Feminist Lens

The most prevalent and popular stereotype of the post World war II era in America is one filled with women abandoning their wartimes jobs and retreating into the home to fulfill their womanly duties. In Joanne Meyerowitz’s Beyond the Feminine Mystique: A reassessment of Postwar Mass Culture, she shows how far women departed from this one dimensional image. While Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is reflexive and focused on the mainstream, Meyerowitz’s analysis is a broader and more inclusive exploration of media, as she draws upon multiple sources. Although Friedan effectively unveiled the thought process and reasoning behind society's belief that the message of media was to make women think that their place was to be the happy housewife, Meyerowitz expanded her media archives and found a differing message in analyzing both female responses to media and exploring their stories.

Throughout the decades the definition and stance of feminism have varied from individual to individual. Seeing Like a Feminist, is a book written by Nivedita Menon and the focus of this work, is feminist ways of observing gendered modes of power (Menon 2012, p.X). Out of the numerous cases provided, I focus on sexual division of labor, focusing on domestic labor and how it is portrayed as a task that only women can fulfill. This case is important and powerful because domestic labor is common amongst women and unfortunately there is no protection for them due to domestic labor not being seen as a job rather as a hobby.

However, whilst each ‘strand’ of feminism views patriarchy differently, it could be argued that rather than considering patriarchy as three different entities, they are in fact each observing a different angle of the problem. They are all in agreement, nevertheless, that women are indeed subordinate to men within society, and that this needs to be changed. Therefore, in terms of the core theme of patriarchy, feminism can be considered a single doctrine.

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.

Feminism: Opposing Viewpoints is a non-fiction novel that addresses the many contradicting beliefs in feminism. It looks at the different viewpoints held by different women on some controversial topics such as the wage gap, the glass ceiling, and Arab feminism. It also addresses the two questions of

An impact evaluation is an evaluation that is used to evaluate the outcomes of a policy, did the program have its intended effects? If not, why? (Leslie. A Pal pp276, 2014). Bill C-36 took the radical feminist perspective on how to deal with sex work arguing that sex work is a violation of women’s human rights, within the radical feminist perspective, there can be no distinction between ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced prostitution’, as no person can consent to such a grave violation of themselves (Galbally P. J. pp 10, 2016). The radical feminist framework is strongly linked to the victimizations of young Canadians as stated above and assumes that every individual who is involved in the sex work industry has been placed they’re against their own

The main weakness of feminist theories is that they are from a woman centered viewpoint. While the theories also mention social problems not strictly related to women, it still comes from that viewpoint. This creates a weakness of perspective, men and women do see the world differently. If you have a theory that is solely from the perspective of men or women then you are removing something intangible from that theory. Theories should be put forth that take into account a woman’s perspective, but the theories should also have the male perspective so that both viewpoints are clearly visible. It may seem a small complaint, but this small complaint can be the difference between seeing the bigger picture, or missing something critical because you only took a cursory look.

Patriarchal Theory explains the history, and they why gender equality exists throughout the ages, and I chose to mention Mary Wollstonecraft, who was the first woman to advocate on the education of women, in a time when women could not even own property. I feel as if it necessary to refer to and educate individuals on feminist patriarchal theory. I read that women outnumber men in higher education in the US, since women feel they need more than a BA to get the same amount of money men earn. The most commonly used theory on domestic violence is the feminist patriarchal approach. Gender relationships are measured as a fundamental piece of society and social norms.

Abigail Adam told her husband during the Constitutional Convention to ¨Remember the ladies!¨ The feminist group perspective was most fully developed. ¨Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first convention for women's rights in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.¨ The group's perspective that was not fully developed was the people that were against the movement. ¨However, the feminists discovered that many people felt woman neither should nor could be equal to men.¨

Feminist’s perspectives of the welfare state and women’s involvements have been used to contest gender inequalities. Conversely, there are numerous feminist approaches depending on each political ideology; this essay will identify various feminist viewpoints. In order to determine Feminisms impact on the welfare system, a comparison of pre- war and post- war ideology of how society viewed women’s role as within the political system. According to Pamela Abbott and Claire Wallace (1997) pre-war concept of men and women’s roles were grounded in the notion that ‘men were considered as providers, women were naturally the dependent of the husband’, ‘Women’s contribution was as a wife and mother, there was little expectation for women to contribute

Understanding how the perception of men and women collectively shape behaviors towards dominance in society (Hunnicutt, 2009). Women that buy in to the ideation of patriarchy often feel less than and that they should be treated as property rather than human beings. Feminist Theory can help a woman overcome the feeling of being less than by empowering to embrace their femininity. Further both Feminist Theory and Patriarchal Theory both promote the domination of both genders. Although Feminist Theory focuses on equality many forms of the theory have an

(Sommers-Flanagan 2012) states that the term for “feminist theory was developed by women to address the social and cultural oppression and unequal treatment of women. Implied in the feminist perspective is the tendency for humans who wield more power to use that

Feminist perspective developed with the ideology that women face large amounts of inequalities in a patriarchal society. They aimed to address and rid the social world of this oppression of women by men. According to Bishop, (2015) “oppression occurs when one group of people use different forms of power to keep another group down in order to exploit them. The oppressor uses the power; the oppressed are exploited” (p. 133-134). Oppression must be by individual experience and not grouped into being the same for all. This includes understanding the original ideology of feminist theory being critiqued as only considering the experiences of middle class, white women. That black women, of lower class experienced oppression much different from the other women. Women are oppressed, thus has to be understood in a different construct that women are similar in some sources, experience of oppression but also experience oppression very differently from one individual to another. Feminist theories have further been expanded do its continuation throughout society and decades to encompass many more issues and arenas than just men and women relationships. Now it seeks to understand and address oppression based on culture, race, class, etc and not only for women but for all. Therefore, Bishop (2014) outlines five components that seem common to all forms of oppression and serve to maintain its presence in society.

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

It is difficult to imagine living in a world without the patriarchal roles that are present in society and have been throughout history. In the article “Feminist Criticism,” by Lois Tyson, the idea of feminism and how society has affected feminism is the focus. These ideas are seen because men have more of a voice in nearly everything and the oppression of women is very common; a society set up like this can be described with the term patriarchy which is “any culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles,” where men are cast as “rational, strong, protective, and decisive,” and women are cast “as emotional, weak, nurturing, and submissive” (Tyson, 1). This thought that men are strong and women weak is not uncommon in