Conceptualisations of Femininity since mid-20th century
Though the feminist movement was started centuries back, yet the impetus of it was felt during the Second World War when the whole economy was transforming from labor intensive towards the technological development. The change gave momentum to the women in the labor force to such an extreme extent that many women began to think this whole trend in terms of the feminization of the labor force, (Bradley 1997 81), however decrease in the manufacturing industries made many men unemployed. On the social front, divorce rates and the number of single headed families increased and along with this, new and advanced technologies in reproduction and child birth made it convenient for men and women to plan their children and moreover the gay and lesbians also began to assert their rights. The advancements of the women during this period led to assertion in mid 1980s that the stage had finally arrived for post feminist movement with young women involved fully into it. Madonna was taken as an emblem of the new generation of women. (Bradley 1997 81) While this was going on, feminists in the academic circles continued to share their own grievances as they had to face many obstacles in the path of their growth. They were concerned about the equal pay as well as equivalent opportunities to grow further in their career. (Morrison, Bourke Kelley 2005 150)
In the United Kingdom, where the particular study Stop Making it Such a Big Issue Perceptions and Experience of Gender Inequality by Undergraduates at a British University was conducted, many women tended to ignore and deny the existence of the gender inequality, causing hurdles in the path of the feminist movement. There was even denial of the inequality of gender as the greatest impediment to positive social change. But it is quite true that the denigration of the equal opportunity, and cut back in the support system are evidences of the fact that gender inequality in the academic field has never been removed and besides there never has been adequate research on the culture of students and their experience. (Morrison, Bourke Kelley 2005 151)
To start with, womens movement originated from the social reform organizations which were raising their voices against abolition of slavery and other social issues. Women too began to realize the importance for organizing and transforming their society and initializing campaigns. The waves of feminism went through three phases. The first phase started from eighteenth century and passed through twentieth century professing the suffrage movement. Their main ideological stand was to oppose mens sociological and psychological domination over them. Writers like Virginia Woolf were the propagators of these ideas, as she argued in her book, A Room of Ones Own, that women are themselves victims as well as strong pillars of society and act as mirror to men. She admitted that social factors restrict women in society and felt the need to conceptualize the problems of women in her literature contributing towards the growth of the feminist movements. (Humm 1992 22)
The second wave started in the mid twentieth century against inequality in the law and cultural arena. Simone de Beauvior was the most prominent person to initiate this movement whose idea inspired Virginia Woolf to struggle for the rights of women in the household as well as work place. Beauviors ideas set the pace for the development of the feminist theory later (Humm 1992 44) but the key person to mark beginning of this feminist movement was Betty Friedans 1963 book The Feminine Mystique. The book became best seller which showed dissatisfied women in the confines of their domesticity. It was about the women who though appeared to be satisfied in the household work, children and their family yet there was frustration on their faces in their ambiguous life. (Meyerowitz 1993 1455) This led women to fight against social, cultural, economic and political inequalities exerting themselves against polarized society. (Davis, 1991 50) The Carol Hanisch slogan, The Personal is Political became a new phenomenon in the history, sphere of politics, and the personal life in general. Her essay debates between the personal life and the politics, questioning whether womens consciousness could become a useful part in their political movement. According to Hanisch, groups are never interested to solve the personal problems of women, instead political action involves raising awareness among the women to develop their importance in the roles they play in their married life, in relation with others and what they feel about motherhood. (Echols 1989 416)
During early 1990, another movement known as third wave arose as a response to anticipated failure of the second phase calling upon to adopt new ideological stand. In this phase, Black feminists also sought the race related issues to be given significant space within thoughts of feminism. Along with their thoughts on interconnecting race and gender, the focus was also on to adopt young feminists. (Henry 2004 163) The feminist movement was not only reflective of the Cultural Revolution but also motivated women to make use of the different social ideological moves to their advantage. (Henry 2004 166)
In social sciences, the major theme was to lay more emphasis on the social aspects of the gender roles thus demystifying the previous explanation of sex difference on biological lines. (Anderson 2005 439) However, gender was later conceptualized as a complete act within the domain of the frame of doing gender, as an institution and as an axis to stratify themselves. These different ways of conceptualizing the issue of feminism passed through development phases with some being more sophisticated as compared to others. All the above ideas originated from the thoughtful interpretation of the social and cultural issues as a consequence, scholars dealing with the feminist issues laid more focus on the difference in the sex and gender as if both were clearly distinct from each other. Within this context, according to many, even the biological difference could be construed as social construction. (Anderson 2005 440)
