Lindsay's Lobes: The Philosophy of Feminism

The suffrage movement

Origin and momentum

Beginning in 1848 in New York a "Declaration of Sentiments” Agenda subsequently adopted 11 resolutions at a convention, foremost of which was the right to the vote, the overthrowing of the monopoly of the pulpit and for women to have equal participation in the trades, professions and commerce. The Civil War halted rapid growth in membership just as enthusiasm waned in Europe before momentum returned.

But by 1869 a focus had emerged by reference to the natural law and the inalienable rights granted under the Constitution.

In 1894, Carrie Chapman Catt declared that the votes of literate, American-born, middle-class women would balance the votes of foreigners. She became known around the world to expand on women’s rights and to strive for international peace. She is recognized as one of the key leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement and her efforts and organizational skills led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

But in the lower socio economic class those women were more concerned with their inferior working conditions and low pay than getting the vote or women's property rights. Understandably they opted instead to become members of the trade union movement.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her publication entitled “Women and Economics” (1898), posited women’s liberty was contingent on gaining freedom from the ties of purely home and family responsibilities to end meaning for most women becoming totally dependent on men.

But from a historical perspective Australia was the first nation to grant women the dual rights to vote and stand for election in 1903.

In Britain Emmeline Pankhurst helped women to win the right to vote in 1918 but was widely criticised for her militant tactics.

Raising feminist consciousness

Following World War II, Simone de Beauvoir's Le Deuxième Sexe (1949; ‘The Second Sex, became a worldwide best-seller which raised feminist consciousness. She expanded upon the philosophy of Mary Wollstonecraft to illustrate how liberation for women meant the same thing for men.,

In Philosophy Now Sally Scholz traces the major currents of Simone de Beauvoir’s main work. Extracts from her paper are as follows:

De Beauvoir’s existential ethics holds freedom as a universal –requiring people to achieve freedom, yet our temptation is to actually shy away from the responsibilities of our freedom, even to the point of wanting to be more like an object than a human being.

De Beauvoir discusses many forms of oppression, including that of the working class by the bourgeoisie, that of blacks by whites, and the oppression of Jews, but it is the oppression of women which concerns her in The Second Sex. Women’s oppression differs as there appears no historical starting-point for it; nor is there any solidarity of economic interest, or even any ‘social location’ for this oppressed group.

De Beauvoir’s aim is to explore why women are oppressed, why they are ‘the second sex’. De Beauvoir turns to ontology. ‘Ontology’ means ‘the study of being’. De Beauvoir’s explanation for why women are oppressed is based on a woman's being, that is, what it means to exist as a woman. Girls growing up are taught by society how to be as women, i.e., passive and object-like. A woman is a free being mystified into believing she is confined to particular roles, thus limiting freedom. Using existentialist language, de Beauvoir says that woman has been defined as Other. The cult of ‘the feminine’ or ‘the feminine mystery’ is used to maintain the oppression of women as the idea is passed down from generation to generation.

De Beauvoir uses the concepts of ‘immanence’ and ‘transcendence’ to further explain women’s situation. Immanence is stagnation within a situation, while transcendence is reaching out into the future, through projects that open up freedom.

Although every ‘existent’ – every human being – is both immanent and transcendent, some social practices may imprison one in immanence such that one is unable to achieve transcendence (freedom). This happens in every case of oppression. Insofar as they work on meaningful projects that reach into the future men occupy the sphere of transcendence, while women’s oppression relegates them to the sphere of immanence, until they may be no longer aware that they have free choice.

It is important to remember here that de Beauvoir does not think that women are the only oppressed social group. Blacks are oppressed in relation to whites, and the poor are oppressed in relation to the rich. Here whites and the rich become the norm and blacks and the poor deviate from the norm and become the subordinate Other. But in addition to the fact that women have always been oppressed there is another important difference between the oppression of women and oppression based on class or race. Women are complicit in their own oppression. Women then strive to live up to this model of the ‘eternal feminine’. In other words, they become just what they are expected to become: a transcendent existent trapped in the immanence of being.

