...Environment Understanding Patriarchy Suranjita Ray• Subordination of women to men is prevalent in large parts of the world. We come across experiences where women are not only treated as subordinate to men but are also subject to discriminations, humiliations, exploitations, oppressions, control and violence. Women experience discrimination and unequal treatment in terms of basic right to food, health care, education, employment, control over productive resources, decision-making and livelihood not because of their biological differences or sex, which is natural but because of their gender differences which is a social construct. “Sex is considered a fact - one is born with either male or female genitalia. Gender is considered a social construction - it grants meaning to the fact of sex. Conversely, it could be said that only after specific meanings came to be attached to the sexes, did sex differences become pertinent” (Geetha, 2002: 10). Gender based discriminations and exploitations are widespread and the socio-culturally defined characteristics, aptitudes, abilities, desires, personality traits, roles, responsibilities and behavioral patterns of men and women contribute to the inequalities and hierarchies in society. Gender differences are man made and they get legitimised in a patriarchal society. This paper attempts to link the theoretical dimensions of patriarchy with its empirical experiences to engage in the ongoing debates and discussion on “patriarchy” which manifests itself...
Words: 9801 - Pages: 40
...contribution of feminist perspectives to our understanding of society (33 marks) Feminists see society as patriarchal. They seek to describe, explain and change the position of women within society. The first ‘wave’ of feminism appeared in the late 19th century with the suffragette’s campaign for the right for women to vote. Even though all feminists oppose women’s subordination, there are disagreements on its causes and how to overcome it. Liberal or reformist feminists believe that traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to equality. They believe all human beings should have equal rights. Since both men and women are human beings, both should have the same opportunities. Liberal Feminists argue that laws and policies against sex discrimination in employment and education can secure equal opportunities for women. Campaigning for changes in law can bring about change and we can bring about change through a cultural shift within society. They reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or rational than men or that men are biologically less emotional or nurturing than women. To bring about change we must shift society’s socialisation patterns. For example society must seek to promote appropriate role models in education and the family by doing this we will benefit from a cultural shift and gender equality will become the norm. Liberal Feminists believe that changes in socialisation and culture are gradually leading...
Words: 1744 - Pages: 7
...Liberal Feminism In today’s society, women are greatly advancing politically and economically due to the contributions of liberal feminists that began in the mid to late 20th century. Liberal feminists believe that gender differences should not be derived from biology and therefore, men and women should be treated equally and have equal rights under the law and in the workplace. However, there are a few limitations to liberal feminism including denigrating women traits such as empathy and nurturing in order to increase women’s social status in society. One major achievement that liberal feminism has achieved is getting gender equality for women in the workplace and education, written in the civil rights laws in the United States. In the workplace, women have always faced discrimination by men through hiring, promotion and lower salaries. Liberal feminism has been trying to break these obstacles to help women find an easier passage to occupations that are usually conquered by men. The concepts of gate keeping, glass ceiling and gendered job queues are what liberal feminism have been fighting against to insure that women receive the same occupations, wages and benefits as men do. Affirmative Action was created to rectify the gender, racial and ethnical imbalance in the workplace which also helped women exceed without discrimination. Not only has liberal feminism advanced women with general occupations, but also with government positions. Liberal feminists have been encouraging...
Words: 1108 - Pages: 5
...Transnational feminism examines issues regarding women from a global perspective while also considering how they intersect with our lived experiences in the United States. The transnational feminist movement involves global activism; working together to understand the role of gender, race, class, and sexuality as it relates to resisting structures of patriarchal and capitalist power. Jamaican women like Amy Ashwood and Amy Jacque Garvey have historically led the charge on feminist activism in Jamaica and the Afro-Caribbean. From their writings in the Negro World newspaper to the speeches by Ashwood throughout the United States, their work highlights the significance of transnational histories of feminism. Black feminism as a movement could...
Words: 1067 - Pages: 5
...The United States criminal justice system, an outwardly fair organization of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first necessary to provide a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution of women in the criminal justice system and the affect that the different waves of feminism have had on policies and practices towards women in this system. I plan to argue that the criminal justice system is another form of patriarchal control, a sexist organization which creates conflict between the private sphere of a woman's life and the public. This control extends far beyond the just incarcerated women, it affects all women. Despite the fact that there have been changes to certain policies and prison regulations, though made with resistance, none of the changes have been for the better. By looking at past and present situations as well as the differing feminist perspectives...
Words: 3618 - Pages: 15
...White Feminism: the Self-Appointed Savior of the World The movement of (Eurocentric) feminism has been superglued to its privilege ever since the term “féminisme” was first coined in 1837 (source). Marked by its relentless, unapologetic, prioritization of the voices of middle-class, cisgender, heterosexual, white women over the experiences of queer women, women of color (third world women) , transgendered women; the movement has become an obstacle for equal rights in the broader sense. While “white” feminism is absolutely vital today and has produced outstanding achievements for women in the Western world, the byproducts of its undeniable privilege has been detrimental, to say the least, to women of third world countries in particular. Western...
