Socialist Feminism

12 Key excerpts on "Socialist Feminism"

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  Women and Politics in Canada

  • Heather MacIvor(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • University of Toronto Press

    (Publisher)

  Socialist Feminism has also attempted to broaden feminist analysis beyond the issue of gender, to include issues of race, class, relations between the West and developing countries, sexual pref-erence, and disabilities. All structures of inequality, whether capitalism, racism, patriarchy, or imperialism, are both distinct and intertwined. Therefore, the destruction of one source of inequality but not the others will not solve all of the problems identified by socialist feminists. At the very least, both capitalism and patriarchy must be eradicated if women are to overcome oppression. Socialist Feminism differs from radical feminism in at least four sig-nificant ways. First, while radical feminists assume that human biology is a universal given, socialist feminists argue that biology is, to some extent, socially constructed. The foundation of this argument is the Marxist no-tion of historical materialism. As the technology of production evolves, so does the praxis of each society. In turn, u the specific form of praxis dominant within a given society creates the distinctive physical and psy-chological human types characteristic of that society. These distinctive types include all aspects of human nature, even sexuality and reproduc-tion. Socialist feminists point out that sex and childbirth can be experi-enced very differently according to their time and place. There is a psy-chological element to our experience of the body, which is determined by the dominant ideology and the Zeitgeist of one's geographical and historical place. An illustration of this difference between radical and socialist femi-nism can be found in the work of Catharine MacKinnon. MacKinnon's analysis of sexual violence and pornography follows Brownmiller's argu-CHAPTER 2: SEXUAL POLITICS AND FEMINIST RESPONSES I 61 ment about rape (see above), and adds a further dimension. For MacK-innon, as we have seen, sexuality is a social construct as well as a biologi-cal given.

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  Women and Change in Cyprus

  Feminisms and Gender in Conflict

  • Maria Hadjipavlou(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • I.B. Tauris

    (Publisher)

  Ehrenreich 49 identified the inter-secting forces of class and gender in oppressing women, and found points of common frustration in women’s experience to support the socialist feminist framework. These feminists promote modern Marxism, which looks at the interplay of economic, social, political and cultural forces in society. On the whole, we can say that Socialist Feminism focuses on broad, collective change affecting society as a whole and not simply on the individual level as propagated by the liberal feminists. Making this kind of distinction, namely individualist versus collective feminisms, with the former referring to liberal feminism and the latter to Socialist Feminism, may no longer be helpful because we need both. For instance, it was ‘rights feminists’ and NGOs that struggled to get UN Security Council Resolution 1325 passed in 2000; it was a very collective activity and, in that it calls on states to include women in all peace building processes, it constituted a landmark. Used and abused: feminism addressing the body and violence With the rallying cry ‘the personal is political’, radical feminism legitimized women’s individual experiences of oppression, thus empowering them to see their personal experiences of humiliation at the hands of the male power structure as evidence of a systemic problem of the power structure. Mainly coming from the left and disappointed by the way male New Left radical organizations (mostly GENDER , FEMINISMS AND CONFLICT 33 in the USA) treated them, they were determined to establish that their personal ‘subjective’ issues were equally as important as those the New Left addressed, such as social justice and peace. Eventually, some radical feminists came to believe that all these issues were interrelated, that male supremacy and the subjugation of women was indeed the root and model oppression in society and that feminism had to be the basis for revolutionary change.

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  Marxism and Education beyond Identity

  Sexuality and Schooling

  • F. Agostinone-Wilson(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  This chapter begins with an overview of the state of women in the world today. This is followed by a critique of the limitations of both essentialist/ nature-based and conservative/power feminisms, including authors’ read- ings on the origins of the oppression of women and the theory of patriarchy. Socialist Feminism is defined and explained as it fuses Marxist analysis with the unique ways in which women experience oppression under the system of capitalism. This socialist feminist perspective more clearly articulates the areas of struggle most important to women: reproductive freedom (access to MARXISM AND EDUCATION BEYOND IDENTIT Y 152 contraception and abortion); child care and family (gender roles and respon- sibilities, marriage and divorce laws); and the workplace (sexual harassment, pay equity, health care, and retirement). These areas of struggle overlap, so it is difficult to maintain a purity of categorical analysis. In many ways this chapter builds on the analysis in previous chapters. A focus on reproductive rights is prominent as it is a foundational issue for women’s sexuality and thus workplace equality. What is important to understand in this analysis is that the socialist femi- nist perspective views the entire working class as oppressed, not just women as a separate identity group (Ebert 2005). This includes a point of view in which the granting of full civil and human rights to LGBTQ individuals is essential to the liberation of the working class. While same-sex couples are systematically being denied these rights, heterosexual couples are also suffer- ing from a lack of access to health care, education, and child care (Kotulski 2004). Both groups can benefit from seeing their lot in common rather than engaging in endless dialogues about gender and identity.

