User:Pearlg/Feminism (temp)

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Feminism is a term that denotes various social theories and political movements based on the belief that rights, privilege, status and obligations should not be determined by gender.

Feminism is the basis of the social reform movement known as the Feminist Movement. Feminism is also the original basis for a school of literay and social analysis known as Feminist analysis.

The Many Facets of Feminism[edit]

The name "feminism" suggests a single ideology, but in reality the movement has many subgroups.

One subtype of feminism, Radical feminism, considers patriarchy to be the root cause of the most serious social problems. Violence and oppression of women, because they are women, is more fundamental than oppressions related to class, ethnicity, religion, etc. This form of feminism was popular in the so-called second wave (a "wave" being a large major change in general feminist ideas), though it is not as prominent today. However, many still equate the word "feminism" to mean solely the ideas proposed by Radical feminism. Some find that the prioritization of oppression and the universalization of the idea of "Woman", which was part of traditional Radical feminist thinking, too generic, and that women in other countries would never experience the same experience of being "woman" than women in Western countries did.

Some radical feminists advocate separatism—a complete separation of male and female in society and culture—while others question not only the relationship between men and women, but the very meaning of "man" and "woman" as well (see Queer theory). Some argue that gender roles, gender identity, and sexuality are themselves social constructs (see also heteronormativity). For these feminists, feminism is a primary means to human liberation (i.e., the liberation of men as well as women, and men and women from other social problems).

Other feminists believe that there may be social problems separate from or prior to patriarchy (e.g., racism or class divisions); they see feminism as one movement of liberation among many, each affecting the others.

Although many leaders of feminism have been women, not all feminists are women. Some feminists argue that men should not take positions of leadership in the movement, because men, having been socialized to aggressively seek positions of power or direct the agendas within a leadership hierarchy, would apply this tendency to feminist organizations; or that women, having been socialized to defer to men, would be hinder in developing or expressing their own self-leadership in working too closely with men. However, most feminists do accept and seek the support of men. Compare pro-feminism, humanism, masculism.

Worldwide statistics[edit]

The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see discussion on the talk page .
Female share of seats in European elected national chambers in November 2004 (percent)
Sweden 45.3
Norway 36.4
Finland 37.5
Denmark 38.0
Netherlands 35.0
New Zealand 28.3
Austria 27.5
Germany 25.8
Iceland 30.2
UK(Commons) 17.8

The following is a sampling of statistics related to the relative status of women worldwide.

  • Worldwide, women work more than men, when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, according to the United Nations Human Development Report 2004: Section 28, Gender, Work Burden, and Time Allocation. In rural areas of the developing countries surveyed, women perform an average of 20% more work than men, or an additional 98 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 18 minutes per day.
  • Women own only 1 percent of the world's wealth, and earn 10 percent of the world's income, despite making up 51 percent of the population. [dubious – discuss]
  • Women are underrepresented in all of the world's legislative bodies (see Women in National Parliaments, November 2004). In 1985, Finland had the largest percentage of women in national legislature at approximately 32 percent (P. Norris, Women's Legislative Participation in Western Europe, West European Politics). Currently, Sweden has the highest number of women at 45 percent. The United States has just 14 percent. The world average is just 9 percent. (Wales, while not an independent country has 50% of its members being women.)
  • In much of the third world, women are considered as effectively property, and have no legal rights in practice. Millions of women are expected to undergo female circumcision. In some areas, rape is used as a sentence for a crime, even crimes not committed by the women themselves. (See, for example, the case of Mukhtaran Bibi.) [dubious – discuss]

Perspective: the nature of the modern movement[edit]

Most feminists believe discrimination against women still exists in North American and European nations, as well as worldwide. But there are many ideas within the movement regarding the severity of current problems, what the problems are, and how to confront them. Extremes on the one hand include some radical feminists such as Mary Daly who argues that the world would be better off with dramatically fewer men. There are also dissidents, such as Christina Hoff Sommers or Camille Paglia, who identify themselves as feminist but who accuse the movement of anti-male prejudices. Many feminists question the use of the "feminist" label as applying to these individuals.

Many feminists, however, also question the use of the term feminist to refer to any who espouse violence to any gender or who fail to recognize a fundamental equality between the sexes. Some feminists, like Katha Pollitt (see her book Reasonable Creatures) or Nadine Strossen (President of the ACLU and author of Defending Pornography [a treatise on freedom of speech]), consider feminism to be, solely, the view that "women are people." Views that separate the sexes rather than unite them are considered by these people to be sexist rather than feminist.

There are also debates between difference feminists such as Carol Gilligan on the one hand, who believe that there are important differences between the sexes (which may or may not be inherent, but which cannot be ignored), and those who believe that there are no essential differences between the sexes, and that the roles observed in society are due to conditioning. Modern scientists sometimes disagree on whether inborn differences exist between men and women (other than physical differences such as anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones). Regardless of how many differences between the sexes are inherent or acquired, feminists agree none of these differences is a basis for discrimination.

Criticisms of feminism[edit]

Feminism has attracted attention due to its large effects in social change in Western society. While feminism in some forms is generally accepted, dissenting voices do exist.