Words: 1892 - Pages: 8
...Bargaining with Patriarchy Deniz Kandiyoti Gender and Society, Vol. 2, No. 3, Special Issue to Honor Jessie Bernard. (Sep., 1988), pp. 274-290. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0891-2432%28198809%292%3A3%3C274%3ABWP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W Gender and Society is currently published by Sage Publications, Inc.. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/sage.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. http://www.jstor.org Fri Jun 15 11:56:33 2007 BARGAINING W I T H PATRIARCHY DENIZ K A N D I Y O T I Richmond College, United Kingdom T h i s article argues that systematic comparative analyses of women's strategies and coping mechanisms lead to a...
Words: 7674 - Pages: 31
...FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY Passionate Politics bell hooks South End Press Cambridge, MA CONTENTS Copyright © 2000 by Gloria Watkins Cover design by Ellen P. Shapiro Cover illustration by Laura DeSantis, © Artville Any properly footnoted quotation of up to 500 sequential words may be used without permission, as long as the total number of words quoted does not exceed 2,000. For longer quotations or for a greater number of total words, please write to South End Press for permission. INTRODUCTION Come Closer to Feminism 1. 2. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hooks, Bell. Feminism is for everybody: passionate politics / Bell Hooks. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-89608-629-1 - ISBN 0-89608-628-3 (pbk.) 1. Feminist theory. 2. Feminism - Philosophy. 3. Feminism Political aspects. 4. Sex discrimination against women. 1. Title. FEMINIST POLITICS Where We Stand 1 CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING A Constant Change of Heart 7 3. SISI:ERHOOD IS STILL POWERFUL 4. Vll 13 00-036589 South End Press, 7 Brookline Street, #1, Cambridge, MA 02139 06 05 04 7 8 9 Printed in Canada 19 OUR BODIES, OURSELVES Reproductive Rights 25 6. HQl190 .H67 2000 305.42'01 - dc21 FEMINIST EDUCATION FOR CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS BEAUTY WITHIN AND WITHOUT 31 7. FEMINIST CLASS STRUGGLE 37 8. GLOBAL FEMINISM 44 5. 9. WOMEN AT WORI( 48 10. RACE AND GENDER 55 ...
Words: 37459 - Pages: 150
...(2) Family is a group of people related by kinship ties such as blood, marriage/civil partnership or adoption. Explain how sociologists may understand childhood as a socially constructed concept (4) The social construction of childhood means that it is not natural as it is a concept with various meanings in different societies. An interactionist known as Aries (1962) suggested that childhood today is a new social invention as during industrialisation children were seen as ‘miniature adults’ as they performed the same work as their parents. Whereas since the 20th century an emergence of a child-centred society is now present. Parents view children as sentimental as they now occupy a central place in the emotional life of home. The state has also contributed to the child-centred society by introducing safe guarding policies as Wells (2009) notes the government of childhood is organised around saving children from internal and external threats. However, not all societies in the world have a concept of childhood which does show that childhood is socially constructed. Suggest three ways in which the form of the typical family has been affected by demographic factors (6) Due to changes in fertility rate the average age of woman giving birth over 30 years old has increased – The use of reliable birth control has enabled woman to have power over reproduction, as well as this the educational opportunities has increased for females which woman are putting first before they settle...
Words: 2439 - Pages: 10
...Sociology 1 5/15/2014 Final Exam: Short Answer Questions 1. Class Stratification Describe the social class system in the U.S. In United States have six social classes, from the top to low, there are upper classes which is top-level executives, celebrities, heirs, income over fifty thousands and have highly education, second is new money class which is people inherit a huge money from their family. Thirdly is middle class which is people having highly educational and also have their professionals like lawyer and doctor. Fourthly is working class which is people have low educated or technical training, they always is blue-collar worker and worker. Also they have a union. Fifth is working poor class which is people have lower educational, usually work in the lowest-paying jobs. The last one is poverty level which is people can’t meet their basic needs. Discuss how class shapes life chances using segments from the film, People Like US: Social Class in America below: The working class vs. the middle class In the work, the working-class people more easy to injury at work than the middle class t. And, the working class people are least possibly have the extra money to buy essential, moreover luxurious things and holiday. The social class in US, the middle class family has the better survival qualifications, therefore they have the social activity, and their child can have a better education compared to the working class people. “Bourgeoisie Blues” – the black middle class ...
