Feminist Theories

Liberals are concerned with the human rights and civil rights and freedoms of the individual. In keeping with the Enlightenment tradition, they believe that all human beings should have equal rights. Since both men and women are human beings, both should have the same inalienable rights and freedoms.

Reformism is the idea that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by gradual reforms or piecemeal changes in society, without the need for revolution.

Liberal feminists believe women can achieve gender equality through reformism, eg. laws and policies against sex discrimination. They also belive that, for gender equality, there must be a cultural change. Traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to inequality, eg. beliefs that women are less rational etc are used to legitimate their exclusion from decision-making roles and their confinement to childrearing and housework.

Liberal feminists reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or rational than men, or that men are biologically less emotional or nurturing than women. They distinguish between sex (biological differences) and gender (culturally constructed differences).

They see them as culturally constructed as they vary over culture and time: what is forbidden for women in one society may be considered a proper role for them in another society. eg. until fairly recently it was rare to see women bus drivers in Britain, but now this is quite common, while Saudi Arabia women are forbidden to drive any vehicle whatsoever.

They belive that to achieve gender equality we must change society's socialisation patterns. hence, liberal feminists seek to promote appropriate role models in education and the family. eg. female teachers in traditional male subjects, or fathers taking responsibility for domestic tasks. Over time, they believe, such actions will produce cultural change and gender equality will become the norm.

It is an optimistic one, very much in keeping with the Enlightenment project and its faith in progress/

- Changes in socialisation and culture are gradually leading to more rational attitudes to gender and overcoming ignorance and prejudice

- Political action to introduce anti-discriminatory laws and policies is steadily bringing about progress to a fairer society in which a person's gender is no longer important.

Liberal feminism is a critique of Parsons' view of gender roles. It argues that men and women are equally capable of performing roles in both public and private sphere.

It is the closest of the feminisms to a consensu theory. Whilst it recognises conflicts between men and women, these are not seen as inevitable but merely a product of outdated attitudes. Moreover, women's emnacipation is a 'win-win' situation from which men too will gain. eg. they can express their nurturing side.

-Studies conducted by liberal feminists have produced evidence documenting the extent of gender inequality and discrimination, and legitimising the demand for reform in areas such as equal pay and employment.

-Their work has helped to demonstrate that gender differences are not inborn but the result of different treatment and socialisation patterns.

-It's over-optimistic: they see the obstacles to emancipation as simply the prejudices of individuals or irrational laws that can be gradually reformed away by the onward 'march of progress'. They ignore the possibility that there are deep-seated structures causing women's oppression, eg. capitalism or patriarchy. Walby argues they offern no explanation for the overall structure of gender equality.

-Marxist feminists and radical feminists argue that liberal feminism fails to recognise the underlying causes of women's subordination and that it is naive to belive that changes in the law or attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Instead, they belive that far-reaching, revolutionary changes are needed.

-Patriarchy is universal: male domination of women exists in all known societies. Firestone says the origins of patriarchy lie in women's biological capacity to bear and care for infants, since performing this role means they become dependent on males.
- Patriarchy is the primary and most fundamental form of social inequality and conflict. The key division in society is between women and men. Men are women's main enemy.
- All men oppress all women. All men benefit from patriarchy - especially from women's unpaid domestic labour and from their sexual services.

For radical feminists, patriarchal oppression is direct and personal. It occurs not only in the public sphere of work and politics but also in the private sphere. They believe all relationships involve power and they are political when one individual tries to dominate another. Personal relationships between the sexes are thus political because men dominate women through them.

Sexual politics.