Feminism and Critical Analysis Essay Example
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Introduction:
The term ‘feminism’ has been a part of everyday language since the 1960s. It is invariably linked to the women’s movement and an attempt to advance the social standing of women. Feminism as a theory can be divided into four types : (i) Liberal feminism, which accepts the law and its reasoning process. Liberalism is seen as the ideal tool to fight oppression; (ii) Radical feminism, which rejects the views of liberal feminists, since the reasoning structure of law corresponds with the patterns of socialisation, experience and values of a particular group of privileged, educated men. Radical feminism seeks to demystify the neutrality of law, and to make the law comprehend that women’s definitions have been excluded and marginalized; (iii) Cultural Feminism, which differs from both radical and liberal feminism in seeing women as caring and connected to others. It believes in restructuring of law and society to accommodate the values of nurturing, caring and loving that are traditionally associated with women; (iv) Post-modern Feminism- it rejects equality and the idea of a woman’s point of view as a fiction that merely serves to bind a woman to her identity. Practical solutions to concrete legal situations are inquired, rather than abstract notions of the nature of law. All feminists, however, adhere to two basic positions: “that society is patriarchal and that society subordinates women to men.”
Feminist research developed as a response to two perceived related failings in western social sciences. The first was the “relative invisibility of women and a lack of concern with the gender-specific issues that influenced their lives.” The second concerned the “practices of social research and the processes through which knowledge was constructed.” It was argued that the social world had been studied from the perspective of male interests and concerns, and in ignorance of the different picture that emerged when focussing on women’s
1.1. Introduction:
The term ‘feminism’ has been a part of everyday language since the 1960s. It is invariably linked to the women’s movement and an attempt to advance the social standing of women. Feminism as a theory can be divided into four types : (i) Liberal feminism, which accepts the law and its reasoning process. Liberalism is seen as the ideal tool to fight oppression; (ii) Radical feminism, which rejects the views of liberal feminists, since the reasoning structure of law corresponds with the patterns of socialisation, experience and values of a particular group of privileged, educated men. Radical feminism seeks to demystify the neutrality of law, and to make the law comprehend that women’s definitions have been excluded and marginalized; (iii) Cultural Feminism, which differs from both radical and liberal feminism in seeing women as caring and connected to others. It believes in restructuring of law and society to accommodate the values of nurturing, caring and loving that are traditionally associated with women; (iv) Post-modern Feminism- it rejects equality and the idea of a woman’s point of view as a fiction that merely serves to bind a woman to her identity. Practical solutions to concrete legal situations are inquired, rather than abstract notions of the nature of law. All feminists, however, adhere to two basic positions: “that society is patriarchal and that society subordinates women to men.”
Feminist research developed as a response to two perceived related failings in western social sciences. The first was the “relative invisibility of women and a lack of concern with the gender-specific issues that influenced their lives.” The second concerned the “practices of social research and the processes through which knowledge was constructed.” It was argued that the social world had been studied from the perspective of male interests and concerns, and in ignorance of the different picture that emerged when focussing on women’s