FEMINIST

THEORY
AND PRACTICE

Dr Anehi
Mundra
AISS
Feminism is said to be the movement to end women's oppression.

One possible way to understand ‘woman’ in this claim is to take it as a sex term:
Feminist theorising of the sex/gender distinction
‘woman’ picks out human females and being a human female depends on
various biological and anatomical features (like genitalia).

Historically many feminists have understood ‘woman’ differently: not as a sex

term, but as a gender term that depends on social and cultural factors (like
social position). In so doing, they distinguished sex (being female or male) from
gender (being a woman or a man).

Provisionally ‘sex’ denotes human females and males depending on biological

features (chromosomes, sex organs, hormones and other physical features);
‘gender’ denotes women and men depending on social factors (social role,
position, behaviour or identity). The main feminist motivation for making this
distinction was to counter biological determinism or the view that biology is
destiny.

A typical example of a biological determinist view is that of Geddes and

Thompson who, in 1889(not popular view now), argued that social, psychological
and behavioural traits were caused by metabolic state. Women supposedly
conserve energy (being ‘anabolic’) and this makes them passive, conservative,
More specifically, they were used to argue for withholding from women political rights accorded to

men because (according to Geddes and Thompson) “what was decided among the prehistoric

Protozoa cannot be annulled by Act of Parliament”.

Political results: It would be inappropriate to grant women political rights, as they are simply not

suited to have those rights; it would also be futile since women (due to their biology) would simply

not be interested in exercising their political rights.

To counter this kind of biological determinism, feminists have argued that behavioural and

psychological differences have social, rather than biological, causes. For instance, Simone de

Beauvoir famously claimed that one is not born, but rather becomes a woman, and that

“social discrimination produces in women moral and intellectual effects so profound

that they appear to be caused by nature”. Commonly observed behavioural traits associated

with women and men, then, are not caused by anatomy or chromosomes.
airline pilots since they will be
hormonally unstable once a month and,
therefore, unable to perform their duties
Corpus Callosum
as well as men. More recently,
differences in male and female brains
have been said to explain behavioural
differences; in particular, the anatomy of
corpus callosum, a bundle of nerves that
connects the right and left cerebral
hemispheres, is thought to be
responsible for various psychological and
behavioural differences.

First, the corpus callosum is a highly

variable piece of anatomy; as a result,
generalisations about its size, shape and
thickness that hold for women and men
in general should be viewed with
caution. Second, differences in adult
human corpus callosums are not found
in infants; this may suggest that physical
brain differences actually develop as
responses to differential treatment.
In order to distinguish biological differences
from social/psychological ones and to talk
Gender Terminology
about the latter, feminists appropriated the
term ‘gender’.

Psychologists writing on trans-sexuality were

the first to employ gender terminology in this
sense. Until the 1960s, ‘gender’ was used
solely to refer to masculine and feminine
words, like le and la in French.

However, in order to explain why some

people felt that they were ‘trapped in the
wrong bodies’, the psychologist Robert
Stoller began using the terms ‘sex’ to pick
out biological traits and ‘gender’ to pick out
the amount of femininity and masculinity a
person exhibited. Although (by and large) a
person's sex and gender complemented
each other, separating out these terms
seemed to make theoretical sense allowing
Gayle Rubin (for instance) uses the phrase

‘sex/gender system’ in order to describe “a

set of arrangements by which the biological

raw material of human sex and procreation is

Gender Terminology
shaped by human, social intervention”. Rubin

employed this system to articulate that “part

of social life which is the locus of the

oppression of women” describing gender as

the “socially imposed division of the sexes”.

Rubin's thought was that although biological

differences are fixed, gender differences are

the oppressive results of social interventions

that dictate how women and men should

behave.

Women are oppressed as women and

“by having to be women.”

Since gender is social, it is thought to be

mutable and alterable by political and social

reform.

Feminism should aim to create a “genderless

(though not sexless) society, in which one's

individuals are brought up. For instance, Kate Millett takes gender differences to have “essentially

cultural, rather than biological bases” that result from differential treatment. For her, gender is “the sum

Gender as Socially
total of the parents', the peers', and the culture's notions of what is appropriate to each gender by way of

temperament, character, interests, status, worth, gesture, and expression.” Thus, we can unlearn gender

roles. constructed
The distinction started from infants. When parents have been asked to describe their 24-hour old infants,

they have done so using gender-stereotypic language: boys are describing as strong, alert and

coordinated and girls as tiny, soft and delicate.

Children are dressed in gender stereotypical toys and dress. Boys are told not to ‘cry like a baby’. Books

also epic such distinction.

Gendered personalities develop because women tend to be the primary caretakers of small children.

Crudely put: the mother-daughter relationship differs from the mother-son relationship because mothers

are more likely to identify with their daughters than their sons. This unconsciously prompts the mother to

encourage her son to psychologically individuate himself from her thereby prompting him to develop well

defined and rigid ego boundaries. However, the mother unconsciously discourages the daughter from

individuating herself thereby prompting the daughter to develop flexible and blurry ego boundaries.

This perspective has its roots in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, although Chodorow's approach differs in

many ways from Freud's.

Chodorow: Women are stereotypically more emotional and emotionally dependent upon others around

them, supposedly finding it difficult to distinguish their own interests and wellbeing from the interests

and wellbeing of their children and partners. This is said to be because of their blurry and (somewhat)
subordinate status that stems from their gender.

RACE: The history of racist oppression illustrates that during slavery black women were ‘hypersexualised’ and thought

to be always sexually available whereas white women were thought to be pure and sexually virtuous. In fact, the rape of

a black woman was thought to be impossible. So, (the argument goes) sexual objectification cannot serve as the

common condition for womanhood since it varies considerably depending on one's race and class.

White Western middle-class feminists accounted for the shared features simply by reflecting on the cultural features

that condition their gender as women thus supposing that “the womaness underneath the Black woman's skin is a white

woman's, and deep down inside the Latina woman is an Anglo woman waiting to burst through an obscuring cultural

shroud”.

femininity must be differently conditioned in different societies.

gender dimorphism only serves a heterosexist social order by implying that since women and men are sharply opposed,

it is natural to sexually desire the opposite sex or gender.

Further, being feminine and desiring men (for instance) are standardly assumed to be expressions of one's gender as a

woman. Butler denies this and holds that gender is really performative. It is not “a stable identity or locus of agency

from which various acts follow; rather, gender is instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”: through wearing certain

gender-coded clothing, walking and sitting in certain gender-coded ways, styling one's hair in gender-coded manner and

so on. Gender is not something one is, it is something one does; it is a sequence of acts, a doing rather than a being.

