Feminist Theories 1
Liberal or Reformist feminism:
Liberals are concerned with the human and civil rights and freedom of the
individual.
In keeping with the Enlightenment tradition, they believe that all human
beings should have equal rights.
Reformism is the idea that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by
gradual reforms in society without the need for a revolution.
Liberal/Reformist feminists believe women can achieve gender equality by
arguing that laws and policies against sex discrimination in employment and
education can secure equal opportunities for women.
They also campaign for cultural change. Traditional prejudices and stereotypes
about gender differences are a barrier to equality.
They reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or
rational than men, or men are biologically less emotional or nurturing than
women.
Sex and gender:
Oakley (1972) distinguishes between sex and gender.
Sex refers to biological differences between males and females such as their
reproductive role, hormonal and physical differences.
Gender refers to culturally constructed differences between the ‘masculine’
and ‘feminine’ roles and
While sex differences are fixed, gender differences vary between cultures and
over time.
Sexist attitudes are stereotypical beliefs about gender and culturally
constructed and transmitted through socialization.
To achieve gender equality we must change society’s socialisation patterns.
They seek to promote appropriate role models in education and the family for
example female teachers in traditional male subjects. They challenge
stereotyping in the media. Over time they believe such actions will produce
cultural change and gender equality will become the norm. They can be seen
as a critique of the functionalist view of the gender role.
Instrumental roles are performed in the public sphere of paid work, politics
and decision making. This sphere involves rationality, detachment and
objectivity.
Expressive roles are performed in the private sphere of unpaid domestic
labour, childrearing and caring for family members. This sphere involves
emotion, attachment and subjectivity.
In Parson’s view, instrumental roles are the domain of the men and
expressive roles are the domain of women.
Liberal feminists challenge this division. It argues men and women are
equally capable of performing roles in both spheres and that traditional
gender roles prevent men and women from leading fulfilling lives.
Despite its critique of the functionalist view of gender divisions, it is the
feminist theory closest to a consensus view of society. Although it
recognizes conflicts between men and women, these are merely a
product of outdated attitudes.
Radical feminism:
Radical feminism emerged in the early 1970s. Its key concept is
patriarchy.
They believe patriarchy is universal and exists in all societies.
Firestone (1974) believes the origins of patriarchy lie in
women’s biological capacity to bear and care for infants, since
performing this role means they become dependent on males.
They believe patriarchy is the primary and most fundamental
form of social inequality and conflict. The key division in society
is between men and women as men are women’s main enemy.
All men oppress all women. All men benefit from patriarchy
especially from women’s unpaid domestic labour and from
their sexual services.
Patriarchy is direct and personal, not only in the public sphere
of work and politics but in the private sphere of the family,
domestic labour and sexual relationships.
All relationships involve power and they are political when one
individual tries to dominate another. Personal relationships
between the sexes are therefore political because men
dominate women through them. Radical feminists refer to
these power relationships as sexual politics.
They focus on the ways in which patriarchal power is exercised
through personal relationships, often through sexual of
physical violence or the threat of it.
In general, male stream sociology regards sexuality as a natural
biological urge. However, radical feminists argue that
patriarchy constructs sexuality so as to satisfy men’s desires
e.g. women are portrayed in pornography as passive sex
objects.
Given that patriarchy and women’s oppression of women is
exercised through intimate domestic and sexual relationships
these must be transformed if women are to be free. They have
proposed a number of strategies to achieve this :
1. Separatism – living apart from men and creating a new
culture of female independence. Greer (2000) argues
for the creation of all-female households as an
alternative to the heterosexual family.
2. Consciousness-raising – through sharing their
experiences in women-only consciousness-raising
groups, women come to see that other women face the
same problems. This may lead to collective action, such
as ‘reclaim the night’ marches.
3. Political lesbianism – many radical feminists argue that
heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive
because they involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’ and
that lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of
sexuality.
Evaluation of liberal feminism:
Studies conducted by liberal feminists have produced
evidence documenting the extent of gender inequality
and discrimination and legitimizing the demand for
reform in areas such as equal pay and employment
practices etc. This has helped to demonstrate that
gender differences are not inborn but the result of
different treatment and socialisation patterns.
However, they are criticised for their over-optimism.
They ignore the possibility that there are deep-seated
structures causing women’s oppression, such as
capitalism and patriarchy.
Walby (1997) argues they offer no explanation for the
overall structure of gender inequality.
Marxist and radical feminists argue that liberal feminism
fails to recognize the underlying causes of women’s
subordination and that it is naïve to believe that
changes in law or attitudes will be enough to bring
equality. Instead, they believe that far-reaching
revolutionary changes are needed.
Evaluation of radical feminism:
Marxists argue that class, not patriarchy is the primary
form of inequality. Capitalism is the main cause of
beneficiary of women’s oppression and not men.
Radical feminism offers no explanation of why female
subordination takes different forms in different
societies. It also assumes all women are in the same
position and ignores class and ethnic differences
between women, e.g. a MC woman a may have more in
common with WC woman.
Pollert (1996) argues the concept of patriarchy is of
little value in explaining women’s position because it
involves a circular argument – male violence is
explained as patriarchy while patriarchy is seen as being
maintained by male violence.
Radical feminism has an inadequate theory of how
patriarchy will be abolished. Notions such as separatism
are unlikely to be achievable.
Patriarchy may already be in decline. Liberal feminists
argue that women’s position has improved greatly in
recent years as a result of social reforms and changing
attitudes. Better education, jobs etc. mean that gender
equality is beginning to become a reality.
While drawing attention to male violence against
women, radical feminism neglects women’s violence
against men and violence within lesbian relationships.