As an existentialist, de Beauvoir denied there was any essence of woman: there is no natural or universal characteristic that defines ‘woman’. Her identity is socially constructed. ‘Woman’ has been constructed by men, by a society which maintains ideological systems prescribing her subordination, and by women's own participation in those systems. This situation limits a woman’s freedom and determines her life projects. In other words, society keeps women blocked from freedom or transcendence. Therefore liberation is both an individual and a social transformation. Woman must see herself, like man, as subject and not object. She must embrace her freedom, and embrace projects which further disclose freedom. But women must also recognize themselves as a social group. Women must recognize their unity in their shared circumstances of oppression. Failing this assists in maintaining oppression.

Three strategies de Beauvoir suggests to aid women in their path to transcendence and subjectivity are:

(1) Women must go to work.

(2) Women must pursue and participate in intellectual activity (leading the change for women).

(3) Women must strive to transform society into a socialist society (seeking economic justice as a key factor in liberation).

Simone de Beauvoir’s monumental work on women ought not to be underestimated. By describing in vivid detail the countless ways women experience the limitations of femininity, she opened the way for women all over the world to recognize the social and political import of their personal experiences. Her works ushered in a new wave of feminist activism because she had the courage to make women’s social, familial, bodily, political, and cultural experiences public.

Sally J. Scholz is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. Her publications include On de Beauvoir (Wadsworth, 2000). She co-edited The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘Les Mandarins’ with Shannon Musset, and has published articles on violence against women, oppression, and just war theory, among others. She is former editor of the APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy.

Another notable publication was Betty Friedan's 1963 “The Feminine Mystique”. Her observation saw a problem in social conditioning where all women were seen to be eternally grateful as they mostly had nice houses, children and ;provider husbands, But her position was that such a predisposition risked deadening creativity and freedom within a women’s existence.,

Reformers and revolutionaries exert their influence

In June 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was born which became the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. Its purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism , to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life. But despite its size in the ensuing years it struggled to gain traction with more radical groups who battled against wars and to champion civil rights.

In September 1968, activists converged on Atlantic City, New Jersey, to protest the image of womanhood conveyed by the Miss America Pageant.

In New York City in November 1969 meetings were held aimed at establishing common ground between the radical and moderate wings.

The younger women's movement at that time, increasingly supported by college-educated mothers were seeking a new direction,

They were instrumental in presenting principles of equality and justice to end up on President John F. Kennedy's agenda. He created the President's Commission on the Status of Women led by Eleanor Roosevelt. What was documented was employment discrimination, unequal pay, legal inequality, and meagre support services for working women.

Dissension and debate

Subsequently (NOW) achieved improved educational, health and rape crisis centres and was instrumental in having children’s books rewritten to obviate sexual stereotypes. Employers found to have discriminated against female workers were required to compensate with back pay. Unlike the first wave, second-wave feminism provoked discussions on the origins of women's oppression, the nature of gender, and the role of the family.

Later, Germaine Greer, an Australian living in London, published ‘The Female Eunuch’, in which she argued that the sexual repression of women cuts them off from the creative energy they need to be independent and self-fulfilled.

But the latter part of her book largely revolved around castigating women for lacking assertiveness.

Moving into modernity

Following in the footsteps of Mary Wollstonecraft and Simmone de Bouvier Feminist philosopher Audre Lorde, expanded feminism to become an advocate for gender equality which embraced everyone but was seen through the feminine perspective.

She had conceded the first-waves of feminism had successfully gained the right for women to vote, the second for equal representation and opportunities in the workplace whilst contending the third-wave was to focus more on such things as reproductive rights, sexual exploitation, equal pay, and the need for more women to be in positions of power.