People think that there are true and real genders, and those deemed to be doing their gender ‘wrong’ are not socially

sanctioned. But, genders are true and real only to the extent that they are performed.

the trans-person's gender is just as real or true as anyone else's who is a ‘traditionally’ feminine female or

masculine male. Without heterosexism that compels people to engage in certain gendering acts, there

would not be any genders at all. And ultimately the aim should be to abolish norms that compel people to

act in these gendering ways.

held that males and females were members of the same sex category. Females' genitals were
thought to be the same as males' but simply directed inside the body; ovaries and testes (for
instance) were referred to by the same term and whether the term referred to the former or the
latter was made clear by the context. It was not until the late 1700s that scientists began to think
of female and male anatomies as radically different moving away from the ‘one-sex model’ of a
single sex spectrum to the (nowadays prevalent) ‘two-sex model’ of sexual dimorphism.

Take the idea-construction of sex concepts. Our concept of sex is said to be a product of social
forces in the sense that what counts as sex is shaped by social meanings. To illustrate further the
idea-construction of sex, consider the case of the athlete Maria Patiño. Patiño has female
genitalia, has always considered herself to be female and was considered so by others. However,
she was discovered to have XY chromosomes and was barred from competing in women's sports.

Intersexes, like Patiño, illustrate that our understandings of sex differ and suggest that there is no
immediately obvious way to settle what sex amounts to purely biologically or scientifically.

According to Butler, first, the idea that sex is a social construct, boils down to the view that our
sexed bodies are also performative and so, they have “no ontological status apart from the
various acts which constitute reality”. Prima facie, this implausibly implies that female and male
bodies do not have independent existence and that if gendering activities ceased, so would
physical bodies. This is not Butler's claim; rather, her position is that bodies viewed as the
material foundations on which gender is constructed, are themselves constructed as if they
provide such material foundations. Cultural conceptions about gender figure in “the very
apparatus of production whereby sexes themselves are established”.
Biological determinism is exactly that the belief that biology determines such
characteristics as behaviour, ability, likes, dislikes, etc. Biological
Biologism versus Social Constructivism
determinism is the theory behind the phrase: “boys will be boys.” This
phrase is associated with “boyish” behavioural characteristics, which we can
all easily identify, that are believed to be essential and natural in boys.

Social constructionism, on the other hand, is the theory that social identifiers,
like race and gender, among others, are created by society rather than
biology. Many argue that social constructionism is a much stronger force in
shaping behaviour and other social characteristics. Though social
constructionists do have differing opinions on the influence of society or
biology over male/female characteristics, a popular opinion is that though
there are some innate biological differences between men and women,
society is overwhelmingly more influential in the long-term. Social
constructionism is a theory of knowledge that holds that characteristics
typically thought to be immutable and solely biological—such as gender,
race, class, ability, and sexuality—are products of human definition and
interpretation shaped by cultural and historical contexts.

For example, by the one-drop rule, regardless of their appearance, individuals

Categories are not “natural” or fixed and the boundaries around them are always shifting—they
are contested and redefined in different historical periods and across different societies.

Biologism versus Social Constructivism

An essentialist understanding of sexuality would argue that not only do all people have a sexual
orientation, but that an individual’s sexual orientation does not vary across time or place. In this
example, “sexual orientation” is a given “truth” to individuals—it is thought to be inherent, biologically
determined, and essential to their being.

Essentialism typically relies on a biological determinist theory of identity. Biological determinism can
be defined as a general theory, which holds that a group’s biological or genetic makeup shapes its
social, political, and economic destiny. For example, “sex” is typically thought to be a biological “fact,”
where bodies are classified into two categories, male and female.

For example, feminist law professor Julie Greenberg writes that in the late 19 th century and early 20th
century, “when reproductive function was considered one of a woman’s essential characteristics, the
medical community decided that the presence or absence of ovaries was the ultimate criterion of
sex”. Thus, sexual difference was produced through the hetero-normative assumption that women are
defined by their ability to have children. Instead of assigning sex based on the presence or absence of
ovaries, medical practitioners in the contemporary US typically assign sex based on the appearance of
genitalia.

Differential definitions of sex point to two other primary aspects of the social construction
of reality. First, it makes apparent how even the things commonly thought to be “natural”
or “essential” in the world are socially constructed. Understandings of “nature” change
through history and across place according to systems of human knowledge. Second, the
social construction of difference occurs within relations of power and privilege.

Notions of disability are similarly socially constructed within the context of ableist power relations. The
medical model of disability frames body and mind differences and perceived challenges as flaws that
perspective suggests that existing inequalities are neither inevitable nor immutable. By
centering the processes through which inequality and power relations produce racialized,
sexualized, and gendered difference, social constructionist analyses challenge the
pathologization of minorities who have been thought to be essentially or inherently inferior to
privileged groups.

When researchers critically examine commonly held characteristics that are often believed to
be based in biology, often we can easily see the ways in which society has a direct influence
in these outcomes. One example of this is a study assessing the ways in which parents
perceive their children’s physical ability differently based on whether their child is a boy or a
girl. Researchers asked parents to estimate the level of slope their eleven-month-old babies
could successfully descend. Results did not show any real difference in the athletic ability of
the two sexes; the interesting result was in the ways in which parents estimated their child’s
ability to descend the slope. Mothers of baby girls under estimated their ability by an average
of nine degrees. Mothers who had baby boys only underestimated their baby’s ability by an
average of one degree. Lise Eliot, an author, who applies a social constructionist approach,
uses this study as an example of the ways preconceived notions about varying abilities
between the sexes alters the expectations we have for our children.

This expectation has real repercussions. If parents believe their daughters to be less
physically capable than their sons are, than they are less likely to enrol girls in athletic
extracurricular activities.
V. Geetha elaborates the broader implications of the term in the following words: What is

patriarchy? Where does the word come from? At its simplest, the term means 'the absolute rule of
Understanding Patriarchy
the father or the eldest male member of the family' not only over all women in the family, but also

over younger and socially or economically subordinate males.

The term patriarchy is not only a descriptive term that explains how different societies construct

male authority and power, but also become an analytical category. This change of the use of the

term patriarchy from a descriptive to an analytical category took place in the 1970s,

At the Universities women demanded that their experiences and points of view be taken seriously

that patriarchy emerged as a way of both describing and explaining the world. Since this time,

patriarchy has been used critically to explain the main components of authority and power in any

social system.

Patriarchy links masculinity with power, independence, self-assertion, domination and activity.

Feminine is linked with weakness, dependence, helplessness, docility, passivity and subservience.

She is always required to find fulfilment in submissive domesticity. Gender defined roles serve male

need for domination. This is what Kate Millet calls sexual politics. Patriarchy provides congenial

environment for the exploitation of women thereby promoting sexual politics.

It silences and marginalizes them and makes them believe that femininity is inherently linked with

inferiority and that their inferiority is natural. The terms 'female,' 'feminine' and 'feminist' also

apply to literature.
by the male elders in the community. When used in this sense, the term “patriarchy” is often

contrasted with the term “matriarchy”, which referred to social system where women exercised

political authority

Both wifehood and motherhood become glorified in the patriarchal system. These roles are

granted social sanctions and at the same time are also eulogized in local folk lore, in literature,

and religion.

