Who’s Afraid of Charles Darwin?: Debating Feminism and Evolutionary Theory

Janet Lee’s and Susan M. Shaw’s, Women’s Voices Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings did provide the proper data to support their analyses. Lee and Shaw used sufficient evidence to address their main topic- the analysis of women’s gender studies by examining historical and contemporary writings. In chapter one Lee and Shaw discussed the purpose of women’s studies and examined gender. The ideas of feminism we evaluated, Lee and Shaw explained the negative attributes associated with feminism as well as the history of the gender movement. Women’s studies is a field of study that has been slowly expanding in the academic world sense the 1970’s. Lee and Shaw did provide the results to the data they analyzed. To prove their statements regarding the study of the

Feminism is a theory which begs to understand the nature of gender equality in theoretical or philosophical situations. It would be examined on how the genders work in society, social systems and structures

Since the beginning of evolution, females have been subjected and objectified based on their gender. History taught us that when during the 19th century, Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and geologist stated in his papers “The Origin of Man” (1859) and “Descent of Man” (1871) that men were superior to women. Unfortunately, such subjections to women still persist today; in politics, education, labor and surprisingly in science.

Women were blocked from nearly any form of scientific experiment or inquiry. Margaret Cavendish, an English natural philosopher and the first woman to visit a meeting of the Royal Society, illustrates the “disregard of the female sex” in sciences (Doc. 9). Unsurprisingly, men continued to oppress women and block any and all paths to gaining social standing. Science, like almost all other domains, continued to be controlled by

The Merriam-Webster definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” In the past century, gender roles have been challenged because of feminism. The very idea has completely flipped households, workplaces, and the general community and changed it for the better. A plethora of women’s movements were initiated in the 1960’s, and it gave people a look at how powerful women are when we stand united. Feminism has gained many followers in the past thirty to forty years as more people are becoming aware of conflicts pertaining to discrimination. However, there are many that were hesitant both in the 1960’s and in the present day, but for very different reasons. Nevertheless, persistence seems to be a beacon in women’s rights movements, thanks to very strong and level-headed role models.

During the evolutionary adaptation time period, between 10-40 thousand years ago, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. This created a division between men and women. The men would hunt for food and the women would be in charge of the domestic duties such as cleaning and cooking. Doing the domestic chores would have kept women more protected, as it is less strenuous and would have guarded the camp whilst the men were out hunting therefore increasing the chances of reproductive success. This division of labour would have made them less likely to sustain injuries and so the evolutionary approach would suggest that the groups who divided the labour were been more likely to

Feminism is a very popular and controversial concept in today’s world. Feminism is a range of ideologies as well as social and political movement all aiming for a common goal to define, establish and achieve equal rights and position to women legally as well as socially. The people with these ideologies are commonly known as FEMINIST. Feminism theory is not only about understanding but also to take action. Naturally people expect women to be related to the idea of feminism and be a feminist rather than men. Men have taken part as significant cultural and political responses within each wave of feminism movements.Feminist men have also argued alongside scholars that liberation of men from the socio cultural constraints of gender roles and sexism is a significant part of feminist activism and scholarship.

   Throughout history, women have always aimed for a recognized place in society. Centuries ago, people looked at the role of women in society as being sociologically inferior. Seeing the revival of the Feminist movement, which boldly opposes the stereotypical characteristics of women in society, on one hand, and promotes the elevation of women's status in society, on the other, one would not find it hard to believe the drastic differences in opinion of people on this issue. What is amazing is how these differences reflect upon scholarly works in science.

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

From the beginning of time, men and women have always had this slight inequality between them. Men were always looked upon as the “bread winners” and women were seen as the “housewives”. Women were also frowned upon if they did anything that seemed fit for a man only. As a whole, women had no rights and no voice at all. The fascinating book by Zora Neale Hurston called “Their eyes were watching God”, relates to this very feeling of women not having a say so and being ruled by their husband, this is called feminism associated with the feminist theory. Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse. In other words, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality while examining women’s roles in social life, experience,

Inequality has been an issue throughout history and has affected minorities; as a consequence, there are multiple ideologies and groups that pursue equality. Feminism is a movement that seeks equality between the sexes in all areas (Issit & Flynn). Women have come together to fight for their rights and obtain privileges that were granted only to men. Feminism, according to Quidlen, has worked as a vehicle for change to improve women`s lives. Moreover, it has raised awareness of the issues women face and offered solutions. In spite of all of these improvements and its long history since its inception, feminism still exists and has the same relevance as in the past. However, as with any ideology, people have different perspectives about feminism; just as there are supporters, there are also opponents. Interestingly, while both sides have different perspectives of what equality means, there are ideas and values upon which both groups unintentionally agree. This common ground creates a third perspective; presenting feminism as a more inclusive movement by changing certain aspects of it such as the label “feminism”, in order to show the evolution of this movement. As discussed in the following paragraphs, both pro and anti feminism perspectives have valid arguments that must be explored to reach a solution that satisfies both sides.

Gender refers to the concepts o masculine and feminine whereas sex is the biological fact of being a male or female. According to the evolutionary approach, gender differences are neither deliberate nor conscious; they exist because they enhanced or helped men and women perform particular types of roles in the past. Therefore, the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance than acquired through socialisation.

(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

Women’s rights have been a question greatly discussed for quite some time, and the debate is still continuing despite the possibilities offered to women today. Feminism nowadays has evolved into a movement in a number of directions, starting with women equality and ending with homosexuality. However, feminism originally is an ideology that is based on equal political, economic and social rights for women. Feminism theory deals with analysing women’s social roles and experiences in relation to gender inequality. Traces of this ideology are vastly represented and can be found in a number of literary works, as notable examples are novels written by female authors (the Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and others) during the Age

The feminist philosophy of science studies and analyses discourse and knowledge that is harmful and not conducive to attaining an impartial interpretation of science, with a view to critically examining science and the scientific method. It identifies how gender bias can (and does) affect the scientific community and the consequences of this bias (Anderson, 2000). The three main variants are feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint theory and feminist postmodernism. Feminist empiricism holds that there is a real, objective, knowable world. Furthermore,