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  Introducing Gender and Women's Studies

  • Diane Richardson, Victoria Robinson, Diane Richardson, Victoria Robinson, Linda Diane Richardson, Sandra Victoria Robinson(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  Power imbalances within this perspective are maintained as a result of women’s unequal position in the labour market, and the subordinated role of domestic labour. Gender inequality is therefore a system of class inequality, which is maintained to serve the inter -ests of the ruling class. From a Marxist feminist perspective, women’s oppres-sion is only achievable if capitalism is overthrown. Dual Systems Feminist Theory Alternatively known as ‘Socialist Feminism’, this approach points to the ways in which women are disadvantaged as a result of their dual roles in the home and the workplace. Employers, it is argued, exploit women by paying them lower wages than men, while women are additionally exploited at home through the unpaid labour attached to childcare and housework. From a dual systems, or socialist, feminist perspective, women’s oppression is only achievable if these two variables are mutually addressed. Liberal Feminism Rather than focus upon an overriding cause of women’s inequality (for example, patriarchy or capitalism), liberal feminists tended to highlight issues such as cul-tural gender stereotyping, and gender divisions in the home and employment. These aspects of gender inequality, liberal feminists argued, can be erased through equal opportunities legislation and other democratic measures. From a liberal feminist perspective, women’s oppression is only achievable through processes of social, policy and legal reform. Catherine Rottenberg ( 2017 ) has recently explored the resurgence of what she critically terms ‘neo-liberal’ femi-nism, which centres on individual rights and foregrounds notions of ‘choice’. Neo-liberal feminism, Rottenberg argues, represents a current strain of popular feminism, which is reproduced through the media and is evident in the high-profile campaigns of politicians such as Hilary Clinton.

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  Women, Gender, and World Politics

  Perspectives, Policies, and Prospects

  • Peter R. Beckman(Author)
  • 1994(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  I call this combination "Critical/Feminist Theory," or a "gender-in-International-Relations" per- spective. Liberal feminists have underscored the absence of women from both the practice and study of international relations. This absence has been used in the past to defend the supposed gender neutrality of the study of world politics. Criticizing it is therefore important. Liberal feminists challenge that claim and effectively give voice to women scholars and previously si- lenced practitioners of world politics, as well as expand the boundaries of the field. Similarly, Radical feminism not only challenges the assumption that mainstream International Relations theory has been produced in a value- neutral way, but also points to the importance of expanding the arena of legitimate inquiry in world politics beyond its traditional focus on war and peace. Along with other critics of this tradition, Radical feminism insists on exploring the constitutive elements of all international activity, not merely the surface appearance of interstate rivalry, which has been privi- leged through Realism. Finally, Feminist Postmodernists have emphasized the ways in which identity and meaning are contingent and socially constructed. This is im- portant in International Relations because it underscores the ways in which the topics that are considered important, the ways of posing questions, and the approach to studying them, are created rather than natural. A Critical/Feminist account of world politics that is sensitive to gender relations should attempt to incorporate many of the insights of the above types of feminist theorizing while overcoming their limitations. Like Lib- eral feminists, we are interested in documenting the underrepresentation of women in particular spheres, or describing the unfair burdens borne by women as a result of particular legislative practices.

