c






 
V politicosocioeconomic
struggle for
gender/sexual equality
~ the roots of modern fem.
can be found in the IR
the IR transformed
modern society in all
respects; this inc.
upsetting the gender
balance
both women and men
were forced to pursue
´non-traditionalµ forms
of employment in the
emerging IR
V in early heavy
industry, men gained
the employment
advantage ² this was
based in part on the
advantage of greater
physical strength, but
the reality is that
medieval Europe was
already 
  
V women and children
were thus relegated to
secondary tasks/
´inferiorµ forms of
employment
V this led to a fundamental in
family structure: as men
gained eco. dominance in
society and became the
´Ã  

µ, men
gained increased status
w/in the family (and since
wealth meant pol. power,
men gained a role in gov·t
too)
V it had not always been like
that in feudalism; Europe
had always been
patriarchal, but women
shared in the
familial/eco./pol.
responsibilities to a greater
extent
~ by the late 19th c., women
were in a better position
to challenge that
inequality, esp. in GB
(emerging liberalism)
the suffragette movement
was on the rise, with
women demanding pol.
rights (mainly the vote),
along w/ eco., legal, and
social ones (such as


)
V this phase = 1st Wave
Feminism
 most of the goals were
achieved in the 1920s/30s;
women gained the right to
vote and were recognized
as citizens (Cda ² Nellie
McClung, Emily Murphy,
Agnes Macphail), esp.
after WW I
but the suffragettes
made a key error: they
had believed that pol.
equality would translate
into other areas of
society (and thus aid in
the achievement of eco.
and familial equality
too«)
V but sexism persisted
(now   
 instead
of  )
V and it persists to this
day: ´pink collar
jobsµ, the ´glass
ceilingµ, pay
inequity«
~ WW II was another
watershed period,
typified by ´Rosie the
Riveterµ: women made
massive contributions,
many of which were
erased in the
complacency of the
´ë Ã µ
ÿideo Notes ² How do all of
the following factor into the
Sexual Revolution?: Baby
Boom, Social Hygiene Films,
Betty Friedan and The
Feminine Mystique, Gloria
Steinem and Ms.,
Cohabitation, Sexual
Revolution, ´The Pillµ,
Sexual Orientation
~ the period after WW II
saw the emergence of the
2nd Wave; since pol./legal
equality had been
achieved, the focus
changed to inc. an attack
on economic/
social/psychological
injustice
in this period, Women·s
Lib (-eration) became the
emphasis, and the goal
was to address the issue of
women·s ongoing
´inferiorµ status
the different strains of
fem. provide a # of
answers: fem. can be
found all over the pol.
spectrum (conservative
fem., liberal fem., Marxist
fem., etc«)
~ its emphasis is on the evils of capitalism and
specifically its oppression of 

~ acc. to Allison Jaggar, : ´Women are the

proletariat in the gender division of labour.µ
(Gender Proletariat)
here, ´proletariatµ means oppression outside
of eco. activity
by implication, men are the ´gender
bourgeoisieµ
V thus the further implications«?
V What does ´rev.µ mean to Jaggar?
~ Marxist Feminists trace
industrial/postindustrial
inequality to pre-existent
patriarchy, the physical
nature of early ind. rev.
workplaces, the obstacle
of pregnancy and child-
rearing, prejudice and
stereotyping«
They also note that much
of this still exists, even in
law
V ë


 is
a school of thought that
seeks to remedy such
injustice (as seen in the
c
  and   



 
  cases)
w/ all of the above, Marxist feminists see
men w/ a def. adv., so Marxist fem. offers
a 4-pronged critique of society:
V Patriarchy ² that male domination must
be attacked in all its forms
V Culture needs to be assailed as Cultural
Conditioning (c 

)
determines gender
behaviour/expectations
 They contend that women learn to be
passive and accept their secondary
status b/c of pervasive social signals
 Further, both men and women



 stereotypes and a ct acc. to
these beliefs, leading to oppression of
women
 The fem. solution: since culture can
transmit both ideas of oppression and
liberation, the process of socialization
needs to be transformed to create
empowerment
 V Epistemology ² the ´process of how
knowledge is acquiredµ
 Fem. states that all knowledge in
socially-constructed; since we live
in a patriarchal society, we·re
bound to internalize those values
 What·s needed: new patterns of
socialization, new sources of info,
new ways of interpreting the world
~ * ´Womynµ«
  


  (PC) ]
V History ² another fem. issue is that
women are ignored and invisible in
history
 Only recently did women become
formal citizens and thus play a
pol. role; since much traditional
hist. is political/military, women
have thus been downplayed (as
´lessµ documentation existed to
portray women·s role in  

«)«there are also the
facts that most historians were
men w/ ´maleµ priorities and that
women were denied
education/literacy until fairly
recently
 Thus ´herstoryµ needs to be re-
examined and written
(examples«)
 Go check out the website
equalityrules.ca
 What is the 3rd Wave?