Woman Studies

INTRODUCTION TO

WOMEN’S STUDIES Overview and Theory

WHAT WOMEN’S STUDIES IS NOT:

 It is NOT male bashing

 It is NOT exclusive

 It is NOT for women only

 Women’s studies is about being inclusive, regardless or your gender, race, socio-economic status, religion, immigration status, sexuality, ability or political position.

 It attempts to shed light on how these different statuses affect our lives on both the individual level and historically, politically and economically

WOMEN’S STUDIES USES A MATRIX OF

OPPRESSION, PRIVLEGE AND

RESISTANCE

 Oppression is systematic and is used by dominant groups to exploit, rule and control (i.e. historically in the United States it was legal for a man to beat his wife and illegal for her to own property or divorce, making it virtually impossible to gain independence or escape abuse)

 They are institutional and ideological (i.e. laws are institutional such as the example above, ideological are beliefs such as men are dominant and rational while women are weak and submissive)

 Direct, Indirect or Internalized Oppression

MATRIX OR INTERSECTION OF

OPPRESSION

 Multiple levels of oppression that intersect (i.e. if you are a woman you may experience sexual harrassement but if you are an Asian woman you may also experience racism)

 Oppression and privileges (i.e. we also get “privileges” from oppression although limited. An example of this would be the ideal that men should pay for dates could be a benefit to women but think about all the expectations for how a woman on a date is supposed to look and how much money goes into that (hair, nails, clothes, makeup, time) and a woman’s prospects if you don’t do these things

FEMINISM OR THE “F” WORD

 What do you think of when you hear the word

“feminist”?

 Come on, be honest here!

WHAT FEMINISM STANDS FOR

Many of you probably came up with words such as:

butch, lesbian, hairy, aggressive, ugly, etc.

 Despite the negative connotations that have

successfully been projected by the media and

opposition to equality, feminism in the most basic sense is about:

 Women and girl’s self-determination, free from

discrimination

WHAT FEMINISM ALSO STANDS

FOR

 Ideology about how men and women should be must change (i.e. we should not ridicule boys who cry or are “effiminate” but allow all humans to reach their potential

 Gender division of labor needs to change (i.e. a man should not have to be suspect of being a child molester because he wants to work in child care)

 Violence against women must stop (we will discuss this in depth later)

 Women should have autonomous control over their bodies, sexuality and reproduction (birth control measures and not have to be subjected to the sexual double standard)

FIRST WAVE FEMINISM: 1860-1960

 Goals originally focused on abolition (ending slavery) and granting women rights to inheritance, property, education and legal rights.

 Mainly consisted of suffragists, women fighting for the right to vote in the U.S. It was hotly contested and the belief at the time was women were not intellectually fit to vote, it was their husbands duty to make voting decisions for them and that women had no place in politics or the public world. Also, since most laws prohibited women from owning property or from basic rights, voting was seen as a direct threat on patriarchy, however was couched in the women’s “proper place” being in the home.

 Women were imprisoned, harassed, beaten, ridiculed and scorned fighting for this basic civil right and in1920 with the 19th ammendment won the right to vote is not even 100 years ago!

SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM:

1960’S-1990’S

 The most visible, well-known and controversial women’s movement

 As women fought with others to gain civil rights for blacks and minorities, the second-wave feminist movement emerged with women fighting for rights that still were not granted in the constitution nor in society.

 The basic premise was representation in government, access to health care (including reproductive rights such as birth control pills), education (nearly all elite institutions barred women from entry), access to jobs other than being secretaries and teachers, the right to not have to quite or be fired from your job if you were pregnant, general discrimination and to end the rampant, and often legal, violence against women, in particular domestic violence (the first sweeping national legislation against this did not occur in the Violence Against Women Act was signed by President Clinton.

 The movement also sought to make workplace conditions better, enact laws regarding equal access to sports and the legal system, create laws against sexual harrasement and institute education that included women’s experiences.

 The feminist movement was heavily scrutinized in the media and politically, and mischaracterized as trying to take over men and society rather than the truth, of fighting for basic rights.

THIRD-WAVE FEMINISM:1990’S-

PRESENT

 As some of the basic goals of the 2nd wave women’s were met, it was clear that many women’s voice were left out and did not involve the experience of all women. It was criticized for being mainly white, middle class women who often focused on only economic issues such as careers and politics.

 The movement has focused on access to reproductive health that has been chipped away at, mobilizing behind equal pay for equal work, access to all jobs including top level executive positions, educational parity and equity, issues like Title IX that was created in 1972 but was never enforced.

 The 3rd wave also has looked at issues such as poverty, race, class and sexuality and how they intersect to impact women’s lives in particular ways.

 Access to affordable child care, paid family leave, health care and workplace discrimination.

 Focusing on the rampant sexual and physical violence against women (and may more things we will learn about in this class)!

 The movement has been criticized for being no longer relevant “everything is equal, right?” or as associated with radicals, in effect making the issues seem fringe or unimportant.

MAIN STREAM FEMINIST THEORY

 The theory looks at attempting to minimize our perceptions of gender differences because a basic argument historically (and even currently) has been that sexism results from belief that men and women are biologically different and hence not able to be equal in terms of intellect and other areas and thus institutional and social discrimination is innate and normal.

 The though is by minimizing stereotypes about men and women laws and society need to change.

 These theories tend to look at structural and institutional changes (i.e. the fight for equality) and look at patriarchy (father/male rule structures).

COMMON CRITIQUE OF THEORY

 Ignores some of the inherent difference such as reproductive capacity and in doing so may enact laws that do not protect women when they are pregnant, etc.

 Ignores intersectionality (that race, class, gender, ability, nationality and sexuality all change women’s experiences

 Ignores that sexism and sexist ideals and beliefs about men and women also hurt men (such as reducing them down to solely economic earners and little more)

 Because women didn’t build the institutions and laws they are trying to change or adapt, access is difficult but many of them work for the early 19th century but not lives of women (and men) today.

INTERSECTIONAL AND

MULTICULTURAL FEMINISM

 Looks at the idea that gender should be viewed

through the lens of how our lives intersect. In

particular how race, sexuality and class as

women of color have a different relationship to

white men and men of color than white women.

 Women of color ignored in the women’s

movement

 Focus to fight racism and sexism

 Not very contended or critiqued

SOCIALIST OR MARXIST FEMINISM

 The belief that sexism is rooted in capitalism and

patriarchy.

 Focuses on women’s role and participation in the

global economy and the way to liberation.

 Critique- It is considered a “fringe” theory and is

limited in focus on solely economics as root to

equality, ignoring cultural aspects of sexism and

misogyny.

RADICAL FEMINISM

 Mainly focused on eradicating patriarchal

systems of domination and oppression.

 Often focuses on alternative ways of living such

as women-centered communities.

CRITIQUE

 This is the most critiqued of all theories and wrongly is most tied to “all feminists”.

 Critiques are that the theory often calls for separatist ideals and identity politics. However, even this theory does not focus on dominating men nor taking over society and subjugating men to the discrimination woman have faced and currently do.

 Alienates most women and men

 Has hurt the women’s movement and feminism

 How do you dismantle a patriarchy when it is embedded in our customs (such as women changing their last names and the use of Mrs. to denote a married women), culture (that is infused with gender) and leadership systems.

TRANSNATIONAL FEMINISM OR

3RD WORLD FEMINISM

 Argues feminism is not inclusive and you must

look at where you live in the world and the

context of women’s lives.

 Focuses on global women’s issues, linking them

to local and domestic issues but considers how oppression anywhere is oppression everywhere.

 Not much critique here, except limits domestic

focus and change.

“POPULAR” FEMINISM

 Argues feminism is no longer needed and that feminism is defined as anything that makes a woman feel good and powerful. This came about in the late 1990’s and has manifested into things like “girl power” or shirts that have catchy slogans but don’t contextualize what is happening.

 Structurally nothing is being done with this type of feminism as it doesn’t focus on institutions or change.

 Accepts traditionally subordinate roles/values as “resistance”.