WGSTA03H3S: Theories of o getting entry into occupations and
professions dominated by men
Feminism o Eliminated sexual violence,
Fall 2012 prostitution and pornography; sexist
depictions of women; sexual
Week 2 readings: (Pp.1-21) harassment of workers and students
o Changing language, knowledge, and
FEMINISM AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO history to include women’s
GENDER EQUALITY contributions
o Legalizing abortion and fighting rape
What is feminism?
- An organized social movement trying to get Third wave of modern feminism: (1990)
equality between thn and women - It is a movement of younger feminists who
- It arose in the 19 century in Europe, grew up with feminism
America, and Japan - They reject the idea that women are
oppressed by men
The first wave of modern feminism: (19 -20 C) th - They assume that gender inequality is norm
- Many rights were denied to all women - They believe that women’s agency and
1. Rights to equal treatment female sexuality are forms of power
- The legal status of free women was: - They tend to do their politics in social
economically dependent and deriving their settings rather than formal organizations
social status from their father or husband
- What theory of equality did the feminists Gender inequality:
use in their fight? The liberal political - Work most often done by women, such as
philosophy –said that all men should be teaching small children and nursing, is paid less
equal under the law, and that no one should than work most often done by men such as
have special privileges or rights constructing and mining.
- The biggest goal was to get equal legal - Girls get less education than boys of the same
rights for women, esp. the vote = “suffrage” social class
- Suffrage: right to vote in political elections - Men get priority over women in the distribution
- US gave VOTING rights to women in 1920, of health care services
th
Russia in the early 20 C, France in - Women are sexually exploited and violated
1945ish, and China in 1948ish - Women face domestic violence
- Property, earning, and higher education - Bodies of girls and women are used for sex
rights were granted by the end of the 19 th work –pornography and prostitution
century and gave women a chance for - men have to do more dangerous work
economic independence - Only men serve in the armed forces
2. Rights to “own” her body and plan - Women do 2/3 of the world’s work, receive
pregnancies 10% of the worlds income, and own 1% of the
- The right to contraception was not world’s property
controlled by women - Most countries are run by men and their policies
- Doctors were forbidden to fit women with reflect their interests!
contraception - So, all men benefit from patriarchal
- Abortion was forbidden in many states privileges: women’s unpaid work maintaining
homes and bringing up children; women’s low
The second wave of modern feminism: (1960s) paid work servicing hospitals, schools, and
- It began after Simone de Beaufoire myriad other workplaces; and women’s
published the book in France: The second emotional nurturing and caretaking
sex –argued that women were the second sex - GENDER INEQUALITY is NOT an
and should be dominated by men INDIVIDUAL matter; it is something deeply
- In the 1960s and 1970s feminists focused on ingrained in the structures of societies. There are three types of theories of feminism: Types of feminisms: (reasons for ♀’s inequality)
Theories were developed to explain the reasons for 1. Gender reform feminisms (1970s)
the pervasive gender inequality. - Say that gender inequality is in the structure
of the gendered social order NOT in
1. Reformist: focus on the unequal gendered
division of labour in the home and the work psychological identities or in behaviour
place, the devaluation of women’s work, and - Political goal: achieve a gender balance, so
the lesser presence of women in the main that the amount of men and women in
instituti
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