Feminism in 20th cent
Q. Does Feminism still have a place in Twenty first century? In this essay I am going to highlight the main argument for feminism and how it may be needed in today's modern society. Furthermore, I will attempt to examine culture differences in east and west to justify if feminism still fits in the modern and conservative society. This essay will look at two points of view and subsequently I will conclude by justifying for and against and offer a personal view point. This essay will try to answer the question if feminism is relevant today and if so, how? Feminism is the belief that women have an inferior status to men in mainstream society. According to feminist, our society is patriarchal and women are discriminated in certain levels and parts of society. It's considered that this female discrimination is unconscious and unintended, embedded in culture, legal systems and even public policy. A crude way to understand a patriarchal society is 'That men are, always have been and always will be motivated to dominate women and will use all means, fairs and foul to achieve that event'1. Most feminist would agree on implementing their concerns and beliefs in the twenty first century, it's an idea that should reach all societies and cultures ensuring equality for women globally. Most feminist would encourage their belief in modern era, even contemporary society has some old and
Sociology Feminism
SOCIOLOGY FEMINISM HOMEWORK ) The difference between Sex and Gender is Sex is nature - we cannot determine the sex that we are born and Gender is nurture - we learn how to act as a male (how to be masculine) and we learn how to act as a female (how to be feminine,) we can also swap these roles males can also learn to act feminine and females can learn how to act masculine. We learn these roles by watching the rest of society. 2) Patriarchy is a term used when males hold more power in society than females this is determined by the roles they are giving in Government, Legal System, Military, Technology etc. It is also determined by the six structures used by men to dominate women. : Patriarchal mode of production (childcare, housework, P.T work). 2: Patriarchal relations in paid work (poorly paid jobs, unequal pay). 3: Bias towards patriarchal interests in policies of state. 4: Male violence (rape, domestic violence). 5: Patriarchal relations in sexuality (compulsory heterosexuality). 6: Patriarchal culture institutions (religions, education, legal systems). 3) Patriarchy and Feminist Theory is related because feminism grew as a response to Patriarchy. Females came together and decided it was unfair for men to have more power than females, they did not want to live in a Patriarchal society any longer, they wanted equal rights, they did not want to be
African-America women's feminism in BAM.
African-America Women's Feminism in BAM In 1960s, Black American's anti-racial discrimination spirit not only appealed to the civil rights movement, but brought serial social reformations, including Black women's liberation. Instead of searching for equality of social power institution outside, Black women's liberation turned its attention to the development of Black people's culture, economy, politics and spiritual consciousness. Based on Black feminism, women's liberation movement in 1960s explained how the patriarchy gives women unfair treatments; rebuild women's identity and change social stereotype myths of gender roles. American Black women's problems combined race and sex. In the book, Glossary of Feminist Theory, Valerie Smith mentions,"Black feminists seek not only to dismantle the assumptions of dominant cultures, and to recover and reclaim the lives of black women, bust also to develop methods of analysis for interpreting the ways in which race and gender are inscribed"(23) Most importantly, people are supposed to understand the reason how Black feminism plays an crucial roles in BAM and how Black women's liberation movement influences on Black people's world. On the other hand, it is necessary for people to understand the development of Black Feminism before discussion its influence on BAM. At beginning, it goes without saying that their opposition to racism and
Feminism in Shakespeare
Feminism in Shakespeare Conventionally, feminism has little correlation with Shakespearean comedies; however, Claire McEachern attempts to address this topic with some degree of success in her article published in the Shakespeare Quarterly entitled "Fathering Herself: A Source Study of Shakespeare's Feminism". The author herself reveals the adversity face by feminists up against Shakespeare's male-dominated world by admitting, "Certainly, in considering "Shakespeare's feminism" (a debatable, and surely anachronistic, construction), the prospect of looking to Shakespeare's sources for the origins of any political understanding of the "woman's part" seems to offer little promise; behind the critical assertion that finds Shakespeare's portrayals of women remarkable lies the unarticulated suspicion of the rare if not unprecedented quality of his cultural voice". McEachern, while turning to the cultural voice of Renaissance patriarchy, fails to recognize the female community in Much Ado About Nothing within her study of feminism. In her 1988 article, Claire McEachern examines the issue of feminism by utilizing several of Shakespeare's works, including Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear. Currently a professor at the University of California, McEachern first provides two previous schools of feministic thought prior to proposing her individual criticism. She identifies "two
Black Feminism
Black Feminism The theme of this essay will look at black feminist perspectives on gender, firstly from this perspective a black women's experience provides stimulation of the feminist awareness. Black feminism writings highlights the importance of aspects of the past, which inform the current issues facing black women. The writings of American black feminists emphasise the influence of the powerful legacy of slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement on gender inequalities in the black community. They point out that early black groups of women at the early part of the century supported the campaign for women's rights, but realised that the question of race needed recognition. Black women have always suffered from discriminated based on their skin colour and gender. In recent years, black women have not been central to the women's liberation movement, taking control of their identities much less, than of concepts of their race. The oppression of black women is visible in different locations compared to that of white women. Black feminism argues, therefore, that any theory of gender equality, which does not consider racism, should not claim to explain black women's oppression adequately. Class dimensions are another factor, which needed acknowledgement, particularly, in the case of the black women, also black women in the labour market, which will be touched upon
In a sense, feminism has always existed
Compare and contrast first wave and second wave feminism. In the mid-1800s the term 'feminism' was used to refer to 'the qualities of females', and it was not until after the First International Women's Conference in Paris in 1892 that the term, following the French term féministe, was used regularly in English for a belief in and advocacy of equal rights for women, based on the idea of the equality of the sexes. Although the term 'feminism' in English is rooted in the mobilization for woman suffrage in Europe and the US during the late 19th and early 20th century efforts to obtain justice for women did not begin or end with this period of activism.(Rendall, 2002) Other notable 19th-century feminists include, Emma Goldman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Margaret Sanger. Feminism is not a new concept. Women have defended their rights, as they perceived them, on various battlefields throughout history. Even so, in the modern sense, Feminism can be said to have begun around 1830's with the women's movement for suffrage. Women, as a collective unit, stood together asserting their rights as members of society, to take equal part in the government that supposedly represented them. This movement is now known as the First wave of Feminism. Some forty years later women began mobilizing again and hence The Second Wave of Feminism arose out of the
The waves of Feminism.