Her concern for females focused on women’s stereotyping and societal bias where she saw inequality based on perceptions that remained to underpin women to be seen as inferior to men. She dedicated her life and talents to confronting all forms of injustice, as she believed there could be "no hierarchy of oppressions among those who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children."

Men’s Issues

Lorde and other feminist’s set their sights on an additional focus. They included men’s issues where they saw societal gender inequality pertaining to the high rate of incarceration, the inhuman prison conditions, and high rates of suicide for men and so on. In addition they highlighted what they saw as the greater likelihood of men to lose custody of children indicative times as a form of bias to the mother.

It is hardly surprising amongst sectors of movement such ideas were not always welcome,

Further academic Feminist Philosophy

This field of academic feminist philosophy has taken hold around that time and has since flourished but also experienced some backlashes. But the future for the movement to maintain its relevance with an expanded vision is gaining some traction.

Hence is the move to include, within the feminist lens of societal gender, injustices and a lack of opportunity for inclusiveness to extend the scope away from issues confined to women.

Overseas there are moves to empower women through education to be part of the decision making process and infiltrate the political process.

One might aim to focus on methodology that embraces with an open-mindedness and in the absence of bias and or any sense of “superiority”.

The globalization of feminism

Twentieth-century European and American feminism reached into Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Many Western feminists soon perceived themselves as possible saviours of Third World women.

The conflicts between women in developed and developing nations have played out in the 1980 World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace in Copenhagen.

Their women from less-developed nations complained about controversial topics such as that the veil were chosen as conference priorities without prior consultation.

Notwithstanding, around the world, women are advancing their interests, in places like Afghanistan, where the Taliban banned the education of girls. Elsewhere, however, significant gains for women, as seen in the eradication of female genital surgery in many African countries or government efforts to end widow burning in India.

More generally, and especially in the West, feminism has influenced every aspect of contemporary life, communication, and debate, from the heightened concern over sexist language to the rise of academic fields such as women's studies and ecofeminism. Sports, divorce laws, sexual mores, organized religion—all have been affected, in many parts of the world, by feminism. To reiterate the field of academic feminist philosophy has taken hold around that time and has since flourished but also experienced some backlashes. But the future for the movement to maintain its relevance with an expanded vision is gaining some traction. Hence the move to include within the feminist lens of societal gender injustices and al lack of opportunity for inclusiveness to extend the scope away from issues confined to women

Different philosophical methods learn from one another to integrate fields such as feminism as they apply to race theory, Trans, disability and so on across and integrating work in these fields. Overseas there are moves to empower women through education to be part of the decision making process and infiltrate the political process.

Global feminism has decoupled from the old “colonial lens” to recognise the importance of respecting different cultures and conclude that women in various places are perfectly capable of having their own voice.

One of the more successful projects is the provision of micro loans to underpin much needed modest developments in 3rd world countries that identifies women’s groups as the catalyst for success by assisting with tools to ensure leadership skills further enhance such projects.

For instance the Grameen Foundation, created in 2008 by the French bank Crédit Agricole Group and Grameen Trust, a non-profit organisation started by Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen Bank for pioneering the concept of microcredit for the poor.

The findings of the foundation is showing that giving small loans at good rates to women and farmers is one of the best ways to make rural areas sustainable. Small loans help women and children lead healthier lives. Financing for farmers helps a whole community.

My own limited experience chairing a small charity where I visited Malawi to identify projects we could support increased my awareness of groups participating in the International Women’s Fair at the capital in Lilongwe.

They were able to set up small businesses, which in turn then can allow those businesses to help poorer families and aid them to undertake further education.

Improving health care, water supplies and sanitation services is great for rural communities in poor countries, but directing small loans at good rates to women and farmers is one of the best ways to make rural areas sustainable. Small loans help women and children lead healthier lives. Financing for farmers helps a whole community,

Q & A

Question

How will Western feminism deal with the dissension in its ranks, from women who believe the movement has gone too far and grown too radical? Doesn’t freedom of choice allow? For traditional, conservative choices?