Patriarchy has both productive and punitive aspects. Thus, women who wish to remain single

and refuse marriage and treated with disdain by the society. Similarly, women who are not

fertile or those who cannot bear children especially male are ridiculed and held in contempt and

their position in the family is a non-existent one. The position of widow, especially upper caste

widows under the patriarchal system was even pitiable

For example, in India, upper caste widows were required to shave their heads, wear no

ornaments, or colour garments as they were viewed with suspicion. They were women who had

deviated from the conventional norms of reproduction and had to be relegated to a lowly status

and position. They were identified as witches.

Patriarchy has been viewed as more than just the subordination of women. It has been pointed

out that not all men are powerful in a patriarchal system. For example, younger men in the

family have less authority and power than older men.

Despite this, that certain classes and category of men are the targets of patriarchal authority,

the fact remains that all men can claim resources and power more easily than women in their
 decide how many children they want, whether to use contraceptives, or a decision to terminate pregnancy.

This ideology of motherhood is considered one of the bases of women’s oppression. It also creates feminine

and masculine character types and perpetuates patriarchy. It restricts women’s mobility and it reproduces
What do men control in the Patriarchal System?
male dominance.

3. Control over Women’s Sexuality: Women are obliged to provide sexual services to their husbands according

to their needs and desires.

4. Women’s Mobility: Besides control of women’s sexuality, production and reproduction, men also control

women’s mobility. Ex: purdah restriction.

5. Property and other Economic Resources: Most property and other productive resources. This control over the

resources later gets translated into control over the production and reproduction of women.

Patriarchy in Different Stages of History

Patriarchy and Tribal Society: According to Lemer, "The first gender-defined role for women was that of the

"stand-in" wife, which became established and institutionalised for women of elite groups. This role gave such

women considerable power and privileges, but it depended on their attachment to elite men and based,

minimally, on their satisfactory performance in rendering these men's sexual and reproductive services. If a

woman failed to meet these demands, she was quickly replaced and thereby lost all her privileges and

standing.

Patriarchy and Agrarian Society : ”Patriarchy can best be understood as the reproduction of state hierarchy

within the family. A well-known example of this is the ptria potesta of the Roman Empire: the emperor rules the

empire; the father rules the home and the family. The father was clearly considered the emperor's

representative in the home; the emperor was the father's representative in the state. Similar kinds of ideology
Women's lack of knowledge of their own history of struggle and achievement has been
one of the major means of keeping them subordinate. Emergent women face a challenge
to her very definition of self. In stepping out of the constructs of patriarchal thought, she
Women's Acceptance of Patriarchal Thought
faces the threat of loss of communication with, approved by, and love from the man (or
the men) in her life. Withdrawal of love and the designation of thinking women as
"deviant" have historically been the means of discouraging women's intellect. With the
significance of the gender control, as a force restraining women from full participation in
the process of creating thought systems.

According to Lemer, "Revolution is always based on upgrading the experience of the

oppressed". The peasant had to learn to truth in the significance of his life experience
before he could dare to challenge the feudal lords. The industrial worker had to become
"class-conscious", the Black "race-conscious" before liberating thought could develop into
revolutionary theory.

If both men and women regard the subordination of women as "natural", it is impossible
to establish or envision a society in which differences do not connote either dominance or
subordination.

In developed countries, gender discrimination continues in employment and wages, with

women often getting less than two thirds of the employment opportunities and about half
the earnings of men. In developing countries, the great disparities, besides those in job
importance in maintaining caste distances. The caste hierarchies and distances are maintained through

the concept of selective exchange of women to a certain caste or castes. In this way the sexuality of

SEXUALITY OF WOMEN AND MALE

women gets connected with the larger social structure based on caste. Again the concept of hyper-gamy

DOMINANCE
and hypo-gamy demonstrates a strict control over the female sexuality. Hyper-gamy to some extent is

permitted where a man of higher caste can have union with a woman of lower caste but hypogamous

unions are strictly prohibited.

There are numerous such examples where honour killings took place in the name of such unaccepted

marital or love unions.

This exemplifies that the control over the sexuality of women becomes an instrument of reproducing caste

hierarchies

In this kind of control female sexuality gets attached with the honour of an entire village, caste,

community or family and any infringement over the same can bring a lot of dishonour to the entire group.

This kind of corporate control over the sexuality of women is also demonstrated by anthropologists like D.

N. Majumdar who in his monograph named ‘The Himalyan Polyandry’ on the people of Jaunsar Bawar

region of Dehradun documented fraternal polyandrous marriage alliance between a bride and all the

brothers of a household where the marriage gets solemnised. Here the main issue is related with the right

of access to the female sexuality which by such alliances gets restricted to the family or household as a

unit.

• Widow have to marry husband’s brother.

At the level of family, the sexuality of women is under the control of her brothers and father. Leela Dubey

explains this with the help of a very general yet powerful observation that brothers in the context of South Asian
An important point made by the socialist feminist Zillah Eisenstein in her edited volume Capitalist
Patriarchy and the case for Socialist Feminism, is to distinguish between the worker (whether man
or woman) under capitalism and the woman in the household. Workers are exploited in the

CAPITALIST PATRIARCHY
workplace (by the capitalist factory owner or the landlord) by paying them wages that are less than
the value of the labour they do, so that the surplus goes to the owner. However, most women are
dependent for their livelihood and security on a specific set of social relations, defined by marriage
and motherhood, and their daily work takes place in the context of these relations. In this situation
where women are working in the home but not being paid wages, the nature of their domination in
the household is similar and different to that of someone engaging in paid work.
This relationship is not very easy to define and has been called a relationship of patriarchal
oppression by feminists. It should be obvious why it is so difficult to name, because firstly, most
women do not think of themselves as workers, since they are not being paid a wage, and secondly,
because their labour is interwoven with notions of love, care and duty to the family – typically
towards their husband, children and others who may be living with them.
Should women then be paid just wages for this kind of work as a step forward? Or would this only
serve to further confine them to the home? Is the solution to transform housework in a social
activity, such as through collective kitchens, creches for children and so on, so that women no
longer have to undertake this kind of work alone and can be freed up like men to work elsewhere?
What about the domestic work of servants, who receive some of the worst wages ever to be paid to
a worker anywhere?
According to Walby, at present time, patriarchy has six relatively autonomous
structures.

Patriarchal Mode of Production

Patriarchal Relations in Paid Work

Patriarchal Relations in the State: the state, on its part, in its policies and actions are patriarchal
towards women.
Mother’s Brother (MB) and Mother’s Brother’s Son (MBS) holds immense importance in
MARRIAGE PATTERN
the life of women andAND THE INSTITUTIONALISATION
her children. OFBrother)
MyB (Mother’s younger PATRIARCHY ANDare
and MBS MALE

DOMINANCE
considered as prospective grooms for a woman’s daughter.

