Women Gender and Society Amanda Mecalo Contemporary Feminist Frameworks and Social Movements Gender Patriarchy Feminism Cultural expectations and social arrangements through and by which men and women or masculine and feminine individuals and groups of people have different experiences in society Constructed as a binary but due to the rigidity of that binary there is much slippage we are never fully or wholly masculine or feminine We never perfectly fit the mold Increasingly there is more attention to the ways that gender and sex are both socially constructed whereas sex was previously understood as naturally binary and fixed this doesn t mean sex and gender are not real though Literally the rule of the father institutionalized power relationships that give men power over women Male dominance in most societies or the idea that masculinity is the baseline is the neutral way of being whereas femininity is a variation from that baseline or that men and women are essentially different with different natures and calling why is this problematic Women suffer from restriction oppression and discrimination because they live in a world in which mean dominate in both over and more insidious ways Women s and men s different positions in society are the result of social not natural or biological factors the opposite of essentialism There are structured inequities between men and women and these should be transformed so that society will be more just Women s experiences concerns and ideas are as valuable as those of men and should be treated with equal seriousness and respect Attempts to outline the major processes and social structures that give rise to the differences and inequalities between men and women Feminist Theory Intersectionality Liberal Feminism Analyzes how gender inequalities are connected to other major inequalities including race class sexuality and nationality among others Helps us understand conditions of inequality in society and envision possibilities for the liberatory social change political transformation is key to feminist theory Race ethnicity class sexuality age nationality region religion body size ability etc all shape women s experiences Systems of oppressions are interlocking Gender is inextricably intertwined with all these other social variables and thus can never be examined on its own Gender and gender inequality take different forms for different groups of people its manifestations are both quantitatively and qualitatively distinct around the world and throughout history Based on the political theory of liberalism individual rights and equal opportunity for all and natural right theory Emphasizes social and legal reform through policies designed to create equal opportunities for women Argues that women have simply been blocked from full participation in a general good democratic and just society Considered reformist because liberal feminists do not believe that the basic structure of social institutions need to change to advance women s equality just that women need better representation within those institutions Liberal feminism is compatible with dominant institutions or adheres to dominant ideologies even though women s rights are routinely compromised or violated by these very institutions and ideologies Tends to be limited to issues of equal opportunity and individual choice and assumes that gradual reform can occur within existing political social and economic structures Focuses on gender blind and race blind policies Critiques of Liberal Feminism Liberal feminists focus on equality but who do we want to be equal to ignores class and race disparities even among men Socialist Marxist Feminism Locates women s oppression in the structure of capitalism and its interrelationship with patriarchal gender relations The sexual division of labor is the first form of class antagonism thus women in some sense form a unique class Marx ignored social reproduction which is the basis by which society continues and is historically and currently framed as women s work Radical Feminism Identifies patriarchal social relations as the primary cause of women s oppression Patriarchy is its own social historical and political force Male power and privilege are the basis of social relations and thus patriarchy influences class and racial oppressions Critiques of Radical and Socialist Feminism Lack of focus on race class ethnicity nationality geographical region sexuality and other factors Whiteness and bourgeois character of these early movements Contemporary Feminist Perspectives Black feminist thought Multi racial multi cultural or women of color feminisms Postmodern poststructuralist feminism Queer theory 08 28 2014 08 28 2014