Feminist Perspectives on Society – A Summary Grid

Topic Area

Summary

A2 Main Ideas

Feminism the Basics:

• Gender inequality primary lens for analysis

• Gender is socially constructed

• Patriarchy is one of the root causes of sex inequalities

• Feminism is a political movement

Liberal Feminism

• Socialisation main cause, not structures

• What change within the system

• Seek to eradicate discrimination and stereotyping

Radical Feminism

• The structure of Patriarchy

• Patriarchal ideology

• Rape and Violence as tools of control

• Radical Libertarian Feminists/ Radical Cultural Feminists

• Political Lesbianism and Separatism

Marxist Feminism

• Capitalism main source of oppression, capitalists the main beneficiaries

• Women reproduce the labour force

• Women take the shit

• Men more dependent on wages

• Ideological conditioning

• Working class and women should work together

Difference Feminism

• Do not see women as a single homogenous group

• Criticised preceding feminist theory for claiming a ‘false universality’ (white, western heterosexual, middle class)

• Sees Feminists theory – essentialist and part of the masculinist Enlightenment Project

• Look at discourses and the relationship between power and knowledge rather than ‘politics and opportunities’

• Helene Cixoux – a destabilising theorist

Research Methods Implications

• Liberal/ Marxist – Prefer quantitative research – trends and bigger picture

• Radical – mixture of qualitative and quantitative/ also consciousness raising and activism

• Postmodern – Deconstruction and critique of male language/ researching and celebrating diversity to challenge gender norms.

How they understand family life

• Liberal – Inequality is primarily to be tackled through improving equality of opportunity in work, politics and education, not the family

• Marxist – the nuclear family structure and women’s oppression with in it primarily benefits capitalism, and stems from capitalism

• Radical – The heterosexual nuclear family is one of the main structures through which men oppress and control women – through everything from the dual burden through domestic violence (see Germaine Greer as an example)

How they understand underachievement in education

• Liberal – The gender gap in education is one of the strongest pieces of supporting evidence for Liberal Feminism

• Marxist – Gender stereotypes in subject choice still result in a gender pay gap in later life as women go into lower paid jobs

• Radical – Gender Regimes still make up part of the hidden curriculum – sexual harassment for example often goes unchallenged in schools (Kat Banyard)

Topic Area

Summary

How they understand crime and deviance

• Hegemonic Masculinity is one of the fundamental drivers of crime (Messerschmitt)

• Violence against women is one of the primary sources of control of women

• The courts fail to prosecute and put the ‘victim on trial’ which perpetuates violence against women

• Cultural norms around sexuality serve to control women – The Beauty Myth and the sexual double standard

Key Studies and Examples to use to illustrate

• The correlation between economic growth and gender equality in wider society supports Liberal Feminism, and criticises Marxist and Radical Feminism.

• The Equal Pay Act, Divorce Act, Equality Act and Maternity and Paternity Acts are all good examples of policies which liberal feminists support.

• The gradual trend towards gender equality in the UK supports liberal feminism

• The Gender Pay gap – and lack of women in control of Corporations supports Radical Feminism

• The prevalence of the Beauty Myth supports radical Feminism

• Stats on anorexia and ‘planet sad’ support radical feminism

• Stats on Domestic Violence tend to support Radical Feminism

• Stats on harassment from the Everyday Sexism Project supports radical feminism

• The link between poverty, sex-trafficking and prostitution supports radical feminism

• ‘Slutever’ is a case study supporting difference Feminism

• Documentaries on ‘sex work’ support Difference Feminism

• Bake off supports difference Feminism (and criticises Liberal Feminism

Evaluations

• Liberal – Based upon male assumptions and norms such as individualism and competition, and encourages women to be more like men and therefor deny the ‘value of qualities traditionally associated with women such as empathy.

• Liberal – is an ethnocentric perspective – based mostly on the experiences of middle class, educated women.

• Radical – The concept of patriarchy has been criticised for ignoring variations in the experience of oppression.

• Radical – Patriarchal systems existed before capitalism, in tribal societies for example

• Difference – Walby, women are still oppressed by objective social structures – namely Patriarchy

• Difference – Dividing women into an infinite number of sub-groups which weakens the movement for change.

Key Concepts

• Patriarchy

• Patriarchal ideology

• Gender scripts

• Hegemonic masculinity

• The Beauty Myth

• Dual Burden/ Triple Shift

Key Studies/ Evidence

• The global gender gap

• DV statistics

• The Everyday Sexism Project

• Pointlessly gendered products

• The gender pay gap

• Only 1/5 MPs are female