...Whether or not to teach feminism at school is a very controversial issue at the present time. According to the report by Dr Jessica Ringrose(2008), she has been made the rounds and instituted on Education in UK recently, suggesting that feminism should be taught in schools to arise the increased sexualization of girls in the media and to give girls role models outside of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Ringrose(2008) suggests teaching girls about historic feminist leaders, like suffragists, to balance out all the myth that they’re assimilating through pop culture. By teaching feminism to younger girls, it is better for off showing girls what sort of feminist action is happening right now. In order to empower young women, the schools need to teach them about women’s accomplishments through history, and need to explore teaching methods that inspire girls to speak out and make a difference. If feminism is to mean anything to women in this generation, this is an emphasis that must shift. When it comes to feminism, the universal might associate it with necessarily militant and anti-male. Feminism is a social movement that seeks equal rights for women. It is a coalition of women in bringing issues of coequality, sexual oppression, and sex discrimination into the community. It is all about women and men acting, speaking and writing on women's issues and rights and identifying social injustice in the status quo. The term "feminism" first appeared in UK in the...
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...The development of feminism Feminists argue that gender inequalities form the major division in society. Most feminists also see gender relationships as being based on conflict and exploitation of women by men. They believe that much of the culture has been shaped by men and neglects the contribution that women have made in society. First wave The first wave of feminism emerged in the mide-1800s aiming to change the social and legal inequalities effecting women to achieve universal female suffrage, which is the right to vote for all women. It was led by middle-class women, known as the suffragettes. As well as campaigning for the right to vote, they were also worried about the poor education opportunities available for girls they fought for better secondary education and access to high education. The suffragettes also wanted to change the law which sated that once they were married, their wealth and income became their husbands. Also, women could not divorce their husband without their husband agreeing. By the early 1900s, the first wave of feminism achieved a number of their goals, the right to vote was granted to women in 1928, in the UK. Greater access to higher education and greater access to some professions were achieved, such as medicine. These issues gave a rise to the development of the next phase of feminist activity. Second wave The second wave of feminism grew in the 1960s and 1970s, which was focused on the person problems that women would experience due to...
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...Feminism in Bangladesh: Establishing equal rights between men & women in young generation. SADMAN ANIS Students University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ABSTRACT This is basically exploratory study and was conducted at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh & United International University, Dhanmondi,Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of 10 days started from 1st December, 2012 to 10th December, 2010. The main objective of this study is to describe what the condition of feminism in Bangladesh and what is the thinking of our varsity girl about feminism. Total 21 respondents were selected based on age class of 18-22. Feminism is a belief in the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men. It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women’s rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It is manifest in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Although feminism has emerged in nineteenth in the world, it is yet unknown to women of our country. The concept of feminism in Bangladesh has...
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...Benefits of Feminism to the American Society Name Institution Affiliation Benefits of Feminism From the nineteenth century, the word feminism gained much popularity globally, as advocates sought equal rights for women in comparison to their male counterparts. Feminism appealed to a high number of individuals belonging to the female gender, but left many males wounded and aggrieved. Presently, feminism is still a familiar concept that attracts negative and positive criticism from different people. Those that oppose feminism, claim that the idea is unrealistic and responsible for many fallbacks in the society, and the proponents say that, feminism is rightful and sublime. This paper analyzes the importance of feminism on the American society (Hannam, 2008). As a conception, different people perceive feminism differently especially because of the effects that it has on the American society. Some people view feminism as the means through which women acquired rights to vote, work, education, personal property and politic among other issues. On the other hand, some people see feminism as a way through which women seek entitlement and other benefits, by claiming that they have equal rights with men, and reminding the society that they deserve special treatment, after having been oppressed for many years. Considering that both factions are right, one can say that feminism has brought both beneficial and harmful effects...
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...ideology, there is not a defining answer as to what feminism means. The Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as the “advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex”. The term ‘feminist’ itself has been used in the United Kingdom since the 1880s but it’s philosophy had been dated back centuries before. Since then it’s meaning has evolved into different branches from radical feminism to liberal feminism for example, and is used on a political platform. It is fact that both Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More are examples of women who philosophised about women’s rights and their place in society. They both produced published works discussing women in society focused upon educational reform, and many have debated the extent to which they should be considered feminists. However, although their views contradicted each other, based on the modern day definition of feminism, both Wollstonecraft and More should be considered feminists for numerous reasons. Firstly, it is indisputable that Mary Wollstonecraft was a feminist and even as far to be considered as the “founder of western feminism”. In Wollstonecraft’s writings, a new female value is consciously introduced and effectively infused into a movement across the late eighteenth century. There are many books that focus on Wollstonecraft’s thought alone as they all depict the influences and meanings of feminism to Wollstonecraft. They all commonly convey significance...
