Feminism

 What is feminism?

        Giving equal rights and opportunities to men and women.

Books related to feminism:

          * A room of one’s own              -   Virginia Woolf.

          * Sexual politics                          -   Kate Millett.

          * The second sex                        -    Simone-de-Beauvoir.

          * Towards feministic poetics   -    Elaine Showalter. 

What is meant by women’s writing?

           Based on ,noticing that the experience of women has been shaped by their gender and so women’s writing.

 Major themes in women’s writing:

              Feminism, sex , identity crisis,                                       

                         & loneliness                  the way woman has been handled as a literary consumer by women writers .

   

            By seeking to view  woman as a new perspective and discover women’s contributions to literary history ,  feminist criticism aims to                            the  old texts  and establish the importance of women’s writing to save it from buy or lost or ignored is the male dominated world                            

                                  and creates an area study for group of people marginalized by history and to explore through their writing; their lives as they were occupying a unique socio political space with their culture. 

            

                 Women’s writing is called Ecriture feminine  . Women’s writing ignored is male dominated society. Mary Wollstonecraft’s _ A vindication on the rights of woman (1792) , a landmark treatise that paved  way for many woman  not only to publish  but also engage is the  critical discourse surrounding the issue of women is literature. 

     

           Except John             and George Ballard who spoke out alongside women , was read and responded by women.  Virginia Woolf’s -A room of one’s own (1929) is a deriving force , behind this movement  women’s writing second wave feminism is 70s & 80s sparked a resurgence is for giving a place for works of many. 

            In recent years, intersectionality has encouraged exploitation  is to the relationship let – race , gender ,religion, class and acknowledge the  place marginalized 

     

                         Argue that a room of one’s own benefits not only woman but literary tradition as a whole.

                    ISE WOMEN’S WRITING-     ENHEDUANNA       420 years is                     . 

        The first women writing dates back to the later middle ages -12th Century  courtly writer Marie de France 

                         14th Century                      Julias of Norwich and Margery Kempe.

     

            Julias of Norwich – Revelations of divine love (1393). she avoided mention of her name and gender in book.

      Aphra Behn was one of the first English women to earn  her living by her writing. Broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role ,model for later generations of women authors. 

  

Women’s fiction – themes -revolve  around the home, family and community, asking to Overcome the  challenges- divorce, cancer , job less , betrayal etc.

Simone de Beauvoir’s famous epithet  - one is not both , but rather become a woman 

         Now let’s come to feminism 

                       According to Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker  the fastory . Feminism is divided into three waves .

            1st  wave is the 19th and early 20th century .

            2nd wave is in 1960’s and 70’s .

            3rd wave from 1990’s .

What is feminism?

            A political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. 

             Concerns with issues , gender differences, advocate gender equality and campaigns for women’s rights and interests legal rights -rights of contract ,property rights and voting rights. 

                Sojourner Truth-alternative feminism Chandra Talpade Mohandy-post colonial feminism, Angela Davis ,Alice Walker -black feminists.

       

                   Simon de Beauvoir wrote that “the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her sex was  

            1.Christine de Pizan  who wrote epistle to the GOD OF LOVE in 15th century. 

            2. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo  di Forci worked in 16th century.

            3. Bradstreet and Francois Poullain  de la Barre during the 17th  century .

    1st wave – women’s  suffrage movements the 19th  and early 20th century – votes and rights to women.

    2nd wave – 1960’s  women’s liberation movement- campaigned for legal and social rights for women. 

    3rd wave-a reaction to the                              in wave feminism. 

FIRST WAVE : 

                19th century to 20th century in UK  and US originally it focused on the promotion equal contracts and property rights for women. 

               The opposition to cancel marriage and ownership of married women and their children by their husband. 

                Under the doctrine of coverture  ,  a woman was legally  considered  the chattel of her husband , his possession . Any property she might hold before her marriage became her husband’s on her wedding day and she had no legal right to appear in court ,to sign contracts or to do business. 

                 A legal doctrine is the common law of England for several centuries whereby , upon marriage , a women’s legal rights and obligations were subsumed by prose of her husband. 

                By the end of 19th century activism focused on gaining political power , particularly  the right to vote yet feminists like Voltairine de Cleyre  and Margaret Sanger were still active in campaigning for women’s Sexual, reproductive and  economic rights at this                 

               In 1854 Florence Nightingale established female nurses as adjuncts to  the military .In Britain, the representation of the people act 1918 was passed granting are the vote to  women over the age of 30 who owned horses. 

                In 1928 it was extended to all women about 21 .

                In US leaders of this move Lucentia Lucy stone  , Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony campaigned for abolition,  slavery ,  prior to the  America’s first wave  feminism ended with the passage 19th century amendment to the united states constitution (1919) granting women the  right to vote  to all states .

  Second wave (1960-1980) :

                   Concerned with the issues equality discrimination feminist Carol Hanisch coined the slogan “ the personal is political “ meaning their personal lives reflect the sex power               . That is cultural and political inequalities are inexplicable link.

                     Simon de Beauvoir , the French author  photos of her  oppression  and a  fundamental track of contemporary feminism.  Writer in 1949 translated in to English and published in 1953 it sets out a feminist existentialism. 