MB is also obliged to give expensive gifts during the life cycle rituals of his sister’s
children. This ceremonial gift is known as ‘sir’ which is considered to be a replacement for
a woman’s share in her parental property. Thus, it is both obligatory and woman’s share
in true sense in contrast with the institution of dowry and streedhan practiced among the
patrilineal groups.

Kate Millet in her work on Sexual Politics has tried to define patriarchy in two ways:

 Male dominating female and

 Older males dominating younger male and female.

A kind of hierarchy is set based on the notion of male dominance which is evident in the
form of bride takers having a superior status than the bride givers. This male dominance
and inequality gets reflected in certain marriage ceremonies like pao pooja (worshipping
the feet) of the groom which the father of the bride giver must perform. This reflects a
kind of ritual hierarchy.

The very process of giving birth to a male child places the woman on the bride takers
side. This is also the reason that even women long for a male child. The control of
 STRUCTURES OF PATRIARCHY
The Indian joint family is the "patriarchal family” and it was constituted by a group of persons
related in the male line and subject to absolute power of the senior most male member.
The differential access of men and women to the material and symbolic resources of society.
According to Gerda Lerner, family plays an important role in creating a hierarchical system as it
not only mirrors the order in the state and educates its children but also creates and constantly
reinforces that order. Family is therefore important for socializing the next generation in
patriarchal values. The boys learn to be dominating and aggressive and girls learn to be caring,
loving and submissive. These stereotypes of masculinity and femininity are not only social
constructs but also have been internalized by both men and women. While the pressure to earn
and look after the family is more on the man, the women are supposed to do the menial jobs and
take care of their children and even other members of the family.
Patriarchal constructions of knowledge perpetuate patriarchal ideology, and this is reflected in
educational institutions, knowledge system and media which reinforce male dominance.
through legends highlighting the self-sacrificing, self-effacing pure image of women and through ritual
practice which emphasized the dominant role of women as a faithful wife and devout mother.
Laws of Manu insist that since women by their very nature are disloyal they should be made
dependent on men. The husband should be constantly worshiped as a god, which symbolized that man
is a lord, master, owner, or provider and the shudras and women were the subordinates.
Similarly, caste and gender are closely related, and the sexuality of women is directly linked to the
question of purity of race. The caste system and caste endogamy retained control over the labour and
sexuality of women. Anuloma and pratiloma marriage by definition denigrate women. Caste not only
determines social division of labour but also sexual division of labour. Ideologically concepts of caste
purity of women to maintain patrilineal succession justified subordination of women. The prohibition of
sacred thread ceremony for both women and shudra, similar punishment for killing women and
shudra, denial of religious privileges are illustrations which indicate how caste and gender get
 STRUCTURES OF PATRIARCHY
Patriarchy idealises motherhood and thereby forces women to be mothers and
determines the conditions of their motherhood. Patriarchy restricts women’s
mobility and reproduces male dominance.

Uma Chakrawati argues that the establishment of private property and the need to
have caste purity required subordination of women and strict control over their
mobility and sexuality. Female sexuality was channelled into legitimate
motherhood within a controlled structure of reproduction to ensure patrilineal
succession.

• Devices to stabilise patriarchy: a.) Streedharma or pativaratadharama to live upto ideal

notion of women.

• b.) laws, customs as per the brahminical order which poses wife fidelity and chastity as
the highest duty of women.

• c.) State control and establishment of patriarchy

The term 'feminism' was first coined in 1837 by a French philosopher, Charles Fourier.
Though the goals and ambitions for each movement depended considerably on society,
FEMINISM
culture, and the wants and needs of women in that region.

Feminism is diverse and multifaceted grouping of ideas. Hence all feminists call for
change in social, cultural, religious, political and economic fields.

Feminism is an awareness of women’s oppression and exploitation in society at the place

of work and with the family and the conscious action to change this situation. Feminism
is an awareness of patrician control, exploitation and oppression of material and
ideological levels of women’s labour fertility and sexuality in the family, at the place of
work, and in society in general and conscious action by women and men to transfer the
present situation

Firstly, feminism is at attitude of mind which needs to be developed or cultivated among

men and women are society.

The second definition further states that this oppression takes place because of
patriarchal control. Hence awareness of women takes place at both level material and at
ideological level. This oppression may be done by men or by women for both the
definition all over the world.

There is general notion that feminist is against marriage, peaceful names and household
Scholars have divided the history of Western feminism into three ‘waves’.

The first wave in the 19th and early 20th century primarily focused on women’s voting rights.
Evolution of the Three Waves of Feminism
The second wave refers to the women’s liberation movement which began in the 1960’s and
was concerned with the legal and social equality of women. Black feminists felt that since the
second wave feminists were largely white, the feminism of the 1960s ended up universalizing
all women in terms of white feminism

The third wave, beginning in the 1990’s, builds on the apparent failures of second wave and
tries to address them.

The term ‘feminism’ initially referred to a group of white middle-class women in Europe and
America who protested against patriarchal oppression and the hierarchical male-female
binary structure of the society

The term ‘multicultural feminism’ was used first by Alison M. Jagger and Paula M. Rothenberg.
Multicultural feminism focuses on the significance of race, ethnicity and culture and how
these issues have been neglected in mainstream western feminist discourse.

Interestingly, bell hooks, the well-known feminist black critic comments that the flaw of
feminist discourse is its inability to arrive at definition(s) that could serve as points of
unification. This marks out the impossibility of solidarity between women across racial and
movement. In her magna carta, “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, Wollstonecraft advocates for equal opportunity for both men

and women. She emphasises that it is imperative that women are educated and made aware of their political and social rights in order

Liberal Feminism
to claim equal status at par with men. In the 19 century John Stuart Mill emerged as the leading scholar of Liberal Feminism and
th

advocated that women are required to participate equally and pro-actively in various societal affairs and hence strive for equality.

Liberal feminists advocated that women should not only be confined to the domestic domain and there should be equal opportunity for

them to participate in the public and political spheres of life. According to them patriarchy has confined women to the four walls of the

house and therefore they need to get liberated in order to come out of the clutches of patriarchy. Liberals attacked the myth that

women, because of their feminine behaviour are not suited for outside world and therefore they seek refuge and security within the

domestic sphere of life. However, Liberal Feminism is being criticised on the issue of being very individualistic and therefore totally

overlooking the structural, societal and familial basis for male dominance and patriarchy. Liberal feminists do not take a critical view of

family and are focused solely on capturing space and rights for individual women in the public domain. They are also being criticised

for being elitists since most of the rights gathered in this manner will be availed by the so-called upper class/caste women. Therefore,

this stream of feminism did not voice the concern of other differentially suppressed women on the

Liberal feminists aimed at the equality of men and women through reform without altering the structure of society.

