4.3.2: Different types of feminism
Get a hint
Summarise liberal feminism -✔✔✔Took the liberal values of individualism and foundational equality
(all humans are of equal moral worth) and applied them to women. Women are entitled to the same
rights and freedoms as men.
Women should have all the freedoms they need to become autonomous members of society
What were early liberal feminists concerned with?
Why?
What was their aim after this? -✔✔✔Women 's suffrage
The assumption was that the vote would grant women a voice and politicians would need to listen to
them if they wanted to be elected.
Their aim after the vote was equality in all areas of the law.
What have liberal feminists campaigned for in the last century -✔✔✔Legal and political equality
They have campaigned for educational and pay equality, abortion and divorce laws and freely available
contraception
They also seek equal access to the public sector, which is connected to the liberal principle of equality of
opportunity
Which influential book did Betty Friedan write and when? -✔✔✔The Feminine Mystique in 1963
What did Friedan argue about the public sphere? -✔✔✔She argued women were being held back from
their full potential as they were limited to only a few jobs that were "acceptable" for women
What is the main difference between liberal and radical/socialist feminism in terms of practices?
, What is the main difference between liberal feminism and other types of feminism in terms of what they
challenge? -✔✔✔Liberal feminism is reformist, believing gender imbalances can be overturned
through democratic pressure
Liberal feminists do not challenge the private/domestic sphere, arguing they should give men and
women equal opportunity to stay at home or go to work or both. They do not believe a fundamental
restructuring of society is needed.
What do liberal feminists believe will happen once all barriers to women entering the workforce have
been removed? -✔✔✔Women will enter all areas of industry. As women start doing traditional
"men's" jobs, society will accept that there is no industry in which women cannot work.
The more young girls see women in all types of jobs and positions, the sooner gender stereotypes will
begin to disappear
What do liberal feminists think about the patriarchy? -✔✔✔They reject the idea of patriarchy as the
pervasive and systemic oppression of women, instead highlighting discrimination against women
Summarise the socialist feminist view -✔✔✔They believe that gender inequality in society stems from
economics (capitalism more specifically)
What did Friedrich Engels argue about capitalism and patriarchy? -✔✔✔He noted that the move away
from matriarchal societies toward patriarchal ones coincided with the arrival of capitalism and
suggested women were oppressed mainly by capitalism
In what 4 ways did Engels argue that women served the needs of capitalism? -✔✔✔-Workers can be
supported and looked after by unpaid workers to enable them to carry out a full day's work
-Women confined to domestic, private sphere where their primary role was to take care of their
husbands, have and raise children to become the next generation of workers and carers capitalism
needed (reproducing the work force)
-Women act as a reserve army of labour to be used in the workforce when needed and sent home when
their usefulness was fulfilled
-Capitalism was based on the accumulation of private property, assuring the paternity of their heirs was
vital to men, so women were required to be virgins until marriage and remain monogamous
Get a hint
Summarise liberal feminism -✔✔✔Took the liberal values of individualism and foundational equality
(all humans are of equal moral worth) and applied them to women. Women are entitled to the same
rights and freedoms as men.
Women should have all the freedoms they need to become autonomous members of society
What were early liberal feminists concerned with?
Why?
What was their aim after this? -✔✔✔Women 's suffrage
The assumption was that the vote would grant women a voice and politicians would need to listen to
them if they wanted to be elected.
Their aim after the vote was equality in all areas of the law.
What have liberal feminists campaigned for in the last century -✔✔✔Legal and political equality
They have campaigned for educational and pay equality, abortion and divorce laws and freely available
contraception
They also seek equal access to the public sector, which is connected to the liberal principle of equality of
opportunity
Which influential book did Betty Friedan write and when? -✔✔✔The Feminine Mystique in 1963
What did Friedan argue about the public sphere? -✔✔✔She argued women were being held back from
their full potential as they were limited to only a few jobs that were "acceptable" for women
What is the main difference between liberal and radical/socialist feminism in terms of practices?
, What is the main difference between liberal feminism and other types of feminism in terms of what they
challenge? -✔✔✔Liberal feminism is reformist, believing gender imbalances can be overturned
through democratic pressure
Liberal feminists do not challenge the private/domestic sphere, arguing they should give men and
women equal opportunity to stay at home or go to work or both. They do not believe a fundamental
restructuring of society is needed.
What do liberal feminists believe will happen once all barriers to women entering the workforce have
been removed? -✔✔✔Women will enter all areas of industry. As women start doing traditional
"men's" jobs, society will accept that there is no industry in which women cannot work.
The more young girls see women in all types of jobs and positions, the sooner gender stereotypes will
begin to disappear
What do liberal feminists think about the patriarchy? -✔✔✔They reject the idea of patriarchy as the
pervasive and systemic oppression of women, instead highlighting discrimination against women
Summarise the socialist feminist view -✔✔✔They believe that gender inequality in society stems from
economics (capitalism more specifically)
What did Friedrich Engels argue about capitalism and patriarchy? -✔✔✔He noted that the move away
from matriarchal societies toward patriarchal ones coincided with the arrival of capitalism and
suggested women were oppressed mainly by capitalism
In what 4 ways did Engels argue that women served the needs of capitalism? -✔✔✔-Workers can be
supported and looked after by unpaid workers to enable them to carry out a full day's work
-Women confined to domestic, private sphere where their primary role was to take care of their
husbands, have and raise children to become the next generation of workers and carers capitalism
needed (reproducing the work force)
-Women act as a reserve army of labour to be used in the workforce when needed and sent home when
their usefulness was fulfilled
-Capitalism was based on the accumulation of private property, assuring the paternity of their heirs was
vital to men, so women were required to be virgins until marriage and remain monogamous
