theory and methods - feminism

Introduction - - Feminism sees society as male dominated and it aims to describe, explain and change the position of women in society - it is also a political movement - The first wave of feminism appeared in the late 19th century with the suffragettes' campaign for the right to vote - the second wave was in the 1960s and it emerged on a global scale - Feminism criticises mainstream sociology for being malestream - seeing society only from the male perspective - There's different types of feminism; liberal/reformist, radical, Marxist, dual systems, difference and postructuralist Liberal feminism - - They believe that women can achieve gender equality through reform and promoting equal rights (they believe working with improving laws and policies against sex discrimination in employment and education will secure equal opportunities for women) - OAKLEY distinguishes the difference between sex and gender: SEX refers to biological differences in male and female GENDER refers to culturally constructed differences between masculine and feminine roles CULTURAL CHANGE - They want a cultural change because traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to equality - e.g. beliefs that women are less capable than men at performing the instrumental role, and that women can't think rationally as they're more dominated by emotion SOCIALISATION - These sexist attitudes and stereotypical beliefs are socially constructed and transmitted through socialisation - thus must change society's socialisation patterns (through positive role models in education for example) - Liberal feminism is the closest to a consensus view of society, as they say conflicts are not inevitable and can be changed