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  Women's Citizenship and Political Rights

  • S. Hellsten, A. Holli, K. Daskalova, S. Hellsten, A. Holli, K. Daskalova(Authors)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  In this context we face the paradoxical relationship between the uni- versalistic agenda of Western feminism and the particularistic concerns of local promotion of women's rights. On the one hand, most of the cur- rent movements are open to Western experiences, but at the same time they search for their own conceptual prospects and development of authentic practices. Some post-socialist feminists note that the 'term' feminism has become a 'dirty word' in the post-Soviet context. People tend to equate it with radicalism rather than with democracy; it brings conflict rather than social harmony. Feminism is also often seen as for- eign propaganda rather than the improvement of local gender equality and women's political participation. Feminist ideologies are detested by women outside academic and activists circles, and widely rejected by common people who are just trying to get by and find their identity in the midst of the turbulent transition (Micu, 2004). Neither men nor women in transitional countries want 'feminism' as a new form of polit- ical radicalism. They do not welcome the 'feminism' of the West, but see Can Feminism Survive Capitalism? 59 it as yet another foreign ideological doctrine; nor do they encourage 'indigenous feminism'. What people need are resources that help them to organise their lives and to work together for common goals. What women need are opportunities for equal participation and influence. All in all, what everybody wants is a working democracy that delivers its promises of equal participation. Feminism, civil society and the politics of non-governmental organisations in transitional societies Democracy, however, has not fulfilled its promise in post-socialist prac- tice. Thus, foreign assistance and intervention are needed in order to build proper political and economic institutions and efficient infrastruc- ture.

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  Feminist Political Theory

  • Valerie Bryson(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  Perestroika (restructuring) again placed women’s issues on the political agenda. By this time, however, the Marxist orthodoxy that women’s liberation required economic independence and full participation in the economy was largely rejected in favour of a renewed emphasis on their traditional role within the home. Contrary to the classic Marxist position, it was now argued that women’s double burden should not be resolved by collective housework and childcare but by increasing their opportunity for part-time and flexible working arrangements. The official Soviet line now emphasised natural differences rather than equality between men and women and argued that, both for their own benefit and for that of society as a whole, women should be enabled to fulfil themselves in the traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker (see Buckley, 1989; Rosenberg, 1989; Waters, 1989). Although a few Soviet sociologists said that feminists should try to re-examine Marxist concepts and use them in their analysis (see Voronina, 1989), most abandoned any kind of Marxist or socialist approach to women’s situation. This retreat from Marxism was completed by the collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It is to the west that we must therefore look for any advances in socialist feminist thought in this period.

  By the 1960s, the rise of the New Left, associated with the Civil Rights, anti-war and student movements, provided fertile ground for an exploration of socialist ideas which distinguished between ‘genuine’ socialism and the repression of so-called communist states. Earlier socialist and Marxist feminist analyses had, however, largely been forgotten in the west too, and left-wing activist men in the late 1960s were quite unprepared for the new radical feminist attack which denounced their political practice as sexist, and claimed that their theories were patriarchal ideologies that served to conceal the reality of women’s oppression. Some initially responded with ridicule, or argued that feminism could only be a bourgeois deviation that divides the workers and distracts them from the class struggle; others simply ignored feminism, apparently in the belief that it would somehow ‘go away’. However, many women refused to believe that sexism was inherent in socialist principles; rather, they believed that socialist theory could be used to address feminist concerns. Their attempts to develop such theory is the focus of this chapter.

  In discussing such approaches, confusion often arises from the number of different ways in which the terms ‘socialist feminist’ and ‘Marxist feminist’ have been used. It should by now be clear that in practice ideas, institutions and movements cannot be neatly classified, and I am therefore not attempting to establish ‘correct’ definitions. Throughout this book, I use ‘Marxist feminist’ fairly loosely to refer to all feminist theories which employ Marxist concepts, even if they develop these in radical ways, and ‘socialist feminist’ as a more general term that includes all approaches (including Marxist feminist) that see the goals of feminism as inseparable from socialism (however defined). In practice, the lines between Marxist and Socialist Feminisms are shifting and blurred. Although this chapter traces a general development from attempts to fit feminist concerns into a Marxist framework and towards more independent and open-ended analysis (at times almost indistinguishable from postmodernism), this should not be seen as a rigid pattern.

