Feminism And The Social, Economic, And Political Equality Of The Sexes

The Enlightenment is known as the revolution that brought to question the traditional political and social structures. This included the question of the woman’s traditional roles in society. As the public sphere relied more and more ?? and the advances in scientific and educated thinking, women sought to join in with the ranks of their male counterparts. Women held gatherings known as salons where they organized intellectual conversations with their distinguished male guests. Seeking to further their status, enlightened women published pamphlets and other works advocating for educational rights and political recognition. Even with this evolution of woman in society, many still clung to the belief that the role of the woman was solely

In society these days there is a noticeable difference in the treatment of men and women, the most common examples would be found in the social, business and culturally convention realms. These ways of life have double standards in many different ways. There are many ways to convey the ways of discrimination towards women by men.

In the 1800’s, society held women back from doing certain activities, having certain jobs and having the same rights as men. “While there were often not specific legal restrictions circumscribing the activities of women, the social restrictions were quite pervasive.” “Social norms, then, prevented women from many activities, even though there were no overt laws stating a women could not be a doctor, for example.” The women’s suffrage movement connects to the Enlightenment era because many of the philosophers talked about men creating

During the late 1800s and early 1900s the feminist movement grew rapidly, beginning the era which would greatly impact the way women were perceived in society. Literature shows to be a direct reflection of the societal belief during the two reform eras in the late 1800s leading up to the 1930s. The most influential to literature of the time period was the second reform era which pushed for progressivism for a utopian society in which women could actively resist the roles of females being essentially required to live as “the common housewife”. Being stripped from their rights, women did not have the option of becoming independent and educated or becoming employed in a job of their choosings. Remaining at home women were not granted the equal rights of those that a white man held. Males seen as superior to females granted for women to marry at a young ages, bare children and obey to their husbands commands keeping them content with their doings. Traditional women roles at the time uniformly restricted them to their duties

Women play an integral role in society and we consider them as equal. We are taught to treat them with respect but that wasn’t always the case. Society hasn’t always considered women to be equal or even respected. They were mistreated, disrespected, and thought of as inferior. In the past, women contributed equally or more but were put in a position where they had few or even no rights or privileges. Voltaire’s Candide and Jonathan Swift's “A Modest Proposal” have a similar idea of how women were viewed, and as the Enlightenment Era was coming to an end, people’s outlooks shifted. The commonality of their perspectives on women is a key factor in the Enlightenment Era that viewed how women were portrayed.

The political views of male Enlightenment figures consisted of campaigning for human rights and freedom for all, but when they said all, in most cases this invitation did not include women. During the Enlightenment, the period of reasoning and logic, new ideas supporting women’s rights were conceived. The persecution and objectification that women have faced throughout history is immeasurable. There was nothing close to equality between men and women in political, social, or economic fields. Men considered women’s only purpose their ability to bear children, heirs for the upper classes and laborers for the lower. Women’s fathers and husbands had dictated the limitations and rules of conduct for women, placing restraints as in which people they

The Enlightenment and women’s rights were linked together in many ways. The age of Enlightenment generated ideas that would carry over into a movement of changing the way in which women were accepted. Aside from female writers, male writers had a significant impact during the period. Enlightenment was a time of progressing towards innovative ideas and modernist ideologies. As women began to write on new philosophies, men and women would equally read the works (Puchner 3 & 7). This groundbreaking period brought change for scientific discoveries and women in England, Europe and America (Rahn).

Feminism in the 1700’s, 1800’s, 1900’s and continues to be a highly discussed topic for all genders and races. A popular and important quote comes from Freedman(2002) “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies (pg 7).” W.E.B DuBois argues for equal rights for all humans in his writing “The Damnation of Women”. While Anna Julia Cooper wants people to recognize male privilege in her late 19th century writing, “The Status of Women in America”. Mary

Many people are often misinformed or given bad first impressions of feminism. However, feminism is equal rights for all people of different race, sex, gender, and sexuality. Many of the people that give feminism a bad name, include a self-proclaimed feminist that is running for presidency, and meninists who are satirical equal rights activists. In reality, feminism is pro-gender equality and opportunities for all types of people.

Feminism and gender inequality are not just issues that women face in the US, but the entire world. Comparatively, women in the US are actually treated much better than women of other countries, such as those in the Middle East, where women have no rights and are seen as property. Talk about objectification! Transnational feminism takes a look at the same women’s issues that we have in the US and how they affect women in other countries. Transnational feminism also takes into account the various cultural difference that might also affect these issues and create other issues that women of different origins might face. Likewise, these cultural differences also affect the social construction of gender and maintain gender inequality. For example, Asian and African countries still abide by the very traditional patriarch lifestyle, in which the men are the “breadwinners” and women do the housework and take care of the children. Because many of these countries have corrupt governments, women remain having no rights due to the fear of punishment they would receive for trying to combat these issues. It is hard to fight for rights when some countries don’t even consider women as humans, but this is where transnational feminists come in. They fight for equal rights for all women, regardless of their ethnicity, race, sexuality, size, age, etc. because women are worthy of fair treatment and shouldn’t have to prove that.

G. D. Anderson said it the best, "Feminism isn't about making woman stronger. Women are already strong. It's about changing the way the world perceives that strength." Feminism is improving the inequality that women face. As women, we have come a long way from our catastrophic past, but we still have a long way to go before we are even deemed equal as the opposite sex. There are three historical areas of inequality in the feminist movement: political, cultural, and economic.

Feminists believe that women are unequal to men, and the different groups think it is down to different reasons. Liberal feminists think it is because it is down to gender role socialisation. Marxist feminists believe it is down to capitalism. Radical feminists think women are not equal to men because of relationships within the home, and black feminist think they are unequal not just because they are women, but also because of their skin colour. All groups of feminists also believe that women are subordinated due to patriarchy, (the idea that males are dominant).

Feminism is deeply critical of the character of modern societies, where it’s arguments can be based on fundamental inequalities. Like Marxism which locates the roots of inequality in capital ownership, feminism points to the domination of males in society (patriarchy) being the root of human inequalities and injustices. We see that inequalities are pervasive aspects of our modern lives meaning men have economic, political, and cultural power while women do not. It is seen that women occupy the marginal spaces of private life and domesticity while men generally control public life. We tend to normalize the oppression of women and that is with the help of cultural products like television, film and other popular mediums. “The media enables traditional gender stereotypes because it reflects prevailing social values” (Comm 3263, 2011). Which leads to the realization that our world is structured by a sexual imbalance in mass media culture.

Feminist theory analyzes the gender inequality that women have faced throughout the years due to a patriarchal society. Women were expected to fit the traditional female and conform to the gender norms that society has constructed. According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, “Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the text’s investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture” (227). Patriarchal power has oppressed women economically, socially, and politically. Women were associated more with domesticity than with politics and financial situations. They were not provided the same educational opportunities as men. These issues have been addressed by people, such as Mary

Throughout the last century, women have had to fight to have the same opportunities as men. Women have had to earn the right to vote, the right to have a career, and the right to autonomy. However, these are all rights that men have simply been given, which is why today’s feminists work to promote equality. Despite these efforts, feminism is often misunderstood and is interpreted with a negative connotation. According to a study conducted by Precopio and Ramsey (2017), “feminism is commonly recognized as a movement driven to grant social, political, and economic equality to both women and men.” The participation of others besides women is crucial to the spread of equality among the genders. Furthermore, the stigma and negative feelings surrounding feminism must be reduced in order for the ideals of feminism to have a greater impact.