Individualism means individual’s freedom to do what one wishes to do what one wishes to do without
interference from other. Feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft wrote in this a book called “Violation of the
rights of women”. The critical theme of the book is “women are first and foremost human being rational
creatures and not sexual being. They can govern themselves by reason. Hence, if women are to be
denied natural right, then it must be proved that they are not rational creature

• Classical Liberalism: expects the state to concentrate on protecting the civil liberties of each citizen, and

without interfering with the free market, to provide all individuals with an equal opportunity to function
within that market. Gender is a social construct. If men were being se cages as women, they would
develop sam concerns.

• Welfare liberalism: positive intervention.

Marxist Feminism that deals with the issue of origin of patriarchy and male

Marxist
dominance. Marxist feminists are of the view that patriarchy originated with the
origin of private property. It is with the emergence of private ownership of property
and its transfer through the male line of descent that patriarchy as a social structure
was born. They also relate the concept of patriarchy with the capitalist mode of
production. However they have been criticised for just adding the issue of gender to
their already existing framework of class oppression. They are also silent on the
issue of women oppression before the advent of private property. There are
empirical evidences that point to the fact that women oppression and male
dominance was present even before the advent of private property. Claude Levi-
Strauss observed that the exchange of women is the basic form of exchange and it
took place because of some taboo on incestuous relationships (sexual relations
between close relatives like father and daughter, brother and sister, mother and son
etc.) in each society. This kind of taboo required that women be acquired from a
group outside one’s own and thus clan, lineage, village exogamy originated. This
gave rise to the manipulation of female sexuality and hence the emergence of male
dominance.

socialist feminists found a link between the oppression of women and their
explain the origin of patriarchy and male dominance through the notion of female sexuality and its
manipulation by the male. They are of the view that biologically women are different from men. This is
the basic fact recognised by this brand of feminism. This biological difference defines the role of women
Radical feminism
as child bearers. This biological role is however translated and interpreted as related to the notion of
“motherhood” which defines the role of mother in terms of both child bearing and child rearing. They are
of the view that biology alone is not responsible for such skewed power relations between male and
female, but their cultural interpretation is responsible for the same. ‘Gendering of sex’ takes place in the

socio-cultural context. In other words, the control of male over the reproductive capacity of female is the
root cause of patriarchy.

Sheila Jeffrey, one of the revolutionary feminist puts her point on the origin of patriarchy by saying that
there are basically two systems of class that operate in a society:

 The class based on and originating from the relations of production and

 The class that is based on and originates from the relation of reproduction.

It is the second system of class that is responsible for women subordination and patriarchy. Similarly,
Finella McKenzie argued that the first kind of division of labour was between men and women and it
originated from women’s reproductive capacity and men’s greater strength. This made women
dependent on men and thus gave rise to unequal power distribution. However, she also writes that it is
not only because of this differential reproductive capacity that subordinates women, but this biological
differentiation is turned into psychological dependency by men and the social structure. This stream of
feminism is however criticised for being biological determinist and reductionist. It also does not provide
any alternative to end patriarchy or improve the condition of women. They advocate that women should
• Socialist, New Feminist Schools/Traditions
slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her

infant daughter to freedom in 1826.

The first wave of the feminist History

movement inof
theFeminism
United in the West
States began in the 1840’s as women opposed to slavery,

including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, drew

parallels between the oppression of African Americans and

the oppression of women. They also sought equality in

property rights and changes in the marriage relationship.

They are mostly known for their efforts for suffrage or

voting rights for women. The Seneca Falls convention

(1848) began the social movement by which women

finally won the right to vote in 1920. But other

disadvantages persisted, and a second wave of feminism

arose in the 1960s and continues today.

Some of the most influential works of the second wave are

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (which was

actually published in 1949 but gained its popularity during

this time), The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and

Sexual Politics by Kate Millett. The second wave has often

been accused of catering to the needs of the upper

middle-class white women and sometimes of biological

essentialism.

Beginning in the late 1960s, women’s health became a primary

concern of feminist activists throughout Canada. Women’s

liberationists located in Vancouver were particularly active. In

the French Revolution through the Second Republic and Third

Republic, with significant contributions stemming from the

revolutionary movements of the French Revolution of 1848 and

ORIGINS OF FEMINISM IN THE FRANCE

Paris Commune, culminating in winning the right to vote in

1944

In November 1789, at the very beginning of the French

Revolution, the Women's Petition was addressed to the

National Assembly but not discussed. Although various

feminist movements emerged during the Revolution, most

politicians followed Rousseau's theories as outlined in Emile,

which confined women to the roles of mother and spouse. The

philosopher Condorcet was a notable exception who advocated

equal rights for both sexes.

In 1791, Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the

Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. This was a letter

addressed to Queen Marie Antoinette which requested actions

in favour of women's rights. Gouges was guillotined two years

later, days after the execution of the Girondins.

• a Appel d'une femme au peuple sur l'affranchissement de la

femme ("Appeal of a woman to the people on the enfranchisement

of women") which calls for the application to women of the

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

The Bourbon Restoration re-established the prohibition of

divorce in 1816. When the July Monarchy restricted the

Women's Union. The association demanded gender equality, wage equality, right of divorce for women,

and right to secular and professional education for girls. They also demanded suppression of the

distinction between married women and concubines, between legitimate and natural children, the

abolition of prostitution in closing the maisons de tolérance, or legal official brothels.

The Suffragettes

In 1909, French noblewoman and feminist Jeanne Elizabeth Schmahl founded the French Union for

Women's Suffrage to advocate for women's right to vote in France.

Despite some cultural changes following World War I, which had resulted in women replacing the male

workers who had gone to the front, they were known as the Années folles and their exuberance was

restricted to a very small group of female elites. Victor Margueritte's La Garçonne, depicting an

emancipated woman, was seen as scandalous and caused him to lose his Légion d'honneur.

During the Third Republic, the suffragettes movement championed the right to vote for women, but did

not insist on the access of women to legislative and executive offices.

Despite this campaign and the new role of women following World War I, the Third Republic declined to

grant them voting rights, mainly because of fear of the influence of clericalism among them, echoing the

conservative vote of rural areas for Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte during the Second Republic. After the 1936

Popular Front victory, although he had defended voting rights for women (a proposition included in the

program of the French Section of the Workers' International party since 1906), left-wing Prime Minister

Léon Blum did not implement the measure, because of the fear of the Radical-Socialist Party.

Women obtained the right to vote only after the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF)

confirmed, on 5 October 1944, the ordinance of 21 April 1944 of the French Committee of National
th st
Post-war Period

Women were not allowed to become judges in France until 1946.

During the baby boom period, feminism became a minor movement, despite forerunners such as Simone de Beauvoir, who

published The Second Sex in 1949. Second-wave Feminism

The Second Sex is a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. It sets out

a feminist existentialism which prescribes a moral revolution. As an existentialist, de Beauvoir accepted Jean-Paul Sartre's

precept that existence precedes essence; hence "one is not born a woman, but becomes one".

