Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Liberal Feminism – stems from the liberal tradition; emphasizes individual rationality, public,
private distinction, reformability of institutions (reformist), focuses more on the rights of
women, has a reformist nature, attempt to elevate the status of women in order for their rights
to be recognized.
Marxist Feminism – is built on premises of Marxism; then focused on “sex-gender system”
(revolutionary), radical, attempt to merge class analysis with feminist approach, class and
gender, change the power dynamics in favour of the women, emphasizes the class,
Radical Feminism – identifies “sex war” as the most basic political struggle; highlights the private
sphere where women’s oppression was founded (revolutionary), both radical and Marxist seek a
change in social relations
The development of the concept of gender highlighting its “historically contingent and
constructed character”
Emergence of the pro-woman strand which celebrates the distinctive marerial and caring
qualities
Difference-based feminism: differences between women (radical-lesbian critique of
heterosexuality) and exclusion of black from white feminist movements gave rise to “identity
politics” and these led to the post-structuralist approach to feminism (e.g., the anatomical body
is a discursive act), internal power dynamics
Transversal politics deals with diverse varieties of women’s groups, comparing women among
their cultures, factors in cultural differences, not only in a single culture, but involves diverse
cultures.
Criticisms on feminist PS
Universalism – for the failure of traditional feminist perspective factor in diversity among
women
Essentialism – the tendency to equate essentialism with biological determinism in falls into a
“kind of residual essentialism that is constituted at the material or symbolic level”
Uncritical – feminists PS has not been “bold enough” with its uncritical adoption of traditional
male (quantitative) methods.
Restrictive – it has not gone beyond the sphere of the accepted “political”; it has not challenged
traditional boundaries between political studies and cognate disciplines
Ineffective – gender politics has not been fully integrated into PS