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...some women getting the chance of education as same as almost men, and make women working outdoor instead of doing household work. These phenomena cause people questioning about the original belief that proposes women are inferior to men, and the difference between men and women is natural matter which is unchangeable. People tried to find the reason why this belief occurred and has still endured for a long time. In addition, there is a social movement which tried to change this belief, including the condition of the inequality between men and women. This social movement is called feminism. This social phenomenon began, in 19th century, in the western side of the world, because women didn’t accept the original culture, their role in society, the inequality of gender, and the oppression of men. However, this contradiction in terms of gender has been argued up to the beginning of 20th century. Feminism has rapidly grown since the last forty years of 20th century. People become awakened to study about women in several measurements, especially in the study of the relationship between men and women, by using the idea of gender to be the equipment of the analysis. The inconsistency of gender causes the movement which people demand the equality between men and women. Moreover, there are many studies, explanations and ideas about the secondary status of women in many terms, in the last for decades. Almost explanations and ideas of feminism develop from main...
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...Feminism and its relevance in today’s society Diamond V Nesbit ITT-Technical Institute When you hear or read the term feminism what image pops into your mind? Is it a woman with a short haircut, unshaven legs and/or armpits, over-weight by at least 20 pounds, a strong hatred of men and all things pertaining to men? Well this could be due to the image society burns into your mind. When watching television or browsing on the internet you cannot help but run across an image of angry women with picket signs automatically placing the group in a negative light. Feminism is more than picket signs, protests, and unshaven legs. Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. Feminism is frown upon in today’s society but is still very relevant and important to many. The media and feminism have a love/hate relationship. In movies, books, and even cartoons feminist are portrayed as angry, unkempt, lesbian “man haters”. They are shown looking down on men and judging women for their attire or life choices. On rare occasions the media actually shines a positive light on feminism and its beliefs only when it can be beneficial to its rating or purpose. The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women," said Pat Robertson, a television evangelist and former Baptist minister during...
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...Black Feminism Michelle Smith African American History Winter Quarter 2010 Purdue University Instructor: Professor Wilkens Introduction When the Black Feminist movement was developed, it was a revolution for black women. It gave them power, liberation, and a voice to overcome the emasculating efforts of white male power (Harrold, Hine, and Hine, 2009). When I first began this research, I discovered that Black Feminism is too broad of a topic to elaborate on as a whole. This paper defines the term “Black Feminism. It will explore two published articles that report on the theory and practice of how black feminism is making waves and what role of education in the development of the Black Feminist Thought from 1860 to 1920. This paper will examine when the National Black Feminist Organization was founded and lastly, how two outstanding women who made an impact in the Black Feminist Movement. According to Encyclo (n.d.) online encyclopedia the definition of black feminism is “A strand of feminist thought which highlights the multiple disadvantages of gender, class and race that shape the experiences of nonwhite women. Black feminists reject the idea of a single unified gender oppression that is experienced evenly by all women, and argue that early feminist analysis reflected the specific concerns of white, middle-class women.” In other words, black feminist argue that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people since it would require the end of...
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...Feminism is known to be the belief of equality between the sexes and also the movement created around belief. In relation to equality, it is the idea to end sexism and to end a patriarchal society. The word feminism was created in the 1880’s in France and the Netherlands, which only connects to Caucasians (Hobbs, Rice 1B). Feminism started with Caucasians before it got established to people of color. The Feminist Movement is entirely about the change for women but the movement consists of only a White women’s viewpoint, which they view the male as the enemy. Reading about feminism only makes references to European men and women but not people of color. During the Feminist Movement, three waves were created; the first wave was women’s suffrage, the second wave was the women’s liberation movement, and the third movement was centered on sexuality (Hobbs, Rice 23). The movement was focused on women and poverty, women and education, violence against women, women in the economy, and women and politics. These were standard movements that were fought for but it was the perspective of the White women but it may have applied to all...
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...What part does a critique of ‘Custom’ play within Mary Astell’s writing and in what was does such an approach enable us to understand the significance of her ‘Tory Protofeminism’? Both Mary Astell’s works ‘A serious proposal to the ladies’ and ‘Some reflections upon marriage’ deal with the social problems that women had to live with at the time, and how they were constantly subdued by men. Being considered mentally and socially inferior, Astell argued that this social ranking between the sexes was unjust and unnatural. However, ‘Custom’, (or tradition) considered it for some time normal for a woman to be under the dominance of Man at all times. Astell tried arguing against this, as her protofeminist pieces were one of the first works which dealt with the matter head on. She fought for equality between the sexes, and questioned the morals behind believing women to be inferior to men. Many would be able to compare her to ‘The New Woman’; an image created in order to describe the modern feminist woman that was being introduced to society in the late 19th century. However, many would argue that, although Astell was a leading feminist of her time, as she was considered “The first major English feminist for her defiant praise of women” by Joan K. Kinnard, she was still strongly conservative and some of her views differed from the modern feminist ones of today. She still considered a woman to have her rightful place or role in the household and in society, and believed that a social...
