CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPING THE THEORETICAL LENS OF THE STUDY
2.3 Section 1: Feminism and feminist theories
2.3.1 Feminism
2.3.1.4 Strands of feminist thoughts
Feminist theory provides explanations, including that the discrimination of men against women is built upon the fact that gender is a social construct defined and
enforced by social processes and by the performance of behaviours of men and women. Within the various waves of feminism, women scholars have sought to understand and locate practices, structures and systems that impact on women’s experiences and subjecthood. Feminism has made people question roles and power that are often associated with gender (Heywood, 2000, p. 58). Feminism explores gender inequality in politics, power, rights, interests and sexuality through discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, domination and patriarchy. Thus, there are various theoretical strands of feminism, each emerging out of epochs of women’s struggles, that seek to understand and explain women’s lives and experiences as they relate to the social order that exists. In the sections below, I have elaborated on only some feminist strands that exist.
2.3.1.4.1 Socialist and Marxist feminism
One of the most influential theoretical advances in feminism has been socialist feminism. This theoretical framing emerged within the second wave feminist period and links the domination of women to Marxist thinking about domination and labour. Some feminists relate the unequal position of women in the workplace to that in the household (Hawkesworth, 2006). Socialist feminism recognises how prostitution, household work and childcare are allocated to women and that these women are dominated by a patriarchal structure that undervalues women and the considerable effort they make (Hawkesworth, 2006). Socialist and Marxist feminism perceives culture as only one part of the socially constructed culture of feminist battle (Gimenez, 2000, p. 22). Socialist-Marxist feminists understand the importance of working with men and other groups as discrimination against women affects everyone in a capitalist structure.
2.3.1.4.2 Liberal feminism
Another strand of feminist theorising, which emerged within the second-wave feminist movement, is liberal feminism. This strand of feminist thought asserts the equality of men and women through improvement in political and legal matters. This form of feminism is based on the perception of women as individuals who can achieve equality through their own actions and selections (Baehr, 2017, p. 7). Liberal feminism makes use of individual communications between men and women to bring improvement to the society (Begum & Sarmin, 2016). In liberal feminism,
each woman has the capacity of attaining equality without changing the structure of the society (Ukagba, 2010, p. 76). Liberal feminists agree to the notion that citizenship is established through participation in the labour market (Bittman, 2001).
Many areas including education are important for liberal feminists (Ukagba, 2010, p.
76).
One consequence of both first-wave and the second-wave feminisms, was that the difficulties faced by women of colour and working class women were not being considered and that liberal feminists focused on the difficulties of the white women only (Holvino, 2010, pp. 3-5). Women of colour and working-class women were generally restricted to “secondary labour markets and to positions at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy” (Holvino, 2010, p. 5). Thus, Western feminists were encouraged to think beyond the boundaries of white, middle class and Western women (Mohanty, 1984).
Depriving women of civil rights, education and employment, as argued by liberal feminists, often cause gender inequality. Liberal feminists believe that female oppression and subordination are embedded in a set of cultural and legal constraints that hinder women to succeed in the public sphere (Enyew & Mihrete, 2018, p. 60).
According to Tong (1992, p. 2), the society believes that by nature, women are less intellectually and physically fit than men and this leads to a discrimination against women in the academia and the labour market. Tong (1992, p. 2) further argues that liberal feminists do not agree with such unfair discrimination against women and that women should have equal possibilities as men in all spheres to succeed. Sandel (1984) claims that individual rights comprise a framework within which all individuals can choose their own separate goods and thus, the “right” must be given priority over the “good”. Liberal feminism also called as mainstream feminism or egalitarian feminism, claims that “all people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender” and that women empowerment can be achieved by integrating women into significant and equitable roles (Lindsey, 2015, p. 17). Liberal feminism works to incorporate women into desirable social positions and employment opportunities.
Being one of the “Big Three” schools of feminist thought namely liberal feminism, Marxist or socialist feminism and radical feminism (Maynard, 1995, p. 259), liberal feminism is often contrasted with Marxist or socialist feminism and radical feminism. Liberal feminism focuses on individual rights and equal opportunities whereas Marxist or socialist feminism concentrates on capitalist exploitation of women’s labour and radical feminism attempts to formulate new ways of theorising women’s relationship to men such as violence, heterosexuality and reproduction (Maynard, 1995, p. 260). As such, liberal feminists may subscribe to a variety of feminist beliefs and political ideologies.
2.3.1.4.3 Post-structural and postmodern feminism
One of the most important feminist strands to emerge out of the third wave of feminism is post-structural feminist theory. Post-structural feminists sustain that the notion of difference is a powerful instrument to defeat patriarchy, discrimination, oppression and inequality (Hawkesworth, 2006). Post-structural feminists work within post modernity, particularly its framing of the existence of a multiplicity of truths. The main argument is that gender is created through language.
Feminist post-structuralism tries to find out the problems that exist in male and female, to find out how gender is developed. It emphasises discursive and governing practices. The main emphasis of feminist post-structuralist theory lies within the developments of gendered subjectification that consists of processes whereby an individual is exposed to discursive and governing practices, thus creating gendered individuals (Foucault, 1980).
Inspired by Foucault’s thinking (1980), post-structural feminist scholars studied how language and material discourses produce and reproduce gendered assumptions, through the institutionalisation of stereotypical and normative discourses characterised by women’s subordination. Thus, as stressed by post-colonial research, third world studies, queer theory and black feminism, a proper analysis of normative discourses cannot exclude issues such as age, class, religion, disabilities and sexual orientation.