POLITICAL-LEGAL PERSPECTIVES

FEMINISM THEORIES
CLICK TO ADD YOUR NAME
FEMINIST THEORY FEMINISM
-encompasses a -counters traditional
range of ideas, philosophy with new ways of
addressing issues affecting
reflecting the diversity humanity.
of women worldwide.
-calling for the
replacement of the presiding
patriarchal order with a
system that emphasizes equal
rights, justice and fairness.
 FEMINISM

The support of social equality for all genders, in

opposition to patriarchy and sexism

 Advocates elimination of gender stratification

 Extending the choices that women and men
and other genders make ending gender-based
violence
 Promoting sexual freedom
 FEMINIST SCHOOLS OF
THOUGHT

1. LIBERAL FEMINISM
2. RADICAL FEMINISM
3. SOCIALIST FEMINISM
4. CULTURAL FEMINISM
LIBERAL FEMINISM
 LIBERAL FEMINISM

This is the variety of feminism that works

within the structure of mainstream society
to integrate women into that structure.

Its roots stretch back to the social contract

theory of government instituted by the
American Revolution.
 This type works within the regular structure of
our mainstream society

 Liberal feminists want sexual equality, and they

work to make that happen through political
and legal reform.
 Liberal feminists believe that our culture should
change laws to make sure that no one is
discriminated against because of gender.

 They also work to make sure that our society

respects women in general
 LIBERAL FEMINISM

“freedom of choice and equal opportunity”

-seeks to extend the right and opportunities by

removing cultural and legal barriers to women
equality like implementing policies that
discrimination in the workforce or improve
interaction freedom.
 LIBERAL FEMINISM

- aims to extend the full range of freedom

in a liberal democratic society to women.

-criticizing practices that deny women

equal protection under the law as well as laws
that de facto discriminate against women.
 LIBERAL FEMINISTS

- reject utopian visions of an ideal society in

favor of one that eliminates coercion and
promotes autonomous choices among all its
citizens.

-defend the liberty to decide on one’s

sexual orientation partners and practices as
beyond the reach of law.
 Abigail Adams and Mary Wollstonecraft –propose
equality for women.
Provides the bulwark of theoretical thought in feminism.
Wollstonecraft
-wrote that many of the supposed differences
between the sexes were either fabricated or
exaggerated and therefore could not be used as the
basis for differential rights and role
 LIBERAL FEMINISM

According to Wollstonecraft
- both sexes, have the capacity to reason; hence
both should be educated as to enhance their
rationality, which she defined as the ability to act as
fully responsible moral agents.

- on this account women need to become more

rational, but there was no reason for men to cultivate
their emotions.
RADICAL FEMINISM
 RADICAL FEMINISM

Provides an important foundation for the rest of “feminist

flavors”.
Seen by many as “undesirable” element of feminism
The breeding ground for many of the ideas arising from
feminism; ideas which get shaped and pounded out in
various ways by other (but not all) branches of feminism.
 RADICAL FEMINISM

Those who call themselves They think that the

radical feminist think that whole traditional
sexual discrimination is so family is inherent sexist
deeply integrated into
the world that the only
way to make things equal
is to completely get rid of
the whole concept of
gender.
 RADICAL FEMINISM

Was the cutting edge of feminist theory

from approximately 1967-1975.

It is no longer as universally accepted as it

was then, nor does it provide a foundation
for, for example, cultural feminism.
 RADICAL FEMINISM

This term refers to the feminist movement that sprung out of the
civil rights and peace movements in 1967-1968.
The reason this group gets the “radical” label is that they view
the oppression of women as the most fundamental form of
oppression, one that cuts across boundaries of race, culture and
economic class.
This is a movement intent on social change, change of rather
revolutionary proportions.
 Separatist and Lesbian Feminism

 Form of radical feminism

 It thinks that part of the problem of inequality

between men and women is rooted in
heterosexual relationships
 Separatist and Lesbian Feminism

 They believe that because of the sexual differences,

between men and women, our issues of power are
simply not able to be resolved.
 They don’t think that man can possibly be feminists
and can’t make any contributions to feminist
movements.
SOCIALIST FEMINISM
 MARXIST AND SOCIALIST
FEMINISM

MARXISM recognizes The only way to end

that women are the oppression of
oppressed, and women is to
attributes the oppression overthrow the
to the capitalist/private capitalist system.
property system.
 SOCIALIST FEMINISM

- is the result of Marxism meeting radical feminism.