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  Gender and Politics : The State of the Discipline

  • Jane Bayes(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Verlag Barbara Budrich

    (Publisher)

  security studies and interna-tional political economy, and probed feminist interventions. There are other important areas where internationally oriented feminist scholars have made important contributions. In particular, there is a proliferating literature on de-mocratization both at the state level and at the international level. Literatures on global civil society, the role of international advocacy networks and of women’s movements fit into this body of literature, as do writings on femi-nist strategy. They are a central part of contemporary feminist International Relations and my lack of attention to these writings here should not distract from their centrality to the field ( e.g. Jaquette 2003; Naples and Desai 2002; Molyneux and Razavi 2002; Braig and Wölte 2002; Liebowitz 2002; Eschle 2001; Kelly et al. 2001; Ackerly 2000). The purpose of this essay is to document the considerable richness of feminist scholarship in International Relations. It is a self-confident scholar-ship that has moved from talking at the mainstream to constituting itself as a distinct body of knowledge that the mainstream ignores at its own peril. Fem-inist analyses of masculinity, war- and peace-making provide trenchant an-swers to understanding IR’s classic question – why war? Feminist studies of women’s work in all economic sectors and in reproduction complete the par-tial picture of globalization offered by liberal economics. And feminist explo-rations of gendered, racialized, and sexed messages in economic conduct help answer questions about the causes of poverty and inequality. Feminist Inter-national Relations thus has emerged as a field of scholarship central to under-standing the pathologies of our global world. Feminist International Relations – The State of the Field 189 References Abood, Paula, 2003. “The Day the World Did Not Change.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 29, 2: 376-578. Ackerly, Brooke, 2000. Political Theory and Feminist Social Criticism.

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  The World of Political Science – The development of the discipline Book Series

  The State of the Discipline

  • Jane H. Bayes(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Verlag Barbara Budrich

    (Publisher)

  Conclusion This review of the state of a field is incomplete, both because of the size of the field and of the limitations of the author. Here I took on two well-defined, large subfields in International Relations, i.e. security studies and interna- tional political economy, and probed feminist interventions. There are other important areas where internationally oriented feminist scholars have made important contributions. In particular, there is a proliferating literature on de- mocratization both at the state level and at the international level. Literatures on global civil society, the role of international advocacy networks and of women’s movements fit into this body of literature, as do writings on femi- nist strategy. They are a central part of contemporary feminist International Relations and my lack of attention to these writings here should not distract from their centrality to the field (e.g. Jaquette 2003; Naples and Desai 2002; Molyneux and Razavi 2002; Braig and Wölte 2002; Liebowitz 2002; Eschle 2001; Kelly et al. 2001; Ackerly 2000). The purpose of this essay is to document the considerable richness of feminist scholarship in International Relations. It is a self-confident scholar- ship that has moved from talking at the mainstream to constituting itself as a distinct body of knowledge that the mainstream ignores at its own peril. Fem- inist analyses of masculinity, war- and peace-making provide trenchant an- swers to understanding IR’s classic question – why war? Feminist studies of women’s work in all economic sectors and in reproduction complete the par- tial picture of globalization offered by liberal economics. And feminist explo- rations of gendered, racialized, and sexed messages in economic conduct help answer questions about the causes of poverty and inequality. Feminist Inter- national Relations thus has emerged as a field of scholarship central to under- standing the pathologies of our global world.

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  The Modern State

  Theories and Ideologies

  • Erika Cudworth, Timothy Hall, John McGovern(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • EUP

    (Publisher)