                      Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice.  Humans define their own meaning in life and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an  irrational universe. 

                   she accepts  Jean Paul Sartre's precept- existence precedes essence . “Hence one is not both woman but becomes one.”

                     Her horizons focuses on construction of women as the other. This, according to a, is fundamental 2 women's oppression. She argues that the men have been a  historically considers as deviants abnormal and even many Wollstonecraft consider men to be all ideal to word which women should Aspire. according to Beauvoir this attitude must be set aside . If Women want to move forward.

                   Betty Friedan The feminine mystique (1963) criticised the  idea that women can find fulfilment only through child            and home  making. Women are victims of a false belief system that requires them to identify themselves through their husbands and children. In  such a system women completely lose their identity. Friedan identify the system prevalent among post War  II middle class suburban communities . America’s post war economic boom has led to the development of new technologies and gadgets that made the household work less difficult which resulted in making women’s work less meaningful less valuable .

                According to the New York Times, the feminine mystique  injured the contemporary women’s movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed or                 of universe and other countries in the world .It  is one of the most influenced non fiction book of 20th century .    

                The term  women’s liberation was first used in the year 1964 . African American feminist and intellect Gloria Jean walking ( pen name bell hooks)  glossed  over race and class . Furled to address the issues that divided women . Feminist theory from margin to centre (1984) a book  by her where she highlighted the lack of minority voices in the women’s movement.

THIRD WAVE :

                Bagan in the early 90s as a response to the perceived failures of II wave  backlash against initiatives and  movements waked  by the II wave.  Avoid II wave’s  essential definitions of femininity which according to them over emphasises   the experience of above middle class white women. 

                Focus on micro politics

Internal debates between different feminist

       1. difference between sexes.

       2.no difference between the sexes.

         .           gender roles are due to social conditioning.

                feminism advocate social comma political comma economic and intellectual equality for women and men the goal is to challenge Our challenge systematic inequality women face owner daily basis.

The main elements of feminism:

     Feminism: Belief in & desire for  equality  between the sexes. 

     Patriarchy: Is structured society in which men hold more power. 

      Sexism: The idea that women are inferior to my.

      Misogyny  : hatred  of women.

      Misandry :  hatred of men .

      Hostile sexism: The one most people think about.

Feminist values:

            Cooperation, respect, carrying, nurturance , inter convenient, justice, equality, honesty, sensitivity, perceptiveness, institution, altruism, fairness , morality and commitment  .

 True feminism:

               Allows  women to be equal to men. Makes it possible for women to work the same job as men or have property rights. Although the basis of feminism is still the same, It has become a more aggressive moment.

Power feminism :

              Any form of feminist work that effects direct structural change or result in  women giving back to the activist community.

Feminist criticism:

                Concerned with the ways in which literature and other cultural providences reinforce or undermine the economic , political , social and psychological oppression of the women.

To famous feminist :

          Naomi Wolfe , Germaine  Green, Bell Hooks , Doris Lessing, Andrea Dworkin, Malala Yousafzai, Gloria Steinem , Roxane Gay.

Famous first  wave feminist:

          Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist and French photosphere  is having word, the word  feminism in 1837 . The word feminism and feminist first appeared in Netherlands France in 1872,  Great Britain in the 1890s and US in  1910.

Feminist symbol:

            Clenched  first,1960’s and early 1970’s power movements. A symbol of radical feminism consisting of astronomical and astrological symbol of the planet Venus also known as symbol of the Roman goddess Venus.

             Iceland is the most feminist country in the world.

What started feminism?

              Feminism formally began at the Seneca falls conservation in 1848 where 300 men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women Elizabeth cady Stanton drafted the Seneca falls declaration outlining the new movement’s  ideology and political strategies is  associated with contemporary feminism . Purple colour symbolises the achievements gained and achievements yet to come.

 Three types of feminism:

        1.Liberal,  reformist or  main stream.

        2.Radical schools of three big feminist thought

        3.socialist are Marxist.

Liberal feminism:

        Also called main  stream feminist  focused on institutional reforms meaning reducing gender discrimination, giving women access to male dominated spaces an promenating equality thus its                    

              in 19th century   feminism that focused particularly on women suffrage and access to education.

             Also called mainstream feminism , reformist feminism, equalitarian  feminism, reformist  feminist, bourgeois feminism.

           Seeks gradual social progress and equality on the basis of Liberal democracy  that a revolution support laws and regulations that promote gender equality support social measures to reduce material inequality.  Sunflower and colour gold became  symbols of liberal feminism .

Radical  feminism :  

           Calls for  a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic context  and recognising women’s experiences affected by race, class and sexual orientation view society a particularly in which men dominate and oppress women. Abolish patriarchy. The struggle include opposing the sexual objectification of women raising public awareness about issues such as rape against the man challenging the concept of gender roles and challenging are racialized and gendered capitalism that characterized the US and other countries.

             Early radical feminism believed patriarchy the oldest and the most universal form of domination but the form model for all others.

          In 1967 a group called New York radical women was started by Cawl  Hanish ,                     were unhappy  being ignored by civil right and groups that was led by men.

Socialist feminism:

             Assert  that the women are suppressed due to their financial dependence on males  rejected radical feminism’s claimed that patriarchy is the source for oppression   of women