She argues that women have historically been considered deviant and abnormal, and contends that even Mary

Wollstonecraft considered men to be the ideal toward which women should aspire. De Beauvoir argues that for feminism to

move forward, this attitude must be set aside.

Married French women obtained the right to work without their husband's consent in 1965. The Neuwirth Law legalized birth

control in 1967, but the relative executive decrees were blocked for a couple years by the conservative government.

May 1968 and its Aftermath

A strong feminist movement would only emerge in the aftermath of May 1968, with the creation of the Mouvement de

libération des femmes (Women's Liberation Movement, MLF), allegedly by Antoinette Fouque, Monique Wittig and Josiane

Chanel in 1968. The name itself was given by the press, in reference to the US Women's Lib movement. In the frame of the

cultural and social changes that occurred during the Fifth Republic, they advocated the right of autonomy from their

husbands, and the rights to contraception and to abortion.

The paternal authority of a man over his family in France was ended in 1970 (before those parental responsibilities belonged

solely to the father who made all legal decisions concerning the children).

From 1970, the procedures for the use of the title "Mademoiselle" were challenged in France, particularly by feminist groups

who wanted it banned. A circular from François Fillon, then Prime Minister, dated 21 February 2012, called for the deletion of
st

the word "Mademoiselle" in all official documents. On 26 December 2012, the Council of State approved the deletion.
th
other hand, a "third wave" of the feminist movement arose,

combining the issues of sexism and racism, protesting the

perceived Islamophobic instrumentalization of feminism by the

Third-wave Feminism
French Right.

Some criticized the racist stigmatization of immigrant

populations, whose cultures are depicted as inherently sexist.

Wars (both World War I and World War II) had seen the

provisional emancipation of some, individual, women, but post-

war periods signalled the return to conservative roles. For

instance, Lucie Aubrac, who was active in the French

Resistance—a role highlighted by Gaullist myths— returned to

private life after the war. Thirty-three women were elected at

the Liberation, but none entered the government, and the

euphoria of the Liberation was quickly halted.

Women retained a low profile during the Fourth and Fifth

Republic. In 1949, Jeanne-Paule Sicard was the first female

chief of staff, but was called "Mr. Pleven's (then Minister of

Defence) secretary."

The leftist newspaper Libération, founded in 1973 by Jean-Paul

Sartre, would depict Marie-France Garaud as yet another figure

of female spin-doctors. However, the new role granted to the

President of the Republic in the semi-presidential regime of the

Fifth Republic after the 1962 referendum on the election of the

President at direct universal suffrage, led to a greater role of

the "First Lady of France". Although Charles de Gaulle's wife

Yvonne remained out of the public sphere, the image of Claude

Robert Owen initiated a movement for social reorganisation. Feminist movement took support of this change.

The stereotype of the Victorian gentle lady became unacceptable and even intolerable. The first organised

movement for British women's suffrage was the Langham Place Circle of the 1850s, led by Barbara Bodichon

ORIGINS OF FEMINISM IN BRITAIN

(née Leigh-Smith) and Bessie Rayner Parkes. They also campaigned for improved female rights in the law,

employment, education, and marriage.

On June 7, 1866 a petition from 1,499 women calling for women’s suffrage was presented to the Parliament, but

it also did not succeed.

Florence Nightingale demonstrated the necessity of professional nursing and warfare, and set up an educational

system that tracked women into that field in the second half of the nineteenth century. Teaching was not quite

as easy to break into, but the low salaries were less of the barrier to the single woman than to the married man.

By the late 1860s a number of schools were preparing women for careers as governesses or teachers.

Oxford and Cambridge minimized the role of women, allowing small all-female colleges to operate. However, the

new redbrick universities and the other major cities were open to women.

One route to entry was to go to the United States where there were suitable schools for women as early as 1850.

Britain was the last major country to train women physicians, so 80 to 90% of the British women came to

America for their medical degrees.

Coeducation had to wait until the World War.

Child custody: Before 1839 after divorce rich women lost control of their children as those children would

continue in the family unit with the father, as head of the household, and who continued to be responsible for

them.
Parliament in the 1860s in the Contagious Diseases Acts ("CD") adopted the French system of licensed

prostitution. The "regulationist policy" was to isolate, segregate, and control prostitution

Young women officially became prostitutes and were trapped for life in the system. After a nationwide crusade

led by Josephine Butler and the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts,

Parliament repealed the acts in 1886 and ended legalised prostitution.

A series of four laws each called the Married Women's Property Act passed Parliament from 1870 to 1893 that

effectively removed the restrictions that kept wealthy married women from controlling their own property.

In 1906, the Daily Mail first coined the term "suffragettes" as a form of ridicule, but the term was quickly

embraced in Britain by women who used militant tactics in the cause of women's suffrage.

The radical protests slowly became more violent, and included heckling, banging on doors, smashing shop

windows, and arson. Emily Davison, a WSPU member, unexpectedly ran onto the track during the 1913 Epsom

Derby and died under the King's horse.

The First World War advanced the feminist cause, as women's sacrifices and paid employment were much

appreciated. Prime Minister David Lloyd George was clear about how important the women were:

It would have been utterly impossible for us to have waged a successful war had it not been for the skill and

ardour, enthusiasm and industry which the women of this country have thrown into the war.

The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, 1919 received Royal Assent on 23 December 1919. The basic purpose of the act was, as
rd

stated in its long title, "to amend the Law with respect to disqualification on account of sex",
Despite women being admitted to the House of Commons from 1918, Mackworth, a Viscountess in her own right, spent a lifetime

fighting to take her seat in the House of Lords against bitter opposition, a battle which only achieved its goal in the year of her

death.

Reproductive Rights

In 1803 the United Kingdom enacted Lord Ellenborough's Act, making abortion after quickening a capital crime, and providing

lesser penalties for the felony of abortion before quickening.

Annie Besant was tried in 1877 for publishing Charles Knowlton's Fruits of Philosophy, a work on family planning, under the

Obscene Publications Act 1857.

In 1929, the Infant Life (Preservation) Act, 1929 was enacted; it created the offence of child destruction. It also amended the law

so that an abortion carried out in good faith, for the sole purpose of preserving the life of the mother, would not be an offence.

In 1938, Dr. Aleck Bourne aborted the pregnancy of a young girl who had been raped by soldiers. Bourne was acquitted after

turning himself in to authorities.

1950s - 21 Century
st

Emphasis was placed on companionate marriage.

While at the end of the war, childcare facilities were closed and assistance for working women became limited, the social reforms

implemented by the new welfare state included family allowances meant to subsidize families, that is, to support women in the

“capacity as wife and mother.” Sue Bruley argues that “the progressive vision of the New Britain of 1945 was flawed by a

fundamentally conservative view of women”.

