Cultural Relativist And Feminism

Lila Abu-Lughod also writes about feminism in regard to culture. “ It has been important for most feminists to locate sex differences in culture, not biology or nature,” (Abu-Lughod, p. 144). There have been many cultural differences between women and men, “ a different voice” perhaps from Anglo-American feminist Gilligan and her followers, (Abu-Lughod, p. 145), as well as an explanation of the differences, “ whether through a socially informed psychoanalytic theory, a Marxist-derived theory of the effects of the division of labour and women’s role in social reproduction, an analysis of maternal practice or even a theory of sexual exploitation,” (Abu-Lughod, p. 145).

The call for feminism marks the beginning of an extensive journey with the quest to inspire women and to advocate women right in a male governed the world. Gloria Anzaldúa and Maxine Kingston both scrutinize feminism in the framework of “Borderland: La Frontera: The New Mestiza” and “The Women Warrior” encouraging women to occupy a strong position in the post-colonial male led civilization. The author both traces the journey of women struggle to achieve rewarding role within the structure shaped by men. The alliance of different voice from disregarded women gestures a strong theme that inspires Maxine Hong Kingston and Gloria Anzaldua to write enthusiastically within the feminist topic to dispute the patriarchal society.

Daddy’s princess. Big brother’s responsibility. Daddy’s little girl. Some people view these as a sweet pet names for young ladies, but these verbal cues inexplicitly condition women to view themselves as the property of men starting at a young age. These learned notions may take hold as women begin to develop. As young girls mature, they find themselves striving to please their fathers and other male figures as one of their main aspirations in life due to this conditioning from society. (Rholetter p. 1) The submissive nature of young girls is a common theme in literature, but looking through the Feminist Lens offers readers a better understanding of the struggle surrounding remaining submissive or demanding power occurs.

Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others, many American political makers attempt to interfere with women in the Muslim culture, because they see them as things that need to be saved. American society focuses purely on their cultural and moral differences, instead of the marvelous beliefs and lives they lead. Abu-Lughod argues that instead, the American government needs to focus and learn to appreciate these differences among women around the world. She also states, “When you save someone, you imply that you are saving her from something” (Ab-Lughod, 2002, pg.788). Again, this is crushing the spirits of strong, independent women; implying they are objects that need to be protected. This is a great example of how the American government is trying to mitigate the rights and choices of

Women are humans, humans with emotions and the need for self expression. The men, throughout history, have degraded the female sex, they have always seen women as objects and a machine that helps reproduce and carry on their blood. Society formed the ‘perfect’ role for women and it was expected that they follow it. They were expected to be the loving, responsible, obedient, stay at home wives. Due to such an inequitable lifestyle given to women, they decided to fight for equality and defend their gender. They will later be known as feminists. According to Literary and Cultural Theory by Donald Hall, feminists focal point is to investigate the various ways women have been limited to social power and the liberty to self

While the term “sexism” dates from the mid-1960s and came into frequent use after the rise of women’s liberation movements in 1968-1969. Feminists in Eastern countries have also appealed to the United Nations to enforce women's rights. In the West, discussion has shifted from legal rights

For many centuries women have had no legal rights and have been regarded as their husband’s property. Even though women’s right’s movement and the first feminist waves are dated to begin at the end of the nineteenth century, many women before have addressed the social injustice. Rosina’s letter “Rights of Women” was published August 13th, 1839 in “The Liberator”, an anti-slavery newspaper, and demands gender equality. At that time “married women essentially had no rights at all, as all legal authority rested with their husbands.” (Doepke and Tertilt 1541-1542).

At present, women’s issues have occupied a special place in periodicals, literature and art. In spite of the fact that both international and national legislative acts proceed from the principle of equality, in practice women do not enjoy equal rights in public life. There is a noticeable contradiction between the new needs and the lack of conditions in society for their satisfaction: the social consciousness of women increases, they no longer satisfy the stereotype of social roles imposed on them, where the family and motherhood are the only values. The answer to the existing contradictions is found in the women's movements. I'm not an adherent of feminism because I do not think that now women have less rights than men. Several decades ago, there really was a division between men and women, when women were without human rights. In modern society, most women have the right to vote, the right to choose and enjoy the same rights as men; hence the movement itself, in my opinion, is not relevant in the 21st century. On the other hand, there are a couple of religions that consider women unequal with men, and only in this case I support feminism as a movement for women’s rights. So, I do not consider women worse than men and I do not think, that a woman can be used as a thing. “This is particularly clear when cultures openly discriminate against women and attempt to deny them the rights to

The challenging and discordant opinions regarding gender equality have origins in various schools of thought, across time and place. Modern feminism heavily borrow from these old ideas and expounds upon them. Feminist worldwide are renowned for the action they must continually take that challenges the negative societal and stereotypical norms

Before the rise of the feminist movement in the late 19th century, women were denied social power and the ability to self-express which led women to desire a voice of their own. Since then, feminism has been widely perceived and controversial which provoked feminists to emphasize women’s needs by confronting the social oppression of women and analyze how their feeling of self-doubt results in response to the constant power struggle between the two sexes. Not only did women protest for more rights, but men also sought equal rights, thereby strengthening the feminist movement further. In Donald Hall’s book Literary and Cultural Theory, he explores the various lenses of feminism by discussing how patriarchy affects the social, economic, and psychological

The purpose of this paper is to analyze to main questions. The first part of the paper will define transnational feminism and identify key factors within a transnational perspective. Another part will be discussing some transnational feminist critiques of mainstream “white/Western” feminism and will also give ideas that a transnational feminist would suggest in order to make positive changes for women. The second part of the paper will choose two concepts to define, as well as discuss how they relate to one another from a transnational perspective. In addition, the relation of how they related to gender or affect the political, social, and/or economic status of women in the world will be analyzed.

In the first reading, “Women’s Studies and Transnational Feminism,” the author discusses how beneficial it would be to have a global perspective from women all around the world and their personal stories. It would bring greater change if women’s stories weren’t only heard mainly from the U.S, but rather told by international women about their experience with oppression and way of living. According to the author the viewpoint of all the women globally is described as “transnational”, a way of challenging current basic understandings of supposed everyday women (specifically western women) and fighting to reconstruct this system to become an advantage to other women around the world. Rather than focusing on “global feminism” which doesn’t

The idea of “Feminism” is seen in the eyes of many as “women who want to be more masculine” whenever its true meaning is just women who want equality and the same respect and opportunities that men have. This belief has been built up over time through many different perspectives which is why it had turned into the negative idea of what it is. This idea of “Feminism” affected the social hierarchy and system where people were categorized based upon their sex and the social impact it made created and resolved multiple social issues. The idea of “Feminism” impacted the interactions between men and women and the morals of society and through this created power in women as well introduce a long needed new peace amongst the sexes.

When we trace the history of feminism in regard to Nationalism, we see some basic phases of it known as First Wave, Second Wave and Third Wave of Feminism. The First Wave of Feminism was the initial spark of awareness in the women and people all over the global about the condition of female class in society. Even though the words ‘Feminism’ and ‘Feminist’ existed since a long time, they gained wide spread usage in 1970s. The First Wave of Feminism was about bringing into notice issues of women which lasted from nineteenth century to early twentieth century. The Second Wave of Feminism was about working in a direction to remove the issues of First wave and getting rights for women and it began in 1960s. The Third wave of Feminism was a continuation of the Second Wave from 1990s as a reaction to failure of the previous efforts.

The goal of this paper is to describe and analyze gender inequality, focusing on the history of feminist ideas. I will start with a basic overview of the entire feminist movement, and will then analyze feminism more specifically. In this analysis I will focus on the different types of feminism. Most notably of these types will be the main groups that consist of socialist feminists, liberal feminists, and radical feminists. I will describe the goals and ideals of these groups along with describing how a functionalist and conflict theorist looks at gender.