INTRODUCTION Feminism means different things to different people. According to the dictionary definition, it is 'the full social, political and economic equality of men and women.1 Not differently, feminists identify themselves as people who support political, economic and social equality for women. Feminism for much of the mass culture has become equated with lesbianism and male hating. Yet, those views contradict feminist history. From the beginning, women have differed in their approaches to change in their worldviews. Ideologically, feminists have always been divided into 'equality' and 'difference' feminism. Today the movement is more varied than ever, with feminists also identifying themselves according to race and ethnic heritage as well as to political or social agendas. Feminism is often discussed in terms of eras or 'waves' and this paper will focus on the three waves of feminism and at the end will provide the reader with a conclusion. First Wave Feminism The feminists who fought for suffrage in the US and beyond, beginning with the meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 and resulted in the right to vote in 1920, are today called the 'first wave'. The key concerns of the first wave feminists were education, employment, the marriage laws and the bad conditions of intelligent middle-class single women. They were not primarily concerned with the problems of
Feminism in 'The Handmaid's Tale'
"The women will live in harmony together, all in one family ... women united for a common end" (p.171). Consider how Atwood portrays the role of women and attitudes towards women in both contemporary society and in Gilead. Does she present a feminist perspective or is she challenging feminist attitudes? Margaret Atwood is the best known feminist novelist in English today. Her attitudes are clear in 'The Handmaid's Tale'. The book provides a brief history and critique of the North American feminist movement since the 1960s, for as Offred reminds us, "Context is all." The feminist movement took place at an appropriate time as women's rights needed to move forward. In Gilead that type of feminist movement is no longer appropriate as society is different and the situation is therefore a different context. Atwood uses the feminist attitudes in a society and takes them to an extreme illustrating the complexity of feminism. Second - wave feminism began in the 1960s and focused on discrimination and cultural, social, and political issues. Books about it included 'The Feminine Mystique' by Betty Friedan and 'The Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir. Many ideologies were also around in this time period. Atwood however, refuses to simplify the gender debate or to accept the slogans. Instead, she challenges these slogans by demonstrating how they run the risk of being taken over as
Black Feminism in Alice Walkers "The Color Purple".
BLACK FEMINISM IN Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Alice Walker is an Afro-American female writer, who was born in 1944. The Color Purple was written in 1982, won Pulitzer prize in 1983. She was born in a sharecropper’s family in the South, Georgia, U.S.A as the eighth child in Eatonton, small town with two streets only. She grew up in a world of poverty and hardship. The Walker’s white landowner said that the Walker’s children needed not to attend school and demanded of every child of the Walker’s to work in his field. But it was her mother, Minnie, who fought for the right of education for her children. Thus, the author feels that her success as an informed writer goes greatly to her mother’s devotion to education and liberation. Alice Walker was blessed with a love of learning, and upon graduating at the head of her high school class in 1961, she received a scholarship to Spelman College in nearby Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. There, at the heart of the civil rights movement, she took part in student protests against racial discrimination. After two years at Spelman, Walker transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she developed into a highly gifted writer. Her literary reputation rose with the publication of Once (1968) followed by many other works but nothing prepared her readers for the success of The Color Purple (1982) which became a
Feminism or Anti-Feminism: Images of Women in Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath".
Feminism or Anti-Feminism: Images of Women in Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath". Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" is a medieval legend that paints a portrait of strong women finding love and themselves in the direst of situations. It is presented to the modern day reader as an early tale of feminism showcasing the ways a female character gains power within a repressive, patriarchal society. Underneath the simplistic plot of female empowerment lies an underbelly of anti-feminism. Sometimes this is presented blatantly to the reader, such as the case of Janekin's reading aloud from "The Book of Wikked Wives" (The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale 691). However, there are many other instances of anti-feminism that may not scream so loudly to the reader. This is shown in the disappearance of the rape victim and the happy ending for the Knight. While the overall story is one of supposed feminism shown through women's empowerment, there are many aspects of "The Wife of Bath" that are anti-feminist in nature. The main character, Alison, or the wife of Bath, is representative of most of the feminist ideals in the work. She is strong, independent, and to be respected as a woman of great courage. Alison has suffered a great deal in her lifetime, indicative of life for women at this time. She has survived five husbands; some of whom beat her, others were unfaithful. She was