Feminist writers of that period, such as Alva Myrdal and Viola Klein, started to allow for the possibility that women should be able

to combine home with outside employment. 1950s’ form of feminism is often derogatorily termed “welfare feminism.” Indeed,

many activists went to great length to stress that their position was that of ‘reasonable modern feminism,’
full B rate received by men. At the time, it was common practice for companies to pay women less than men,

The 1968 strike was a trigger cause of the passing of the Equal Pay Act, 1970.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected people from discrimination on

the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassment, the provision of goods and

services, and the disposal of premises. The Gender Recognition Act, 2004 and The Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 (Amendment)

Regulations, 2008 were amended parts of this Act to apply to transsexual peop

R v R UKHL is a court judgment delivered in 1991, in which the House of Lords determined that under English criminal law it is

possible for a husband to rape his wife.

21 Century
st

The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 (c.2) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the Act

was to exempt the selection of candidates in parliamentary elections from the provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the

Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 that outlaw sexual discrimination.

The purposes of the Act allow political parties to select candidates based on gender in an effort to increase representation of women

in British politics.

The Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2003 and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act, 2005 made it an offence to

arrange FGM outside the country for British citizens or permanent residents, whether or not it is lawful in the country to which the

girl is taken. The first prosecutions took place in 2015

In April 2012 after being sexually harassed on London public transport English journalist Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism

Project, a website which documents everyday examples of sexism experienced by contributors from around the world. The site

quickly became successful and a book compilation of submissions from the project was published in 2014.

Sisters Uncut was founded in 2014 to take direct action in response to cuts to domestic violence services by the UK government,

which has included demonstrating against cuts at the 7 October London premiere of the 2015 film Suffragette. Sisters Uncut
intellectual Gloria Jean Watkins (who uses the pseudonym

"bell hooks") who argues that this movement glossed over

race and class and thus failed to address "the issues that
FEMINISM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
divided women." She highlighted the lack of minority voices in

the women's movement in her book Feminist Theory from

Margin to Centre.

First-wave Feminism

The first wave of feminism in the United States began with

the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights

convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New

York, on July 19 and 20, 1848.

This Convention was inspired by the fact that in 1840, when

Elizabeth Cady Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-

Slavery Convention in London, the conference refused to seat

Mott and other women delegates from America because of

their gender.

In the convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was signed,

which stated, "We hold these truths to be self- evident, that

all men and women are created equal and endowed by their

creator with certain inalienable rights."

In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed

the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for

white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of

suffrage for all. In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was

booth in Battle Creek, Michigan, demanding a ballot; she was turned away. Also in 1872, Victoria

Woodhull became the first woman to run for president, although she could not vote and only

received a few votes, losing to Ulysses S. Grant.

Second-wave Feminism

In 1963 Betty Friedan, influenced by The Second Sex, wrote the bestselling book The Feminine

Mystique in which she explicitly objected to the mainstream media image of women, stating that

placing women at home limited their possibilities, and wasted talent and potential.

Also in 1963, freelance journalist Gloria Steinem gained widespread popularity among feminists

after a diary she authored while working undercover as a Playboy Bunny waitress at the Playboy

Club was published as a two-part feature in the May and June issues of Show. The feature was "A

Bunny's Tale" (Part I and Part II). Steinem alleged the club was mistreating its waitresses in order to

gain male customers and exploited the Playboy Bunnies as symbols of male chauvinism, noting

that the club's manual instructed the Bunnies that "there are many pleasing ways they can employ

to stimulate the club's liquor volume."

The movement grew with legal victories such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil

The criminalization of marital rape in the United States started in the mid-1970s and by 1993

marital rape became a crime in all 50 states,

The feminist movement in the late 1970s, led by NOW, briefly attempted a program to help older

divorced and widowed women. Many widows were ineligible for Social Security benefits, few

divorcees actually received any alimony, and after a career as a housewife, few had skills to enter
Supreme Court, of sexual harassment. Thomas denied the accusations and, after
extensive debate, the United States Senate voted 52–48 in favour of Thomas.

feminists sought to question, reclaim, and redefine the ideas, words, and media that
have transmitted ideas about gender, gender roles, womanhood, beauty, and
sexuality, among other things. Third-wave feminism saw many new feminist icons
such as Madonna, Queen Latifah, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson,

Fourth-wave Feminism

associated with the use of social media. According to feminist scholar Prudence
Chamberlain, the focus of the fourth wave is justice for women and opposition to
sexual harassment and violence against women. Its essence, she writes, is
"incredulity that certain attitudes can still exist".

Criticisms

Critics of mainstream feminist discourse point to the white-washed historical

narrative that omits

The General Motors Corporation had never hired a Black woman for its workforce
until 1964 because this was the year of the Civil rights Act was passed through
 Feminism in Socialist
A socialist country is a country where the government or the public as a

countries
whole has control over the economy. In a socialist country, the producing and
dispersing of goods is owned by the government. Socialism is placed in
between capitalism and communism.

Denmark has a reputation of being "open" with regards to sexuality, perhaps

due to historical factors, such as being the first country to abolish
censorship and legalize pornography in 1967.

 Women in Finland enjoy a "high degree of equality" and

"traditional courtesy" among men. In 1906, the women of Finland became
the first women in Europe to be granted the right to vote.

 Feminism in the Netherlands began as part of the first-wave

feminism movement during the 19th century. Feminist activity continues in
the Netherlands, and gender equality continues to be a topic of discussion
in organizations, and in the media.

 Black women in Canada established a national women's organization

Prior to the 20th century, women in China were considered essentially different from men.
Despite the association of women with yin and men with yang, two qualities considered equally
important by Daoism, women were believed to occupy a lower position than men in the

China
hierarchical order of the universe. The I Ching stated that "Great Righteousness is shown in that
man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth."

The situation only began to change as result of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. In course of this
widespread uprising against the ruling Qing dynasty, several women rebel units were raised
such as Wu Shuqing's Women's Revolutionary Army,

All these units are disbanded by the Provisional Government of the Republic of China on 26 th
February 1912, mostly for chauvinistic reasons. Nevertheless, the fact that they had fought
alongside men encouraged many of the women who had taken part in the women militias to
become politically active, striving for change.

In 2001, China amended its marriage law, so that abuse was considered grounds for divorce.

In 2005, China added new provisions to the Law on Women's Right Protection to include sexual
harassment. In 2006 "The Shanghai Supplement" was drafted to help further define sexual
harassment in China.

In 2013, the first woman to bring a gender discrimination lawsuit in China, a 23-year-old who
went by the pseudonym of Cao Ju, won a small settlement of 30,000 yuan and an official
apology from the Juren Academy.

In 2015, China enacted its first nationwide law prohibiting domestic violence, although it
most of the
Feminist leaders
Issues in Chinese feminism movements are men not women, while in
in China
western countries, women are the main sponsors of movements for Woman's
Rights.