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...such as inequalities across different systems such as gender, race, education, sports, and more, how feminist ideas relate to inequality, intersecting identities, and the idea of privilege. There are inequalities across systems that can be seen in the way that women are viewed in society. An example of this is shown in chapter one in an article called “The Housewives Moment of Truth” by Jane O’Reilly. O’Reilly main point focuses on the notion that even through time women are still seen as being simple housewives. In today’s society women have obtained various professional jobs that go beyond the just being a teacher, and even with their success there are people that see women’s role as being in the household. O’Reilly article displays an example of gender inequality, and more importantly shows how there is still a lot progress that needs to be made. Besides gender inequality, the readings also point to other types of inequality like race. Race is very important when looking at women’s studies because everyone has to tackle their own problems every day. For instance, a black woman who is of a lower class, a single mother, a high school graduate, and tackling two jobs is viewed differently by people in society than a white woman who is of the middle class, married, graduated from college, and who has a professional job. Each reading also go into details about other types of inequalities such as those in education, where women are seen as working in jobs that are mainly dominated...
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...Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or women's liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences that exist between males and females. A man can never be as good a mother as a female can. Similarly, a woman can never be as good a father as a male can. While accepting these anatomical and physiological differences between the two genders, feminism seeks for both genders to be equally respected. They are both human and as a species, humans cannot progress without either one of them. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker divide the history of feminism into three waves. The first wave transpired in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. In each wave of the movement, though men have taken part in significant responses to feminism, the relationship between men and feminism has been complex. Historically, a number of men have engaged with feminism. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham demanded equal rights for women in the eighteenth century. In 1866, philosopher John Stuart Mill presented a women's...
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...“I’m Not a Feminist, But I Believe in Equality” I remember being in high school when the American education system made it completely apparent that they value a boy’s education over a girls. I wore a loose leafy skirt that was exactly 3 inches above my knee, while the dress code specified 2 inches above my knee. Furthermore, I was sent home for this incident because “it was suggestive to the boys”… Let that sink in! My school was, slowly but surely, making clear to me was that they would much rather send me home and take away any academic lesson I would have learned from that day because of the small fact that an inch of my knee might be of disturbance to a hormonal high school boy. This is the point in my life when I needed feminism. I always understood the term feminism to be straightforward: anyone who believes in equality between men and women, as well as the perseverance of self-worth regardless of gender, is a feminist. However, my generation of women has a far more straight forward view of feminism than I do. Women who recommend the values of feminism now frown upon identifying themselves as feminist. Why is that? Many misconceptions and misunderstandings become part of the issue when a person has a lack of understanding or comprehension of exactly what the term feminism truly means. It is important to know the difference between equality and feminism. Comprehending the meaning of the two also empowers a women to be grounded and given the capability to know what they...
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...active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[10] Chapter two: definition, development, and categories of feminism 1. Definition of feminism Throughout history, women have always struggled to obtain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. This has been difficult because of patriarchy, an ideology in which men are superior to women and have the right to control women. This ideology has spread...
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...Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism The goal of feminism as both a social movement and political movement is to make women and men equal not only culturally, but socially and legally. Even though there are various types of feminism that focus on different goals and issues, the ultimate end to feminism is abolishing gender inequality that has negative effects on women in our society. The issues and goals that a feminist may have are dependent on the social organization or the type of economic structure that is present. However, an ultimate end (a goal, achievement and/or accomplishment) would have to be social equality between men and women. This would mean the elimination of bias and discrimination towards women and the elimination of all forms of established hierarchy, whether it’s mandatory or enforced. The two types of feminist theories I have chose to compare are liberal feminism and radical feminism. Even though they seem to aim for the same objectives, in the following paragraphs, I will compare and prove that they are very different in the sense that liberal feminism is form of reform feminism and radical feminism is a form of resistance feminism. They are both strategically different, and they have different ideas and beliefs that are almost the opposite of each other, which revolve around the reasons of why gender inequality exists, why women are oppressed, and why gender inequality won’t be easily abolished. The differences between radical and liberal feminism...
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