Feminism 18 GRADED A+
SECTION 1:
Overview of feminism - ✔✔✔
Name the strands
Briefly describe each
State the approximate wave - ✔✔✔- LIBERAL feminism - supporting reform (1st wave).
- RADICAL feminism - supporting revolution (2nd and 3rd wave).
- SOCIALIST feminism - the most extreme and are Marxists (2nd wave)
- POSTMODERN feminism (3rd wave).
The main strands are liberal and radical.
Socialist and postmodern are also strands to use where you can.
So, mainly contrast liberal and radical.
Include socialist and postmodern when they have distinct views.
Sex
Gender - ✔✔✔SEX - the biological differences between men and women.
GENDER - social conditioning, gender stereotypes, the cultural differences between the sexes.
Patriarchy - ✔✔✔Male dominance rooted in the structures of society - politically, culturally and
economically.
,Private sphere
Public sphere
The private is the political - ✔✔✔- PRIVATE SPHERE - the areas of life which are private (e.g., at home).
Liberals see this as not an area for the state to intervene in.
- PUBLIC SPHERE - the areas of life that concern the whole community.
- THE PERSONAL IS THE POLITICAL - an interpretation that there is oppression in the private sphere is
also inherently political.
Describe the views of the key thinkers - ✔✔✔CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN;
- 1st wave liberal feminist.
- Attacked Darwinism as a justification for male societal dominance (they evolved to be stronger so
should rule).
- Women should have an equal place in the economy.
- Anti traditional/nuclear family.
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR:
- A liberal feminist.
- 'Women are made, not born' - it's a social construct.
- Education, economic freedom, access to abortion and widespread contraception.
SHEILA ROWBOTHAM:
- A socialist feminist.
- Under capitalism, women had little hope of escaping the patriarchal society.
- Said that Marxists were too limited in their view of women, as they are oppressed in home life and in
wider culture.
, KATE MILLETT:
- A radical feminist.
- Women need to find sexual liberation, as heterosexual relationships involve men exercising power
over women. - Any oppression is inherently political in nature.
BELL HOOKS:
- Intersectionality.
- Criticised feminists for focussing on middle-class white women.
- Equality must be universal for all disadvantaged.
Explain an overview of FIRST WAVE feminism
When was it?
Name the key thinkers associated with it - ✔✔✔- 1850s - 1940s
- Focussed on SEXUAL EQUALITY in the areas of political and legal RIGHTS, particularly suffrage rights.
- The SUFFRAGETTES campaigned for this through demonstrations and attacks on property.
- In 1867, an amendment by JSM MP to the 2nd Great Reform Act that would give women the vote
failed in the Commons.
- Some women in the UK gaining the right to vote in 1918 HAMPERED the feminist movement as it lost
coherence and clear direction.
- They falsely assumed that when they won the right to vote in 1928, they would achieve full equality.
SECTION 1:
Overview of feminism - ✔✔✔
Name the strands
Briefly describe each
State the approximate wave - ✔✔✔- LIBERAL feminism - supporting reform (1st wave).
- RADICAL feminism - supporting revolution (2nd and 3rd wave).
- SOCIALIST feminism - the most extreme and are Marxists (2nd wave)
- POSTMODERN feminism (3rd wave).
The main strands are liberal and radical.
Socialist and postmodern are also strands to use where you can.
So, mainly contrast liberal and radical.
Include socialist and postmodern when they have distinct views.
Sex
Gender - ✔✔✔SEX - the biological differences between men and women.
GENDER - social conditioning, gender stereotypes, the cultural differences between the sexes.
Patriarchy - ✔✔✔Male dominance rooted in the structures of society - politically, culturally and
economically.
,Private sphere
Public sphere
The private is the political - ✔✔✔- PRIVATE SPHERE - the areas of life which are private (e.g., at home).
Liberals see this as not an area for the state to intervene in.
- PUBLIC SPHERE - the areas of life that concern the whole community.
- THE PERSONAL IS THE POLITICAL - an interpretation that there is oppression in the private sphere is
also inherently political.
Describe the views of the key thinkers - ✔✔✔CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN;
- 1st wave liberal feminist.
- Attacked Darwinism as a justification for male societal dominance (they evolved to be stronger so
should rule).
- Women should have an equal place in the economy.
- Anti traditional/nuclear family.
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR:
- A liberal feminist.
- 'Women are made, not born' - it's a social construct.
- Education, economic freedom, access to abortion and widespread contraception.
SHEILA ROWBOTHAM:
- A socialist feminist.
- Under capitalism, women had little hope of escaping the patriarchal society.
- Said that Marxists were too limited in their view of women, as they are oppressed in home life and in
wider culture.
, KATE MILLETT:
- A radical feminist.
- Women need to find sexual liberation, as heterosexual relationships involve men exercising power
over women. - Any oppression is inherently political in nature.
BELL HOOKS:
- Intersectionality.
- Criticised feminists for focussing on middle-class white women.
- Equality must be universal for all disadvantaged.
Explain an overview of FIRST WAVE feminism
When was it?
Name the key thinkers associated with it - ✔✔✔- 1850s - 1940s
- Focussed on SEXUAL EQUALITY in the areas of political and legal RIGHTS, particularly suffrage rights.
- The SUFFRAGETTES campaigned for this through demonstrations and attacks on property.
- In 1867, an amendment by JSM MP to the 2nd Great Reform Act that would give women the vote
failed in the Commons.
- Some women in the UK gaining the right to vote in 1918 HAMPERED the feminist movement as it lost
coherence and clear direction.
- They falsely assumed that when they won the right to vote in 1928, they would achieve full equality.
