The Background of Feminism (Cont..)

Throughout history, women have always struggled to gain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. This has been difficult because of patriarchy, an ideology in which men are superior to women and have the right to rule women.

The Background of Feminism (Cont..)

This ideology has filled the social structures of societies throughout the world and as a result, women are still struggling for rights that most men take for granted. The struggle was even more difficult for women of color because not only were they dealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. In order to fight patriarchy and inequality, feminism and feminist theory was born

Understating of Feminist
Feminist is a supporter of feminism Feminists can be anyone in the population, men, women, girl or boys. Some feminists are: Elizabeth Cady Stanton Susan B. Anthony Lucy Stone Olympia Brown Helen Pitts

Objectives of Feminism
Feminism objectives are eradicating gender inequality promote womens rights, interests, and issues in society. establishing equity for women promote those same rights, interests, and issues, regardless of gender considerations.

Feminist Movement
The history of the modern feminist movement is divided into three waves.

First-wave feminism Second wave feminism Third wave Feminism

First-Wave Feminism
(First Wave:19thearly20th Women's Suffrage voting rights)
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth century It started in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused primarily on gaining the right of womens suffrage (the right to vote)

First-Wave Feminism (Cont)

In Britain, the Suffragettes campaigned for the womens vote. In the United States leaders of this movement include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony, who each campaigned for the eradication of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote.

Second-Wave Feminism
Second Wave:1960s1980: Equality in all things: Equal Education, Work and Pay,
Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity beginning in the early 1960s and lasting through the late 1970s. Second-wave feminism successfully addressed a wide range of issues, unofficial inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and reproductive rights. The Second Wave generally focused heavily on the activist goals of the day, such as sex discrimination law, abortion rights, and the attempt to ratify the Equal Rights by law .

Second-Wave Feminism (Cont..)

Second-wave feminism saw cultural and political inequalities . The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist structure of power. Second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination.

Third-Wave Feminism
Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1990 to the present The movement arose as responses to perceived failures of the second-wave. It was also a response to the reaction against initiatives and movements created by the secondwave.

Third-Wave Feminism (Cont)

Like all feminism, the Third Wave focuses on the economic political Social and personal empowerment of women.

Types of Feminism
Liberal Feminism Socialist Feminism Radical Feminism

Liberal Feminism
In the 1960s and 1970s, liberal feminism grew out of the social, political and political transformation. Liberals feminists state that freedom is a fundamental value, therefore it is basic right and to ensure the freedom for every citizen The ideology of the liberal feminism is that women will transform society, through their own personal interactions with the opposite sex. Liberal feminism claimed that gender differences should not be based on biology . Biological differences should be ignored in order to achieve gender equality.

Liberal Feminism (Cont)

Some of the main issues of liberal feminism include reproductive rights and abortion access, sexual harassment, voting, education, fair compensation for work, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women.

Liberal Feminism (Cont)

The liberal feminist also believe that the equality of men and women can only be achieved by changes being brought through political and legal reform. Women should have the same legal rights as men and the same educational and work opportunities.

Liberal Feminism (Cont..)

In the United States, liberal feminism has been successful in breaking down many barriers to womens entry to job and professions formerly dominated by men, in helping equalize wage scales, and legalizing abortion. But liberal feminism has not been able to overcome prevailing belief that women and men are inherently different.

Socialist Feminism
Like the liberal feminism, socialist feminism has its root in the political, intellectual and socio-economic transformation. Socialist feminism grew up in the middle and late nineteenth century. It focuses both the public and private sphere of life. They believed that due to cultural practice women are oppressed both the public and private sphere of life. They argued that equality can be achieved to working to end both the economic and cultural sources of womens oppression.

Socialist Feminism (Con..)

Socialist feminism says that upper-middle class women do not have the same advantage as men of the same status. It claimed that mens lack of responsibility for social production of the next generation frees them to pursue carriers and political power. Their accumulation of advantages gives them wide-ranging social power and the means to dominate women.

Socialist Feminism (Cont..)

Politically, socialist feminism calls for a redistribution of responsibilities in the family and redistribution of economic and social power. They believe that equal sharing of family work would give women the opportunity to accumulate of advantages gives them wide ranging social power now monopolized by men.

Socialist Feminism (Cont)

They also feel that it is necessary to access to high paying jobs and positions of power. For all the disadvantaged, socialist feminism has fought for universal entitlements to education, childcare, health care and income support as well as more open access to governmental and nongovernmental political power.

Radical Feminism
Radical feminism is characterized by small, leaderless women only consciousness-raising groups. Many of founders were white, middle class and college educated women. It grew in the united states in the late 1960

Radical Feminism (Con.)

Radical feminist basically see sexual relation, mens dominance over women and male control of female sexuality as the central cause oppression. They think that men control womens sexuality.

Even they claimed that female sexuality is used to serve for mens needs and desire

Radical Feminism (Cont)

As it was consciousness-raising, women came together and discovered that many of them shared similar experiences of male oppression. They found that they are oppressed by men due to patriarchy Patriarchy is made possible by the unpaid domestic service of women in the home and exploitation of women bodies through marriage, sexual slavery, reproductive and rape.

Radical Feminism (Cont..)

Radical feminism expands the concept of patriarchy by defining it as a world wide system of subordination of women by men through violence and sexual and emotional exploitation. Radical feminism sees sexual violence against women as a continuum from sexual murder, rape and prostitution to sexual harassment and date rape. They claimed that the physical, political and economic oppression of women reflects a societys inherent violence.

Radical Feminism (Cont..)

Most of the radical feminists agree that womens oppression is the first, the most widespread, and the deepest for of human oppression. They claim that womens oppression is the most fundamental for of oppression as it widespread and international and hardest form of oppression to eradicate

Radical Feminists
Australian Radical Feminists namely,
Diane Bell, Susan Hawthorne Sheila Jeffreys Denise Thompson

Terima Kasih