  Such an analysis does not take account of the specific benefits to men from the contemporary structure of the heterosexual family (Delphy 1984; Jeffreys 1990), or explain why the state should seek to secure male dominance and privilege (Pringle and Watson 1992: 58). More recently, Socialist Feminism has debated the ways in which both capitalism and racism intersect with gender relations. Most socialist feminists have eschewed the notion of patriarchy (Bottero 1998), although some sophisticated accounts have attempted to combine a systemic analyses of patriarchy with systemic relations Feminisms: the Gendering of the State 219 of capitalism, racism and post-colonialism (Mies 1984, 1998). The predominant view is that gender relations cannot be reduced to relations of capital (Brenner 2000) and, thus, the state is seen as a site where multiple relations of power are in evidence. For liberal feminism, the differential treatment and social, eco-nomic and political marginalisation of women in Western liberal states has been ameliorated by legal reform, and liberals seek to secure the same treatment under the law as men receive (Friedan 1983). Although the liberal state has been a vehicle of gender dis-crimination, the pressures from various marginalised social groups are making the state more properly pluralist. While post-modern feminism appears at odds with the liberal tradition, questioning its foundation as an Enlightenment project, in some ways post-modern influenced analyses of the political have much in common with liberal approaches. Post-modern feminists are concerned with gender as a form of difference, but also make much of the extent to which gender should be seen as a contested category. They have questioned the concept of women as a coherent entity whose ‘needs’ or ‘rights’ are denied in some way, arguing that the category ‘woman’ is highly fractured (Fraser and Nicholson 1990) and uncertain as a basis for making political claims (Coole 1993: 222).

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  The Global Political Economy of Sex: Desire, Violence, and Insecurity in Mediterranean Nation States

  • A. Agathangelou(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  C h a p t e r 6 A G lobal P olitical E conomy of S ex: F eminist P ossibilities for T ransborder D emocracy and S afety There will be no feminist revolution without an end to racism and white supremacy. When all women and men engaged in feminist struggle understand the interlocking nature of systems of domina- tion, of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, the feminist move- ment will regain its revolutionary progressive momentum. (hooks, 1995: 107) Women and their fate occupied me all my life and concern for their lot brought me to socialism. (Kollontai, 1977: 30) In the previous chapters, I delineated the connections between capital and the culpable state in the exploitation of the wage labor of sex and domestic workers. In this final chapter, I ask: How might we break this systemic hold? What role can feminism play in challenging the structures of a global ruling class that tightly adheres to a hege- monic doctrine and uses all means possible to obfuscate its politics? Most of us seem to be bystanders to the spectacle of security and “globalization with a human face,” a mirage promulgated by capital, multinational corporations, the states, IR, and even feminist theorists. Instruments of justice themselves presuppose the export and import, abuse, and near-enslavement of numerous migrant women (Trepanier, 2003; Rajalakshmi, 2003; Lepp, 2003). The peripheral economic state seems to follow closely the doctrine of capital and designs policies to sustain low inflation, fiscal retrenchment, and flexi- ble labor markets, to facilitate the free flows of goods and capital to promote the interests of investors, employers, as well as the interests of the owning-class through the exploitation of working-class peoples. Ideologies about “globalization with a human face” and flexible labor (Psimmenos, 2000) obscure the politics of neoliberalism including its weakening grip even among those who have been its proponents (Rupert, 2000).

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  International Relations and the Challenge of Postmodernism

  Defending the Discipline

  • D. S. L. Jarvis, Darryl S. L. Jarvis(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • University of South Carolina Press

    (Publisher)

  Studies into patriarchal structures like the military, the systemic exclusion of women and the phenomena of the glass ceiling, sexual intimidation, and the role masculinism plays in Feminist Revisions of International Relations 159 the conduct of international politics and military affairs have all been use-ful, revealing, and contributory to our understanding of international relations. So too, studies into the international political economy of global change, globalization, transnational corporations, the new Asian industrialism, and the exploitation of workers under the new interna-tional division of labor have benefited greatly from gender analyses high-lighting the adverse and often different effects such phenomena have had on women and men. Yet, as Adam Jones concluded recently, despite their contributions, feminist “critiques are far from constituting an adequate account or even an inclusive framing of gender and IR. The wider task— theorizing and narrating the international politics of gender—remains.” 92 For feminists who suggest that they have found better ontological view-ing points from which to theorize the realities, causes, and issues of inter-national politics, this is stinging criticism. Indeed, it renders problematic the “gender variable” as the principal ontological starting point for inves-tigating international politics and makes apparent how premature are adages announcing that “gender makes the world go round.” That fem-inist epistemologies, especially postmodern feminisms, are not above being problematic underscores how important is the need for further investigation before we all don postmodern gender lenses and view the world through this singular and unifocal lens. Questioning Identity Politics Critical research agendas of this type, however, are not found easily in International Relations. Critics of feminist perspectives run the risk of denouncement as either a misogynist malcontent or an androcentric keeper of the gate.

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