Li Xiaojiang is often credited as the founder of women's studies in China. Her 1983 essay
"Progress of Mankind and Women's Liberation" (Renlei jinbu yu funü jiefang) was the first
women's studies publication in China; the Association of Women's Studies was founded two
years later.

One-child policy:

Sexuality in China:

Domestic Violence: a 2005 American Journal of Public Health report found that 1 out of 5

Chinese women had experienced physical violence from their partner in the past year.
Although China acknowledged that domestic violence was a problem in the 1930s, it has only
become a visible issue in the past few decades due to economic and social changes in the
1980s.

• LGBTQIA+ rights: Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in China since 1997. Additionally,

in 2001, homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness. However, China possesses no

2015, women hold 48.9% of the parliamentary seats in the Cuban National Assembly ranking sixth of 162

countries on issues of female participation in political life.

In 1933, during the 100-day government of Ramón Grau, Cuban women received the vote. In 1934, the

FEMINISM IN CUBA
percentages of Cuban women working outside the home, attending school, and practicing birth control

surpassed the corresponding percentages in nearly every other Latin American country.

Cuban constitution of 1940 is one of the most progressive in the western hemisphere.

During the Cuban Revolution, women were mobilized and obtained unparalleled rights compared to the rest of

Latin America. For example, they were able to obtain the 1975 Cuban Family Code. This code outlawed

discrimination against women and girls, even with in the family.

Even though Cuban women achieved a lot of parity during the Cuban Revolution, there was still a lot of disparity

prevalent in Cuban society.

Some examples are:

"During the 1990s, when subsidies from the Soviet Union ended, the maintenance of social

services often fell back on women as mothers, wives, and caregivers, indicative that Cuba had not fully

equalized gender responsibilities."

Women only held one-quarter of high-level administrative positions in government.

"This persistence of women's inequality in the political arena was apparent in the speculation

over who was to succeed Fidel Castro as head of state, when he became ill in 2006. Of the 12- 15 names

mentioned, which included the inner circles of Cuba's leadership, not one was a woman.

. As per the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal, women represent 42% of the labour force

participation.
 career-paths (including politics) as well as income inequality and a greater burden of household work.

.
FEMINISM IN ERSTWHILE USSR
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, feminist circles arose among the intelligentsia, though the term

continues to carry negative connotations among contemporary Russians. In the 21 century some Russian feminists, such as
st

the punk-rock band Pussy Riot, have again aligned themselves with revolutionary anti-government movements, as in the

2012 demonstrations against President Vladimir Putin, which led to a lawyer representing the Russian Orthodox Church

calling feminism a "mortal sin".

In his influential novel What is to be Done?, the writer Nikolai Chernyshevski embodied the new feminist ideas in the novel's

heroine, Vera Pavlovna, who dreams of a future utopian society with perfect equality among the sexes.

Notable Russian intellectual figures like Alexander Pushkin and Alexander Herzen wrote positively about the increased power and

independence of women in their society and supported the growing concern for gender equality.

• 19th century

The male Decembrists were a group of aristocratic revolutionaries who in 1825 were convicted of plotting to overthrow Emperor

Nicholas I, and many of whom were sentenced to serve in labor camps in Siberia. Though the wives, sisters, and mothers of the

Decembrist men shared the same liberal democratic political views as their male relatives, they were not charged with treason

because they were women; however, 11 of them, including Sheremeteva and Princess Mariya Volkonskaya, still chose to

accompany their husbands, brothers, and sons to the labor camps. Though they were portrayed as heroes in popular culture, the

Decembrist women insisted that they were simply doing their duty to their family.

In his later years, Leo Tolstoy argued against the traditional institution of marriage, comparing it to forced prostitution and slavery,

a theme that he also touched on in his novel Anna Karenina. In his plays and short stories, Anton Chekhov portrayed a variety of

working female protagonists, from actresses to governesses, who sacrificed social esteem and affluence for the sake of financial

and personal independence;

The 1917 Revolution, catalyzed in part by women workers' demonstrations, generated a surge of membership in the organization.

Vladimir Lenin, who led the Bolsheviks to power in the October Revolution, recognized the importance of women's equality in the

Soviet Union (USSR) they established. "To effect [woman's] emancipation and make her the equal of man," he wrote in 1919,
The Revolution and Soviet Era
In practice, Russian women saw mixed gains in their rights under Communism. Women's suffrage was granted, though voting

meant little in Soviet society owing to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. This monopoly also meant that many

independent feminist organizations and journals were shut down. Abortion was legalized in 1920, making the Soviet Union the

first country to do so; however, it was banned again between 1936 and 1955. Generous maternity leave was legally required, and

a national network of child-care centres was established. The country's first constitution recognized the equal rights of women.

• 1970s: There were also double standards in social norms and expectations. "A man can fool around with other women, drink,

even be lackadaisical toward his job, and this is generally forgiven," wrote Hedrick Smith, former Russian correspondent for The

New York Times, but "if a woman does the same things, she is criticized for taking a light-hearted approach toward her marriage

and her work." I

Pre-Revolution Russia was a very backwards country that was far behind in industrialization and politics. Most other European

countries were experimenting with constitutions and democracy yet Russia still had serfdom and strong nobility. The industrial

class rose up multiple times finally during World War I they won and Lenin took power and created Soviet communism, this

liberated women and gave them opportunities to pursue careers as doctors and engineers along with many other professions.

In 1918 legislature was created to try to weaken marriage and the family to create a unified society focused on the country not

the family. The ability to perform marriages was taken away from the church and given solely to the state.

• Women were paid less than man.

Under Lenin, divorce was made much easier. Abortion was also legalised. This is because of a Marxist belief that marriage was a

bourgeois institution, and that women were to be "freed from the bondage of children and family". This did not last too long

however

Lenin) soon came to question its previous decisions. By the late 1930s, divorce rates in the Soviet Union were the highest in
Stalin also noticed that there were a great number of orphaned children living on the streets,

USSR..
formed into gangs. This further caused Stalin to recreate the importance of the family in the
Soviet Union.

In June 1936, he reversed much of the social policy regarding women which had been written
under Lenin, importantly:

 Marriages now had to be registered to be recognised  Divorce was once again made difficult

 Abortion rights were restricted

 The family was declared the "basis of Soviet society"  Homosexuality was made illegal

• As birthrates were falling after WWII:

Divorce was made even harder

 Abortion was made totally illegal

 Mothers with more than two children were declared "heroines of the revolution"

 Parents with fewer than two children face heavier taxes

 The right to inherit family property (restricted under Lenin) was re-established.

1936, Stalin created a "Housewives' Movement" which was charged with "civilising the tastes"
and improving the working conditions of women, but in actual fact the USSR was so rapt on its
war economy that the group received little attention.

Women did become better represented in the workforce, largely due to a lack of men because
of the war. In 1936, there were 9 million women in the industrial workforce of the USSR. By
FEMINIST ISSUES AND WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN INDIA