Answer

Feminists have told ABC News in a recent article their fight is for the benefit of everyone – of all genders, races and more – led by a diverse set of voices to pave the way for gender equality worldwide in this fourth wave of feminism.

That means Feminism embraces a vision that aims to support a belief in the equality of people of all genders, a set of values aimed at dismantling gender inequality and the structures that uphold it.

These inequalities then are aimed to foster gender-based health care to remove inaccessibility, entertain less rigid social expectations and gender-based violence. Ultimately there is reason to believe dissension will turn to consensus given the philosophical underpinnings which will help iron out differences and put a feminist agenda on a much firmer footing in the future.

How successful can feminism be at the global level? How can the problems confronting women in third world countries be considered.

Answer

The revised feminist perspective to work with women’s groups in those contrasts abroad in conjunction with Aid agencies acknowledges the differences in cultures and context.

By and large this revised agenda is having acing material beneficial result

In the 21st century we have new challenges confronting the women’s movement. Transgender issues have raised new conflicts among feminists [see J. K. Rowling https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j- k-

Answer

J P Rawlings comments risks unwittingly underpinning suicidal tendencies amongst the transgender community.

The reality is those confronted with the desire to identify with the opposite sex find life far more challenging than need be when societal pressure is reinforced by stereotypical comments.

Identifying herself as part of the feminist’s movement with such views I believe will further detract from those who have a contrary view and more generally the feminine movement.

The reality is at the coalface getting to know transgender individuals one discovers there isn't much to talk about except for uncomfortable feelings within their biological bodies which conflict with the mind’s perspective prior to any transition.

Those students in primary school class In Victoria when introduced to Tran’s students aren’t bothered when properly explained. Children hardly think anything much of it thereafter and if there are concerns it is usually at the behest of the parents. Although JP Rawlings opinion piece conveys a genuine concern and is reflective of a well- read individual, no attempt is made to present any form of proper research other than generalised opinions so that it is virtually impossible to analyse or even verify the veracity of her concerns.

She may have genuine areas of concern but in the absence of any valid empirical studies, references from case studies or properly compiled statistics or even a logical progression her assertions are rather unconvincing.

There seems no doubt as to her sincerity but proper research is such an important aspect about the nature of the Trans people.

Let’s just say why can’t accept the notion Trans women are women. Tran’s men are men, and no binary identities can still be valid in some circumstances. .

Having known transgender friends and colleagues, they express the view that this constant questioning of identities, all too often results in higher incidences of violence and abuse.

They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so. They are no different to anyone else except they have strong feelings to reverse the biological bodies to which they feel imprisoned by their mindful feelings.

The transgender communities offer support from one to another and while there are those who no doubt who may engage in unconscionable aggression or go off the rails as a result of prejudice, the greatest response seems to be in seeking peace and harmony, acceptance and love with others regardless of their sexual orientation.

Male and female perspectives may differ but those combined contributions can offer more enlightened flexible outcomes. Add to that the minority who feel the reverse to their biology and it’s not a cause for concern. In fact it possibly always existed but in the past was treated as hysteria or the works of the devil.

Question: What does equality between genders actually mean? Can it be ‘context free’? Culture free?

Answer

It means inequalities that arise as a result of a lack of opportunities emanating from gender issues once eliminated provides equality.

It will mean different things within diverse cultures and contexts.

Click here for a history of Australian Feminism

https://www.vwt.org.au/gender-equality-timeline-

australia/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw88yxBhBWEiwA7cm6pT6gYpCHNmzEOLYieC3oNTs TFFl6cCObWz53LWwvxuTSBOo4tMyX2BoCcYQQAvD_BwE

References

Elinor Burkett, Professor of Journalism, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://cattcenter.iastate.edu/home/about-us/carrie-chapman-catt/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmeline_Pankhurst