The second theme that prevailed among the genre of the early literature was amplification of challenging the fixed institutional forms. In sociological terms, these themes are especially apparent during the process of the early interpretation of the families. Feminist scholars challenged against the imperativeness of the most important roles being played in the family on the gender lines. While explaining this concept, feminist scholars contradicted the idea that some of the family structures had been more natural as compared to the others, again asserting on the social character of many institutions. Thirdly, many feminine scholars were embedded by the idea that the lives of the women should be taken serious and womens life should be celebrated in all its vicinity. (Anderson 2005 440) For e.g. Jessie Bernards The Female World celebrates variedness and richness of the world of women inhabited to be overseen or yet unperceived. Her basic premises lie in the fact that the domains of both the men and women are different with the women sometimes may enter into the world of men but they do not belong to that world. In fact, their world is in the Gemeinschaft of Blut-und-Blot (Blood and Soil). (Davis 1985 879) Duties of women are bounded in the confines of the kinship, tradition and locale with their culture as love and duty and function to adjust life with the family. This world is quite in contradiction to the world of Gesellschaft of men exhibiting self interest, cash nexus, stiff competition, and any kind of contract. The question that Bernard raises in the 1980 was, Will women discard the female ethos as they increasingly enter the labor market or will they modify the male world of economy and polity in line with the traditional female values In short, will agape or profit prevail (Davis 1985 879)
Feminists entered into the movement advocating their own share of woes, for e.g. for some it was the fight for their reproductive rights - the right of abortion and birth control, while others were concerned with the equal pay for equal work and for gaining equal access into professional groups and settings. Jessie Bernard proved by sitting alone in the hotel bar, a place where single women was seldom allowed and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader also spoke of denying access to the Law Library at Harvard. Perhaps for the generation of today, these talks seem quite out of place but it is also quite true that many of the documentation were focused on the consequence and result caused by sexism. (Anderson 2005 440)
Many feminist groups were dissecting the issues related to the women on their own light for e.g. early feminists were focusing on class system and their theory was formulated around relationship between gender and systems of production. Radical feminists were also taking into consideration dynamic traits of patriarchy as a social force to understand the issues of women and feminine. Overall, there was conceptualization of the gender in the social sphere, forming documentation and undertaking analytical study of women issues in various social institutions. (Anderson 2005 441)
Since 1980s, feminism has generally been the greatest movement and has been customarily being referred in the plural sense. As said by Peter Braham and Linda Janes, It is both a political movement, cutting across other collectivities of class, race and religion for example, and a diverse body of theoretical perspectives which cuts across many academic disciplinary boundaries. (Janes 2002 102) These writers conceptualized the gender issues as related to the differences and inequalities between men and women as social categories. If we go by the discussion of Pamella Abbot, we would find that there is another aspect to it i.e. how the gender interrelates with other social divisions. (Janes 2002 102) If we try to identify ourselves in the social sphere, we will find we are not merely men or women but a complex and changing amalgam of interacted social identities of class, culture, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality and age-to name just some key aspects it is really impossible to separate gender from all the other dimensions. (Janes 2002 103) While making the analytical assumptions of the gender divisions, the theoretical conceptualization of feminism has been construed in the context of the social difference and division. In other words, each one of us is part of one or the other group but as a woman she is still in this relationship and in this connection inferior, deviant or just simply wrong.
However, advocators of liberal feminism since its inception have always asserted for the equal rights to both men and women and they argued these gender differences could be reduced through the educational and legal reforms. They wanted for the women to also gain rights in the public spheres including right to vote, equal opportunities at work place, and all the legal rights which men enjoyed. But the very concept of the liberal feminism is criticized because it is acclaimed that it is insufficiently radical in its approach. They adopted the assumption that capitalism would inevitably bring with it the advantages of own freedom and democracy becoming part of the best of all possible worlds. (Bradley1997 86).