Echols described socialist feminism as a marriage
between Marxism and radical feminism, with
Marxism the dominant partner.
Marxists and socialists often call themselves
“radical”, but they use the term to refer to a
completely different “root “ of society: the
economic system.
 SOCIALIST FEMINISM

 They think that the Because men dominate

oppression of women the business aspect of our
stems from the fact capitalistic society, that
leads to uneven gender
that some women are balance.
financially dependent
on men in society.
They want to put an end
to economic and social
inequality between men
and women.
 SOCIALIST FEMINISM

- Was increasingly used during the 1970s

- To describe a mixed theoretical and practical
approach to achieving women’s equality.
SOCIALIST FEMINIST THEORY
Analyzed the connection between the
oppression in society, such as racism and
economic injustice
 SOCIALIST FEMINISM

- recognized the fundamental

oppression of women, particularly in
a patriarchal society however it did
not recognize gender as the
exclusive basis of all oppression.
 SOCIALIST FEMINISTS

-wanted to integrate the

recognition of sex discrimination
within their work to achieve justice
and equality for women, for working
classes, for the poor and all
humanity.
Cultural Feminism
 CULTURAL FEMIISM

- refers to a philosophy that men and

women have different approaches to the
world around them, and that greater value
should be placed on the way women
approach the world.
 CULTURAL FEMINISM PERSPECTIVE

- argues that a women’s way of

looking at the world is actually superior to
men’s.

- aims to unite all women, regardless of

ethnicity, race, class or age
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

focuses almost exclusively in the

unique traits and accomplishments of the
female gender in opposition to those of
men.

SEPARATISM is a KEY THEME

 CULTURAL FEMINISM

Echol spells out the difference between

radical feminism and cultural feminism:
Radical feminism was a movement to
transform society
Cultural feminism retreated to vanguardism,
working instead to build a women’s culture
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

It is about finding ways

The movement to make the female
believes that we essence a more
should encourage appreciated part of
and promote society and using
women’s special gifts
femininity to contribute positively
to the world
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

This includes the idea that women in

leadership positions be more likely
than men to cultivate a more
peaceful, less war and violence
world.
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

Example:
Some of this effort
has some social Rape Crisis centers
benefit. Many cultural feminists
have been active in
social issues (as an
individual, not as part of a
movement)
 CULTURAL FEMINISM
Various 1960s movements for social change fell apart, folks
got pessimistic about the possibility of social change.

So they turned their attention to building alternatives, so that

they couldn’t change the dominant society, they could
avoid it as much as possible.

That, in a nutshell, is what the shift from radical feminism to

cultural feminism .
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

These alternative efforts were accompanied

with reasons explaining(perhaps justifying) the
abandonment of working for social change.

Notions that women are “inherently kinder and

gentler” are one of the foundations of cultural
feminism.
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

A similar concept held by some cultural

feminists is that while various sex
differences might not biologically
determined, they are still so thoroughly
ingrained as to be intractable.
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

Margaret Fuller –Women in the Nineteenth

Century
Matriarchal vision of a society led by women
and guided by essentially feminine concerns
and values.
Women’s rights as stepping stone to larger social
reform.
 CULTURAL FEMINISM

Stresses the role of the non-rational,

intuitive
Stresses the differences between men and
women affirming feminine qualities
.believe in separate development for
women outside male sphere of influence
 REFERENCES

https://www.uah.edu/woolf/feminism kinds.htm
Study.com/academy/lesson/cultural-feminism-definition-
lesson-quiz,html
Thought.com/socialist-feminism-womens-history-definition-
3528988
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B008043076
7039450
Users.wfu.edu/zulick/340/feminisms.html
Youtube.com/watchv=CquRz-cceH8