Words: 4264 - Pages: 18
...Patriarchy is best defined as control by men. The opposite is matriarchy which means women are in charge and the head of families. Obviously, the culture of the United States and most other countries is patriarchal. Men have the power and control the women. If you don't believe that consider the basics of how our society functions. Women constantly must fight for their rights and sometimes they struggle just to survive without the power and domination of men threatening them. Whether an individual woman wants to conquer patriarchy will come from her desire to be independent and defined outside the context of men. Look to most world leaders to see how powerful patriarchy is. Women are certainly as capable as men to be President of the United States, yet they are not and probably won't be any time soon. Men have been in that role for so long that our country probably does not believe it is possible. Consider who is typically at the head of a company or leaders in local governments. While certainly more women are fulfilling these roles, it is a constant struggle for the ones who are able to achieve that success with men having much more power just by their biological nature. Men have not had to fight for their place in society like women have. It has been an expectation that they will become leaders because that is what patriarchy is about. Much of patriarchy also has its roots in Christianity. Religions which believe the Bible or other religious text often follow it faithfully...
Words: 12725 - Pages: 51
...family and government which depended on each other to function. Functionalists see society as being similar to the human body. In the same way the body relies on the heart to pump blood round to other vital organs like the lungs and brain. Functionalists see society as being constructed of different inter-dependent components like the family and education system. So in the same way the human body would fail if the heart stopped, functionalists’ argue society would stop working properly if the family stopped functioning properly. Functionalists say this would happen because the family is an institution in which primary socialisation occurs. Primary socialisation is where younger members of a family are taught societies norms, values, roles and beliefs, By having the same values which we all share, a value consensus is establish. Therefore we can see the family has a function in the social system. This perspective of society differed from other sociologists of his era as Durkheim's theories were founded on things external in nature, as opposed to those internal in nature, such as the motivations and desires of individuals. According to Durkheim, collective consciousness, values, and rules are critical to a functional society. The functionalist perspective on the education system Functionalists focus on the...
Words: 4602 - Pages: 19
...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...
Words: 2859 - Pages: 12
...The Hunger Games: Action-film feminism is catching fire Lisa Schwarzbaum Burning up Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is both strong and vulnerable – a new kind of action heroine who has powered The Hunger Games: Catching fire to a $158m US debut. (Lionsgate) Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is a new type of female action film icon, and moviegoers should be very excited about that, writes Lisa Schwarzbaum. As Catching Fire ignites on movie screens around the world, this is what we know about the 21st Century heroine called Katniss Everdeen: she is strong but also soft. She is brave but she has doubts. She is a phenomenal fictional creation, yet is real enough that moviegoers can draw inspiration from her values, her resourcefulness, and her very human inner conflicts. And she is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who appears not only to be handling her current duties as Hollywood’s finest model of well-adjusted millennial female stardom but doing so with charm. Everdeen and Lawrence: golden girls both. Personified in Lawrence’s lithe movements and cool, focused gaze, Katniss is a brave, resourceful and independent-minded fighter; but she is also a troubled and vulnerably guilt-ridden human being. Nina Jacobson, the producer of the Hunger Games film franchise, puts it this way: “She is a singular heroine in that the burden of survival weighs on her. She has a ton of survivor’s guilt. And she keeps surviving.” Girl on fire It is strange that behaving like a well-adjusted...
Words: 16355 - Pages: 66
...3 TRENDS IN FEMINISM Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Objectives 3.3 Liberal Feminism 3.3.1 Liberal Thought 3.3.2 Classical Liberal Feminism 3.3.3 Second Wave Liberal Feminism 3.3.4 Weakness/Limitations of the Liberal Feminism 3.3.5 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.4 Marxist Feminism 3.4.1 Foundations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.2 Other Key Elements in Marxist Feminism 3.4.3 Limitations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.5 Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.1 The Beginnings of Psychoanalytic Feminism – Countering Freudian Theories 3.5.2 Explanation by other Theorists 3.5.3 Limitations of Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.6 Radical feminism 3.6.1 Definition 3.6.2 The influences that shaped Radical Feminism 3.6.3 What are the variations of Radical Feminism? 3.6.3.1 Radical- Libertarian Feminism 3.6.3.2 Radical-Cultural Feminism 3.6.4 Radical Feminism – Its Structure 3.6.5 The Outcomes of the Movement 3.6.6 Critiques of Radical Feminism 3.6.7 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.7 Postmodern Feminism 3.7.1 Postmodern Thought 3.7.2 Postmodern rethinking of psychological explanation of gender 3.7.3 Postmodern Feminist 3.7.4 Limitations of Postmodern feminism 3.7.5 Contribution to the women’s Movement 3.8 Black Feminism and Womanism 3.8.1 The Beginnings of Black Feminism 3.9 Cyber Feminism 3.9.1 Origin of Cyber Feminism 3.9.2 Definition of the 100 Anti Thesis 3.9.3 Cyber art and its relation to Cyber feminism 3.9.4 Cyber...
Words: 17769 - Pages: 72