With Specific Reference to the Concepts of Equality and Citizenship free essay sample

During much of its history, most feminist movements and theories had leaders who were predominantly middle-class white women from Western Europe and North America. However, at least since Sojourner Truths 1851 speech to American feminists, women of other races have proposed alternative feminisms (Sinclair, 1975: 235-238). This trend accelerated in the 1960s with the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the collapse of European colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America and Southeast Asia (Salper, 1972:43-48). In this paper I try to explain the characteristics points of feminist though in Britain and America in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although the terms feminism and feminist did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in the public parlance much earlier (Baumgardner, Richards, 2000:28); for instance, Katherine Hepburn speaks of the feminist movement in the 1942 film Woman of the Year (Henry, 2004:31). Feminism has altered predominant perspectives in a wide range of areas within Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for womens legal rights (rights of contract, property rights, voting rights); for womens right to bodily integrity and autonomy, for abortion rights, and for reproductive rights (including access to contraception and quality prenatal care); for protection of women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; against misogyny; and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women (Saunder, 2005:201). Simone de Beauvoir wrote that the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her sex (Salper, 1972:32) was Christine de Pizan who wrote Epitre au Dieu dAmour (Epistle to the God of Love) in the 15th century. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi worked in the 16th century (Mohanty, 2000: 56). Marie Le Jars de Gournay, Anne Bradstreet and Francois Poullain de la Barre wrote during the 17th. Feminists and scholars have divided the movements history into three waves (Ryan, 1992:63). First-wave feminism refers to an extended period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. Originally 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 (Nemeroff, Tukey, 2001:123-125). However, by the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of womens suffrage. Yet, feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger were still active in campaigning for womens sexual, reproductive, and economic rights at this time (Evans, 1979:108-109). In 1854, Florence Nightingale established female nurses as adjuncts to the military. In Britain the Suffragettes and, possibly more effectively, the Suffragists campaigned for the womens vote. In 1918 the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who owned houses. In 1928 this was extended to all women over twenty-one. In the United States, leaders of this movement included Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing womens right to vote; all were strongly influenced by Quaker thought (Mohanty, 2000:99). American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women. Some, such as Frances Willard, belonged to conservative Christian groups such as the Womans Christian Temperance Union. Others, such as Matilda Joslyn Gage, were more radical, and expressed themselves within the National Woman Suffrage Association or individually (Bardon, 1978:59-61). American first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1919), granting women the right to vote in all states. The term first wave was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as political inequalities (Baumgardner, Richards, 2000:59-61). Second-wave feminism refers to the period of activity in the early 1960s and lasting through the late 1980s. The scholar Imelda Whelehan suggests that the second wave was a continuation of the earlier phase of feminism involving the suffragettes in the UK and USA (Evans, 1979:21-26). Second-wave feminism has continued to exist since that time and coexists with what is termed third-wave feminism. The scholar Estelle Freedman compares first and second-wave feminism saying that â€Å"the first wave focused on rights such as suffrage, whereas the second wave was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as ending discrimination† (Harding, 2004:32). The feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch coined the slogan The Personal is Political which became synonymous with the second wave (Harding, 2004:104). Second-wave feminists saw womens cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal lives as deeply politicized and as reflecting sexist power structures. The French author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote novels; monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues; essays; biographies; and an autobiography (Henry, 2004:111-112). She is now best known for her metaphysical novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins, and for her treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of womens oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. Written in 1949, its English translation was published in 1953 (Mohanty, 2000:31). It sets out a feminist existentialism which prescribes a moral revolution. As an existentialist, she accepted Jean-Paul Sartres precept existence precedes essence; hence one is not born a woman, but becomes one. (Mohanty, 2000: 33). Her analysis focuses on the social construction of Woman as the â€Å"Other†. This de Beauvoir identifies as fundamental to womens oppression. She argues women have historically been considered deviant and abnormal and contends that even Mary Wollstonecraft considered men to be the ideal toward which women should aspire. De Beauvoir argues that for feminism to move forward, this attitude must be set aside. Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique (1963) criticized the idea that women could only find fulfillment through childrearing and homemaking. According to Friedans obituary in the The New York Times, The Feminine Mystique â€Å"†¦ignited the contemporary womens movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world†( Saunder, 2005: 101) and â€Å"is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century. † (Saunder, 2005:101). In the book Friedan hypothesizes that women are victims of a false belief system that requires them to find identity and meaning in their lives through their husbands and children. Such a system causes women to completely lose their identity in that of their family. Friedan specifically locates this system among post-World War II middle-class suburban communities. At the same time, Americas post-war economic boom had led to the development of new technologies that were supposed to make household work less difficult, but that often had the result of making womens work less meaningful and valuable (Saunder, 2005:221-223). Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave (Saunder, 2005:224-226). Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second waves essentialist definitions of femininity, which (according to them) over-emphasize the experiences of upper middle-class white women (Harding, 2004:114). A post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to much of the third waves ideology. Third-wave feminists often focus on micro-politics and challenge the second waves paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females. The third wave has its origins in the mid-1980s. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other black feminists, sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of race-related subjectivities (Harding, 2004:133-134). Third-wave feminism also contains internal debates between difference feminists such as the psychologist Carol Gilligan (who believes that there are important differences between the sexes) and those who believe that there are no inherent differences between the sexes and contend that gender roles are due to social conditioning (Henry, 2004:151-153). From the 1960s on the womens liberation movement campaigned for womens rights, including the same pay as men, equal rights in law, and the freedom to plan their families (Ryan, 1992:332). Their efforts were met with mixed results. Issues commonly associated with notions of womens rights include, though are not limited to: the right to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (universal suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights (Nemeroff, Tukey, 2001:293-294). The phrase Women’s Liberation was first used in the United States in 1964 and first appeared in print in 1966. By 1968, although the term Women’s Liberation Front appeared in the magazine Ramparts, it was starting to refer to the whole women’s movement (Henry, 2004:193). Bra-burning also became associated with the movement, though the actual prevalence of bra-burning is debatable (Harding, 2004:153-154). One of the most vocal critics of the womens liberation movement has been the African American feminist and intellectual Gloria Jean Watkins (who uses the pseudonym bell hooks) who argues that this movement glossed over race and class and thus failed to address the issues that divided women. (Henry, 2004:83) She highlighted the lack of minority voices in the womens movement in her book Feminist theory from margin to center (1984). In the UK a public groundswell of opinion in favour of legal equality gained pace, partly through the extensive employment of women in mens traditional roles during both world wars (Ryan, 1992:334-336). By the 1960s the legislative process was being readied, tracing through MP Willie Hamiltons select committee report, his Equal Pay for Equal Work Bill, the creation of a Sex Discrimination Board, Lady Sears draft sex anti-discrimination bill, a government Green Paper of 1973, until 1975 when the first British Sex Discrimination Act, an Equal Pay Act, and an Equal Opportunities Commission came into force (Henry, 2004:148-149). With encouragement from the UK government, the other countries of the EEC soon followed suit with an agreement to ensure that discrimination laws would be phased out across the European Community (Harding, 2004:131-133). In the USA, the US National Organization for Women (NOW) was created in 1966 with the purpose of bringing about equality for all women. NOW was one important group that fought for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (Henry, 2004:155). This amendment stated that, â€Å"†¦equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. †(Harding, 2004:99) But there was disagreement on how the proposed amendment would be understood (Henry, 2004). Supporters believed it would guarantee women equal treatment. But critics feared it might deny women the right be financially supported by their husbands. The amendment died in 1982 because not enough states had ratified it. ERAs have been included in subsequent Congresses, but have still failed to be ratified (Harding, 2004:116). In the final three decades of the 20th century, Western women knew a new freedom through birth control, which enabled women to plan their adult lives, often making way for both career and family. The movement had been started in the 1910s by US pioneering social reformer Margaret Sanger and in the UK and internationally by Marie Stopes (Harding, 2004:132). The United Nations Human Development Report 2004 estimated that when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, on average women work more than men (Henry, 2004:118). In rural areas of selected developing countries women performed an average of 20% more work than men, or an additional 102 minutes per day (Harding, 2004:115-116). In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 20 minutes per day (Henry, 2004). At the UNs Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Womens Association 21st International Conference in 2001 it was stated that in the world as a whole, women comprise 51% of the population, do 66% of the work, receive 10% of the income and own less than one percent of the property. Saunder, 2005: 23-24) A number of feminist writers maintain that identifying as a feminist is the strongest stand men can take in the struggle against sexism (Henry, 2004:126-128). They have argued that men should be allowed, or even be encouraged, to participate in the feminist movement (Harding, 2004:166-168). Other female feminists argue that men cannot be feminists simply because they are not women. They maintain that men are granted inh erent privileges that prevent them from identifying with feminist struggles, thus making it impossible for them to identify with feminists (Saunder, 2005:24-26). Fidelma Ashe has approached the issue of male feminism by arguing that traditional feminist views of male experience and of men doing feminism(Saunder, 2005: 25) have been monolithic. She explores the multiple political discourses and practices of pro-feminist politics, and evaluates each strand through an interrogation based upon its effect on feminist politics (Saunder, 2005:28-29). A more recent examination of the subject is presented by author and academic Shira Tarrant (Saunder, 2005:29-32). In Men and Feminism the California State University, Long Beach professor highlights critical debates about asculinity and gender, the history of men in feminism, and men’s roles in preventing violence and sexual assault (Harding, 2004:131-134). Through critical analysis and first-person stories by feminist men, Tarrant addresses the question of why men should care about feminism in the first place and lays the foundation for a larger discussion about feminism as an all-encompassing, human issue (Henry, 2004:155-159). In conclusion I want to stress that several sub movements of feminist ideology; in the Britain and America; have developed over the years.