Types of Feminism
Types of Feminism
Types of Feminism
Liberal Feminism:
Marxist Feminism:
Both Marxist and Socialist feminism achieved prominence in the 1960s. (Marxist
feminist theory is built on Marxist philosophy which states that class oppression is
the foundation of all other forms of oppression. Here it is apt to mention that Marxist
feminists do not believe in social and political equality between men and women like
the liberal feminists, on the other hand, they hold that material conditions. of life are
the principal causes of women's subordination in the society. Emphasizing the issue
of class structure these theorists opine, that as the present industrial society is
divided into two classes i.e., the bourgeois and the proletariat, in such a class-based
society women will remain oppressed and subjugated until the capitalist society is
replaced by a classless (Socialist) society). The first and most important Marxist
(feminist also) was Karl Marx's long-time intellectual partner and friend Friedrich
Engels. Engel used Marx's critique of capitalism (and also the method of historical
materialism) in order to find out the emergence of the oppression of women).
(Engel's book is, undoubtedly, a milestone in the way of understanding women's
changing social status. (Engels argues that this was the starting point when the lives
of women began to be trapped within the four walls of the household being freedom
less. Engel's concern for women, especially their emancipation, Engels added that
under capitalism, patriarchy had been intensified because capitalism helps to
increase indirectly men's domination over women, by concentrating wealth and
power in the hands of a small number of men.
Marxist feminism mainly got its inspiration from Marxism and attempted to develop a
theory which can provide an adequate account of the subordination of women as well
as overcome the theoretical marginalisation of women in conventional Marxist theory.
According to Marxist feminism, Marxism is inadequate, because it fails to mention the
causes of women's exclusion from the public sphere and also the reasons for not
getting any pay for their endless labour in the domestic sphere. They contend that
capitalism always tends to confine women within the four walls of the home for its own
interest; the basic reason for such tendency is that domestic chores and motherhood
serve the health and efficiency of the workforce of the capitalist economy which also
helps in the regular supply of labour power for the next generation. Moreover, women
constitute a 'Reserve Army' of labour with a cheap wage, when any crisis or shortage
in labour power emerges. Marxist feminists opine that capitalism will be abolished and
the working class will be emancipated. (According to some critics, Marxist Feminism
has oversimplified women's position, by establishing a direct relationship between the
economic organization and the situation of women, but it fails to give proper
importance to the role of reproduction.
Social Feminism
Socialist feminists have highlighted the issues which are ignored in conventional
Marxism. They, no doubt, have followed the basic premises of Marxist theory and at
the same time endeavoured to enrich their thinking. According to them, in spite of
patriarchy's association with the economic system and production relation, this
association is not at all based on cause and effect relationship. Different types of
forces (e.g. ideology), except economic system and production relations, tend to
control the patriarchy. As a result, patriarchy will be abolished with the abolition of
private property.
Socialist feminism differs from traditional Marxist theory in the following ways:
1. Socialist feminists are not willing to attribute every ill to the class structure
of society.
2. They do not advocate any revolutionary attempt to do away with the class
structure in the radical sweep, and 3. They favour gradual social reforms.
Socialist feminists hold that Marxists have overlooked certain important factors like
family, reproduction and women's labour in the household work. For example, Mary
O'Brien (1979), a socialist feminist is of the opinion that Marxist theory is inadequate
to understand reproduction because Marx never mentions the status of reproduction
(whether it is within this system or not). Besides, Marx never makes it clear whether
the family is part of the structure or superstructure. According to socialist feminists,
the Marxist always give importance to class as the marker of exploitation but ignore
gender which may also be the marker of oppression in society.
Socialist feminism, in spite of its attempt to build a more complex account of men
and women's relative social and economic position than Marxist feminism, has been
criticized on some grounds. Firstly, this theory could not liberate itself from the
rigidity of economic determinism. Secondly, this theory would not able to articulate
the nature of the "duality" of capitalism and patriarchy. Thirdly, according to some
critics, the methodology and world-view of this theory are both determined by a
male-centred approach. Lastly, it has been criticized on the ground that it tends to
marginalise other categories of power such as race and ethnicity.
Radical Feminism
As a reaction against the three main strands of feminist theory, namely liberal,
Marxist and Socialist, there emerged a quite different strand of a theory called,
radical feminism. The uniqueness of this theory lies in the fact that it is not based on
or inspired by other bodies of male stream social or political theory; rather it is
"feminism" in its 'purest form. Radical feminism is very much concerned with
women's rights (rather than gender equality) and gives emphasis on the differences
between men and women. The analysis of patriarchy-the systematic domination of
females by males-is of central concern to this branch of feminism. Radical feminists
believe that patriarchy is a universal phenomenon that has existed across time and
culture. These theorists hold that the family is the key instrument of the oppression of
women in society. Radical feminists believe that the dominance of males is not just
confined to the public world of economic and political activity, but also operates in
the arena of relationships between men and women. Men are physically able to
show and do physical violence over women and by this power, men try to control
women by making them 'weaker sex. It implies that radical feminists do not advocate
the view-biological inferiority is the sole cause of women's subordination. Like Brown
miller, some theorists who do favour biological explanation argue that male biology is
to blame because men are naturally aggressive and use their aggression to control
women.
(Actually, radical feminism emerged in Europe and America in the 1970s during the
second-wave feminist movement. The ideas of radical feminism found detailed
expression in several works of radical theorists that came out in the 1970s. Of
course, long before radical feminist and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's "The
Second Sex" (1949), Earlier she considered herself not a feminist, but a socialist. So
to liberate women any feminist movement is not required to organize. Later,
especially during the 1970s, Beauvoir changed her opinion and declared herself as a
feminist. Her book "Second Sex" is considered a milestone of feminist theory which
worked as a source of great inspiration to radical feminists, even after two decades.
In fact, in this book Beauvoir presented a well-documented opinion in favour of
women.
(Beauvoir's concern for women had left a deep impact on the theorists, belonging to
a radical feminist group. They not only had been inspired by Beauvoir, moreover,
they further extended Beauvoir's appeal through their works, even after two decades.
Among these theorists, noteworthy are Eva Figes, Kate Millett and Germaine Greer.
Eva Figes in "Patriarchal Attitudes (1970) directly attacks the patriarchal system,
because she believes that patriarchal system because she believes that patriarchy is
solely responsible for the subjugation of women, which enters into the domain of
religion, culture, and morality of the society and assigns women an inferior status.
Radical feminist theory definitely was well accepted during the second-wave feminist
movement and left a deep impact on contemporary feminist thought, but it has been
criticized on a few grounds. Firstly, a group of feminist theorists influenced by
Marxism argues that radical feminists' portrayal of gender conflict as entirely
connected to reproduction and men's desire to control it was seen as neglecting the
sphere of economic reproduction and the impact of class on gender relationships.
Secondly, radical feminists have tended to claim that patriarchy has existed
throughout history and across cultures-that, it is a universal phenomenon. According
to critics, such a conception of patriarchy does not leave room for historical or
cultural variations. Lastly, it does not take into consideration the important influence
that race, class or ethnicity may have on the nature of women's subordination.
Postmodern Feminism
During the 1980s feminist theory was geared towards resisting the "tyranny of
monolithic discourses". Beyond the 1980s, post-modern feminism, as one of the
perspectives of the third phase of the women's movement stress "difference-pays
more attention to the differences among women particularly those of race, class,
ethnic background and sexuality.
Identity according to the post-modern feminists is simply a construct of language,
discourse and cultural practices. Their goal is to dismantle these fictions and
thereby, undermine hegemonic regimes of discourse. The affirmation of identities as
envisaged by identity politics merely aids in reproducing and sustaining dominant
discourses and regulatory power.
The postmodernists are critical of all metanarratives including the feminist theories.
They feel that any claim to absolute truth is simply a metanarrative-a partial
perspective that assumes dominance and privilege. In place of such master
narratives, they emphasize localized mini-narratives to give voice to the multiple
realities that arise from diverse locations. This epistemological approach helps to
recover and elevate the importance of marginalized voices that had been buried or
muted by dominant groups. multiple realities that arise from diverse locations. This
epistemological approach helps to recover and elevate the importance of
marginalized voices that had been buried or muted by dominant groups. The main
question is whether feminists will be able to retain collective categories and
simultaneously avoid essentialism. It is thought that collective identities/ categories
are essential to structural and relational analyses of power. But postmodernists
and poststructuralists tend to reject structural views of oppression and treat power
as more ephemeral and ubiquitous.
The first and foremost difficulty is that postmodernists have attacked feminist theory
itself as a metanarrative.
Eco Feminism
Ecofeminism was one of the other feminist perspectives that grew during the third
wave of the women's movement. It grew during the 1980s and 1990s among women
from the anti-nuclear, environmental and lesbian-feminist movements.
The term ecofeminism, while it implies a merging of ecology and feminist theory, is
largely an outgrowth of radical and cultural feminist theory with a direct focus on
ecological matters. It is also influenced by the 'deep ecology' theory and the
Goddess Spirituality movement.
Contrary to the above, the current eco-feminist movement offers a positive
identification between women and nature. The surrounding natural world provides
them with their livelihood or is essential to their traditional practices. This is evident in
the celebrated Chipko Movement in India, where organized groups of women
blocked development projects that involved the destruction of their precious
woodlands. As mentioned earlier, ecofeminism mainly reflects on the connection
between the domination of women and the domination of nature by man.