Feminism And The Western Hemisphere

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

The first assumption argues that “western” feminist discourses emphasize that all women are bound together by a shared oppression and are powerless (53-54). Mohanty systemically explores this theory through an in depth analysis of five categories in which women of the third world are traditionally presented as homogenous victims by “western” feminist. The first two categories, women as victims of male violence and women as universal dependents, arguably offer the most straightforward deconstruction of the gendered body of knowledge that is power. Women, especially women of the third world, are all seen as victims of male violence and control (54). All women are defined as powerless, and all men are defined as powerful (55). Similarly, all women are defined as powerless dependents in the second category. Mohanty argues, “this is because descriptive gender differences are transformed into the divisions between men and women” (55). This division possesses a privileged position as the explanation for the oppression of women (56). Therefore, women are seen as a powerless group no matter what the historical or cultural situation because they are deemed so prior to any analysis (56).

When beginning to categorize the social issue of feminism, it is a sensitive topic that must be inclusive of all genders. The modern term of ‘feminism’ is defined as giving both men and women the same rights and privileges as each other. Basic human rights would give others the notion that this is how all humans should have been treated from the beginning. However, this is far from the truth. Books like The Awakening, give us an inside look at how women were treated around 100 years ago. When Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, she created a blueprint for how we see modern feminism. Without being obvious, Chopin showed how one woman started to liberate herself from an oppressive society.

women were perceived in Russian society. Also I am going to write about how the efforts of

Slavenka Drakulic, a highly respected journalist and commentator on culture in Croatia, published the book How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed in 1991, which was a collection of essays that comprised of the stories of many women’s lives throughout Eastern Europe that lived in a communist society. Drakulic wanted to capture women’s stories and share them with others, because these were women who suffered from carried the biggest burden of life, living at the bottom tier of their society. As Drakulic states in the book’s introduction, Trivial is Political: “It was the relationships between political authority and the trivia of daily living, this view from below interested me most. And who should I find down there, most removed from the seats of political power, but women. Even if they fully participated in revolutionary events, they were less active and less visible in the aftermath of those events” (xv). I feel Slavenka Drakulic also wanted to express to others through these women’s stories just how impenetrable and distressing attempting to adapt to living in a non-communism society is when you have known nothing but communism. This struggle could be applicable to any society changing from one political ideology to another, and Slavenka Drakulic’s ability to communicate these women’s stories can inflict a large sense of empathy for these women who fought so hard every day against the political ideas ingrained in their minds, so that they may have a chance at

IV: Feminist scholarship extensively details how the very tools that allow us to interpret the world can also constitute and reinforce inequalities of power. We are given over form the beginning to structures such as language, identity, law, nation and privilege (among many others) that implicate us in processes of exclusion, devaluation, and commodification. Drawing upon at least one reading from classes 15-21, one from classes 22-27 and another from before the midterm, discuss methods of undermining or subverting this inevitable complicity to forge room for resistance.

Gender roles had been long established in minds of the Russian people, meaning that men were the primary breadwinners and women were in charge of the household work and childrearing. From the days of the tsar, there had never been much opportunities for women outside their homes, but with the creation of a new government that claimed equality and refuted oppression, it appeared that the situation of women would change. Looking at the research done over the last fifty years, this paper aims to examined the different claims historians have made over the impact women had in the Soviet Union, from economic contribution, traditional female roles, and lastly their place within the Soviet society.

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).

In conclusion, traditions and practices of Russian and American women have significantly changed over the years. Both groups of women have more in common than one may think, and the differences seem to stem from culture more than anything else. Family is important in both countries, as is women playing a more equal role. The USA seems to be more ahead in that area. Sexual freedom has become more prominent, but again America seems to be more progressive in that aspect. The social structures of both countries continue to change and strive for equality between the sexes.

     Gender roles in Russia have dramatically changed since the fall of the former Soviet Union and the fall of communism. It is hard to look directly at the constitution of Russia seeing as though the drafting and redrafting of their constitution is still underway. However, looking at the constitution of the former Soviet Union, you can see it is clearly stated that: “Women and men have equal rights.” It is very clear that in the Soviet Union they were trying to make it so that women and men were equal. It is still clear today that those same basic ideals are present in Russia. Women are clearly more equal in their country than in ours. In the workforce as well as in the home, women

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.

In today’s vast, democracy-fueled world, the concept of feminism has gradually taken on a significant role when it comes to modernity. The advocacy for equality of all women proves effective and boasts an undying faithfulness from women everywhere. Within the boundaries of the United States of America, feminism has grown since the establishment of the nation and continues to grow today, an issue that has especially risen in light of the recent election. However, beyond this great nation’s borders, feminism does not die in even the slightest way. Women all over the world are fighting for their equality and right to complete and total fairness. Despite the worldwide movement, it’s often overshadowed by other issues going on. Iran, the focus of Jasmin Darznik’s The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life, played (and continues to play) host to perhaps one of the greatest flawed societies when it comes to feminism. Through her powerful, poignant memoir, Darznik brings us into the midst of a particular lifestyle and the reality behind treatment of women in Iranian society.

Feminism, in theory, binds women from all over the world. They come together to protect their rights as equal human beings. For such a long time, men have dominated over women, looking down upon them and perceiving them as lesser beings. Feminism has allowed women from all cultures and races, to come together to fight for their rights. However, nothing is ever as simple as one may hope. Feminism constitutes women from all over the world, making it difficult from time to time to understand and empathize with each other due to different cultures, races and religions. Teresa de Lauretis (2014) says that “the identity as a woman of color is one not given but acquired, attained, and developed out of the specific historical experience”.