Some critics (both male and female) find that some feminists are effectively preaching hate against males or claiming male inferiority, citing that if the words "male" and "female" were replaced by "black" and "white" respectively in some feminist writings, the texts could be viewed as racist propaganda. While some feminists generally disagree with the view that men are equally oppressed under patriarchy, other feminists, especially third-wave feminists agree that men are similarly oppressed and that gender equality means oppression of neither gender.

Many feel that while feminists claim to believe in equality of the sexes, the ideology of present-day feminism is inherently gynocentric. These critics cite both the etymology and symbology of the contemporary feminist movement, and the constant focus of its work on issues that affect women. They feel that followers of this ideology tend to see the world through a certain lens, leading them to be prejudiced. These critics say that the feminists start with the assumption that women are widely oppressed in contemporary America, and never stray from that assumption – leading to observations that are clouded by confirmation bias. This group of critics would like to see a new non gender-biased term replace “feminism,” such as “gender egalitarianism." This term would then replace “feminism” when used in reference to the belief, close to universal now in contemporary Western culture, in basic equal rights and opportunities for both sexes.

Some argue that because of feminism, males are beginning to be oppressed. Those who make this claim often note that males die from suicide 4 times more frequently than females attempting suicide in the USA; rates climbed dramatically during the 1980s and early 1990s; 72% of all suicides are white males; slightly over half of all suicides are adult men, aged 25-65; critics conclude that the USA is becoming a country where males especially white males are severely oppressed. (See statistics here) The global statistics are similar (See statistics for [1]). According to sociologists, there are various reasons for these suicide rate increases, and they do not indicate a greater level of male oppression. Some studies of the 20 year increase in male suicide rates (ending in 1998, when the rate began to decrease) have found only a correlation between it and: local economic health and employment rates, suicide methods preferred by men, male isolation if divorced, women seeking treatment for depression in far greater numbers than do men, and (especially) aging populations. It should be noted that during the same approximate period (1952 to 1995) the rates for teen and elder suicide nearly tripled.

Men opposed to women's suffrage
Men opposed to women's suffrage

Many people object to the feminist movement as trying to destroy traditional gender roles. They say that men and women have many natural differences and that everyone benefits from recognizing those differences. For example, children are thought to benefit from having a masculine father and a feminine mother; in this view, divorce, single parenthood, or non-traditional gender roles are all seen as harming children more than do conflict in the home, dual but poor role models, or new definitions of masculinity, femininity, or family. The traditional nuclear family is now an exceptional background in the US, and has been the subject of many critiques characterizing it as a racist or culturally ignorant or nostalgic idealized model.

Criticism has been made that social change and legal reform have gone too far and now negatively affect men and families with children. For example, it has been suggested that custody hearings in divorces are biased towards the mother, and several organizations have formed to fight for fathers' rights.

Some men also express worry that a belief in the glass ceiling for women has led to women being promoted more than men for the purpose of public relations than for their merit. This could be compared to affirmative action; thus, feminists who favour such a method of reform usually present arguments similar to those used for defending affirmative action (i.e. that such a system is required to offset the results of previous discrimination).

There is also a group of Paleo-Conservatives including George Gilder and Pat Buchanan that have argued that feminism has produced a fundamentally unworkable, self-destructive, stagnant society. These authors have noted that all of the societies in which feminism has developed the most have below replacement rates of fertility, high rates of immigration (frequently from countries with cultures and religions extremely hostile to feminism). In the US, the "liberal" religious groups most accepting of feminism have had noted decline-in both conversions and natural increase. The most rapidly growing major religion in the US is Islam which is extremely hostile to feminism.

Although efforts to curb sexual harassment against women in the workplace are normally applauded, there are those who note that the situation is such that the concern directed towards women in resolving disputes of sexual harassment is indirect discrimination, in that less concern is given to men when they are the subject of the claims, or when they are claiming a case of sexual harassment. Since the 1990s, proving sexual harassment in the United States (by either men or women) has been made much more difficult by Supreme Court decisions.

Postcolonial feminists criticise Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and its most basic assumption, universalization of female experience. These feminists argue that the assumption of a global experience as a woman is based on a white middle-class experience in which gender oppression is primary, and cannot apply to women for whom gender oppression may come second to racial or class oppression.

Today, young women most commonly associate "feminism" with radical feminism, and this has put off a lot of these women from being active in feminism, spurring a move away from second-wave labels. However, the basic values of feminism (gender equality of rights and opportunities) have become so integrated into Western culture as to be accepted over-whelmingly as valid, and non-conformity to those values characterized as unacceptable, by the same men and women who reject the label "feminist".

See also[edit]

Literature[edit]

  • Judith Butler (1994). "Feminism in Any Other Name", differences 6:2-3: 44-45.
  • Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975, University of Minnesota Press 1990
  • Karen Kampwirth, Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Ohio UP 2004
  • Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy, Oxford University Press 1994
  • Kaja Silverman, Male Subjectivity at the Margins, p.2-3. New York: Routledge 1992
  • Calvin Thomas, ed., "Introduction: Identification, Appropriation, Proliferation", Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality, p.39n. University of Illinois Press (2000)

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Pearlg/Feminism (temp).

Feminist organizations[edit]

Feminist resources[edit]

Neutral[edit]

Critics[edit]

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