The liberalization movement continued to be very popular in America and Australia, whereas in Britain, where feminists were more suspicious of the state, the most popular voice had been of Marxist feminism. (Bradley 1996 87) Many second wave feminists in Britain in the academic arena were associated with the radical student movements and were influenced by Marxists. The feminists tried to adopt the most crucial Marxism concepts, along with the techniques of analyzing materialistic method and applying the same to formulate the relationship between the two sexes. The Marxists decided to solve the issue of feminism by taking into consideration exploitation of women at the work place and the housewives who directly or indirectly contribute towards the profits in the capitalist economy. (Bradley 1996 87)
Feminism has continuously made its presence felt in the American culture, and though some women might not have directly affiliated themselves with the movement, yet they have tremendous affect of the same. And, even though they might not call themselves feminist, yet they have their own share in making the movement a success. If we look into the role of the women of colour, we would find that in the initial years these women of colour were highly critical of the white womens movement and they had all the reasons to show their apprehension about their movement. Victoria Romero ardently believed that the Feminist Movement wasnt made for us. It was made for middle-class White women, (Lessane 2007 5) and Alpert too shows the same apprehension. The same is true with the American scholar Bell Hooks who reflects the same sentiments making many of the women to remain themselves aloof from the White feminists during the second wave of feminist movement. Hooks says in her book As many black womenwomen of colour saw white women from privileged classes benefiting economically more than other groups from reformist gains, from gender being tacked on to racial affirmative action, it simply reaffirmed their fear that feminism was really about increasing white power. (Hooks 2000 42) Hooks points out the fact that though within the feministic theoretical framework the issue of race has been given due importance but still there is a need to give more importance to feminist agenda that could include women of colour. By, the only problem is to translate theory into practice. Though white women have raised the issue of racism and incorporated into their agenda yet the effect of it has not been seen in the day-to-day relations between white women and women of colour. Racism and sexism in conjunction with each other create division between the women, and the strategies being adopted by many feminists to remove these barriers have not led to much success. (Hooks 2000 58-59)
There have been many theories that present the women at the center of the discussion and many of these feminist scholars gave women many of the theoretical frameworks within the context of which they experience themselves as women but no body ever has provided with the tools to really enjoy liberation and true freedom. Paradoxically, their journey begins within themselves, especially with the women of colour who have to assert their femininity in solitude forcing them to rethink about their families, culture, and communities as well as traditions and the places that they have actually attained. As a Latina woman, Estel Lopez feels, Nobody gives you power. Sometimes you struggle for it or fight for it. You get up everyday and fight for power in the work place, family, and social situationsWe have to be honest about whats wrong in our culture and families. As hard and as lonely as it is sometimes, you have to say thats not right. (Lessane 2007 6)
Each woman directly associated with the feminist movement or not can feel impact of the same in their day-to-day lives. Whether they are struggling in attaining education, raising their family, or finding a job, they are all much part of the feminist movement, but for many women like historian and writer Janis Kearney, feminism meant more on cultivating feminism instead of being called feminist. Kearney revealed the radical ways African American mothers adopted to encourage their daughters to lead independent lives and attain self sufficiency in the rural Arkansas. She never used the term feminism in her Cotton Fields of Dreams yet the way she conceptualized the ideology of feminism is imbibed throughout, as it covers all the issues affected by women in general. (Lessane 2007 6)
On the other hand, there is Chris Smith - an African American lesbian who tried to connect herself to the familys legacies of nationalism and race with her own self identity, before she could virtually come out. Finally, Smith declined the term Womanism for self explanation as she said, it feels like a paired down word for African-American women because feminism has been associated with lesbianism (Lessane 2007 7) Here, Smith mentions about some of the heterosexual African American women who detest themselves with the feminist movement thinking they would be treated as lesbians. She ardently believed that feminism should involve for the women free choice, liberty and self regulatory behavior. Explaining further, she said that making decision to remain at home is an act of feminism but when this kind of role is endorsed upon her culturally then we cannot term it as feminism. Here Lopez asserts that an act of determining something and that of defiance is the principle on which the concept of feminism lays and is at the root of the womens power. The concept of feminism lies in not by liberating the women but by changing oneself and the way others would see them. (Lessane 2007 8)
The social climate in Britain and the USA has evolved itself all through these years with the terms feminism and feminist theory, and this has increased to multiple dimensions bringing in its wake several aspects of what makes their culture. As Bell said, to bring in the change, there is a need to identify the situation wherein the women in power always make less powerful women helpless. This should be changed to really make movement of feminism a success. Overall, changes in the economy during Second World War, and awareness among the women to organize themselves in the social, political and economic structure to garner their rights gave boost to the feminist movement. Above all contributions of female writers and scholars, the subject of feminism, as the added discipline in the academy, gave thrust to the movement Feminism. Besides, the way thoughts originated in different phases of the feminist movement from the women suffrage towards the incorporation of the issue of racism, and finally towards the equal pay for equal work are the different ways that transformed the conceptualization of femininity during the twentieth century.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment