Difference Between Cultural Relativist And Feminism

The main arguments of Mohanty, Liederman, and Sen have similarities and differences. First, Mohanty’s main argument emphasizes the issue of white Western women belittling those of other cultures and ethnicities within the feminist movement. By asserting a universal notion of womanhood, these white Western women show ethnocentric universality through their ignorance of how the meaning of femininity, oppression, and liberation in the women’s movement vary in ethnic and cultural contexts (Mohanty, 1984, p. 335). By using a mindset that ignores ethnic differences, they therefore falsely construct and analyze “third world women,” believing that these women desperately need help to advance in society. Mohanty argues that in order for a feminist movement to advance, women must discontinue a paternalistic method of marginalizing women of different ethnicities to recognize the varied meanings of femininity, oppression, and liberation and enhance their solidarity and effectiveness as a whole group. This ethnocentrism is also present in Liederman’s

Although the issue of women’s rights has attracted international recognition and support, women still face many inequalities and barriers. Gender-based violence and economic discrimination are problems in many parts of the world.

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).

Gender discrimination and violence against women were not part of the Human Rights Agenda until the 1990s when feminists began to push for this change (p84/book). One of the slogans of their campaign was that “Women’s Rights

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

Prior to taking this class, my feminist knowledge was not lacking, but I do feel like I know more about the different perspectives after completing this course. I also feel like I have more knowledge about the issues and oppression women face in today’s society. My expectations of this course were a little different from the reality of it. After the introduction post, I thought that the focus would be very much on stereotypes, but in fact there was a broad range of study. In the rest of this paper, I will be talking about how my awareness of the history and experiences of women has grown, feminist concepts and feminist explanations (theory), how family, culture, and society shape us, and finally understanding the gendered dynamic

On the subject of feminism, there must be broader look at the unique circumstances that people have encountered throughout their lives and how each of them deals with such matters. According to the authors, a transnational feminist analysis requires intersectionality between race and gender. A call to action will be to form of new perspective on the issues that surround women and specially women of color. Instead of focusing on analyzing feminism through a western lens, such as global sisterhood, feminism should ensure the integration of all the aspects of women in different regions of the world. This sisterhood then leads to the concern of basing the western experience upon non-western people and it creates more internalized stereotypes.

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

In order for feminism to become an effective theory and empower as many women as possible, its principles must be employed outside of the borders

some women's activist thinkers battle that globalization has empowered ladies to assert their human rights by making "new spaces, establishments and talk where the idea of all inclusive human rights is an intense justificatory standard" (Walby 2002). Others credit globalization for the rise of new universal non-legislative associations and women's activist social developments, which have fortified the overall development for ladies' human rights (Robinson, 2003). The "ladies' rights and human rights" development has utilized the dialect of human rights to scrutinize numerous attacks on ladies' respect that were already thought to be normal or unavoidable. For example, the development has demonstrated that misuse in the private circle, for example,

The Declaration of Independence states “that all men are created equal”. In practice, this has not always been the case, even in the United States. Since the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations though, the global community has walked together down the path to make it a reality. As the world has walked this path, the scope has expanded beyond just men to include women and children as well. The together part of the journey must be stressed, because no one country is capable of carrying the banner of human rights and dignity on its own. That is why multilateral mechanisms have become a vital part of the global human rights regime. While there might be nations like the United States, Russia, or China that would appear to have a larger voice, there are almost 200 countries in the world. Which means it is difficult for one large nation, or any nation for that matter, to force its will upon the rest of the world. Multilateral organizations continue to play a role in impacting the spread of the global human rights regime, changing the world for the better one step at a time.

Living in America, women’s rights are known as a sort of liberated revolution, whereas in other countries across the globe, the simplistic idea of self-importance in women is non-existent. For generations, harmful cultural practices have challenged feminist activists to conjure up a plan of action in the aid to help those women suffering in these countries. “In feminist legal studies, culture is often viewed as a deviation from the path of human rights” (Tamale, 52). The inequalities, such as patriarchy, persist all over the world, including the United States. Patriarchy, an overrated ruling of gender bias, is characterized as a practice in which structures social unions such as families and communities so that men control the resources. This has allowed men throughout history to exercise political, religious, and economic power over women. Unlike Western feminism, African and Eastern feminism has not come a long way in the aspects of improving the system of beliefs. Oppression of women through political, social, economic, legal, cultural, religious and military institutions needs a positive upgrade. The violence and rate at which women suffer, within these countries, continue to hinder the potential and benefits of social advances that women and girls could be achieving. If not provided with a probable solution and help of a forced revolution of women’s rights, the continuing war of gender equality will forever embed

A review of the available literature provides a wealth of examples of authors advocating women movement or feminism essential for defending the rights of women in a vast array of society across the globe. Feminism reflects “a world view that values women and that confronts systematic injustices based on gender” (Chinn & Wheeler, 1985, p. 74). The oppression of women had existed a long time ago and is still evident today and it is not a new issue in today’s society. Radical feminism attributes the oppression of women to men. Male power must be analyzed and understood and not reduced to other explanations, such as labor relations. Cultural feminism has been critiqued, because it provides moral grounding for

Today, they struggle to fight gender oppression within their own cultural models of society rather than through those imposed by the Western colonizers. They, thus, react against both universalizing tendencies in Western feminist thought and a lack of attention to gender issues in mainstream postcolonial thought.

Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice by Sally Eagle Merry observes and scrutinizes the burden between global law and local injustices. She argues that human rights law must be embedded in a local society in order to be recognized as influential social constructs. She then specifically speaks of gender violence and how this injustice is ingrained through cultural and religious traditions, and transformations are usually resisted within a culture through belligerent acts. Sally Merry is currently a professor of Anthropology at New York University and has received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Wenner Gren Foundation for anthropological research. Merry’s research examines human rights ideas as relevant to recent social activity around the globe. Because her specialty is human rights and specifically gender violence she is equipped enough to provide the evidence given in this detailed analysis and presents numerous amounts of resources and evidence as well.