Feminism Revision Guide Extra Knowledge
Building on de Beauvoir’s concept of ‘Otherness’ and gender socialisation Rowbotham
claims that a woman’s gender consciousness is construed by men through the capitalist
regime. Men are complicit in their contribution to limiting the feminine gender.
Difference feminism:
- Biological differences in men and women are fundamentally different instead of
looking for ‘sameness’ women must embrace their distinctiveness
- The women’s inferior status assume in society is because of biological sexual
differences which have been used as justification for determining gender roles in
society
- Carol Gilligan argues that equality feminism has unintentionally characterised
women to replicate male behaviour distancing woman from their own gender
distinctiveness
The six areas of society worth understanding and analysing
State: women are historically under-represented in position of power, limited by
discrimination in a male sexist culture with anti-family working hours
Household: women are socialised into believing the first role above all is
housewife/homemaker
Violence: many women suffer physical violence at the hands of men (1 in 4)
Paid work: the ‘reserve army of labour’ in lower paid and part-time jobs, or are shoehorned
into career that match the female ‘nurturing characteristics’ such as teaching, nursing or
childcare
Sexuality: feminine sexual feelings are taboo and abnormal, but lesbianism is also
sexualised
Culture: society reinforced its roles on women, such as primary carer of children and beauty
standards
Radical solutions to the patriarchy:
Kate Millet - nuclear family should be abolished and replaced by communal living and child
rearing
Andrea Dworking and Charlotte Bunch - nuclear family should be abolished and replaced
with lesbian communities
Germaine Greer - sexual liberation and the abandonment of traditional marriage and the
male domination this entails, leading to communal living and child rearing
Building on de Beauvoir’s concept of ‘Otherness’ and gender socialisation Rowbotham
claims that a woman’s gender consciousness is construed by men through the capitalist
regime. Men are complicit in their contribution to limiting the feminine gender.
Difference feminism:
- Biological differences in men and women are fundamentally different instead of
looking for ‘sameness’ women must embrace their distinctiveness
- The women’s inferior status assume in society is because of biological sexual
differences which have been used as justification for determining gender roles in
society
- Carol Gilligan argues that equality feminism has unintentionally characterised
women to replicate male behaviour distancing woman from their own gender
distinctiveness
The six areas of society worth understanding and analysing
State: women are historically under-represented in position of power, limited by
discrimination in a male sexist culture with anti-family working hours
Household: women are socialised into believing the first role above all is
housewife/homemaker
Violence: many women suffer physical violence at the hands of men (1 in 4)
Paid work: the ‘reserve army of labour’ in lower paid and part-time jobs, or are shoehorned
into career that match the female ‘nurturing characteristics’ such as teaching, nursing or
childcare
Sexuality: feminine sexual feelings are taboo and abnormal, but lesbianism is also
sexualised
Culture: society reinforced its roles on women, such as primary carer of children and beauty
standards
Radical solutions to the patriarchy:
Kate Millet - nuclear family should be abolished and replaced by communal living and child
rearing
Andrea Dworking and Charlotte Bunch - nuclear family should be abolished and replaced
with lesbian communities
Germaine Greer - sexual liberation and the abandonment of traditional marriage and the
male domination this entails, leading to communal living and child rearing
