Essay On Liberal Feminism

When discussing the different feminist theories, it is highly important to define feminism. Whenever we discuss feminism often or not, patriarchy is brought to the table. Looking through the lenses of women today; we notice different situations because of the diversity among ourselves (women in this case). Skin color, gender, sexual orientation, religion and nationality all play a huge role in the discussion of what connects women to each other. We will be taking a look at how patriarchy infiltrates most of the legal, social and political channels. As most would guess, there are common grounds between different feminist schools of thought. Liberal feminism and radical feminism can be very different than one another yet at the same time look towards accomplishing the same goal. The only difference is how to get there. It is as Wollstonecraft said, “Who made men the exclusive judge, if women partake with him the gift of reason.” (Doing Feminist Theory) Liberal feminists generally believe in the equality of women throughout the social means (legislative, employment, etc.). Men are seen and hold more rights and power than women do, without doubt a trend that has continued until now, liberal feminists seek to reform equality through the already established system. Liberal feminists of the 17th, 18th, and 19th century emphasized that equality should be given to all citizens no matter what gender they are in regards to education, the right to vote, employment and wage gaps. Not many feminists today realize that Liberal feminists (in the past) fought for the right to terminate pregnancies and other private rights, which would put women on equal footing with men. To put it simply, it is as Lisa Simpson said in The Simpsons, “Okay I’m a liberal. And sometimes that is a dirty word. But what liberal really means, is someone who believes that those who have more than enough should share a little with those who don’t.” Historically, Liberal feminism can be found rooted in the Age of Enlightenment. Generally, liberals support such thoughts as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, religion, etc. The Age of Reason was a cultural movement dependent on intellectuals in Europe who emphasized reason and individual rights rather than tradition. We can make a case that Liberalism is a political philosophy, which is more than what some have labeled it. Liberal feminism was most popular in the 1950’s and 60’s when many Civil Right manners were taking place. The main belief of Liberal feminism is that all people are created equal and deserve equal rights. Questions were asked such as, were women of color included during the Suffrage movement? Was this including men of color while White middle class women were fighting for the right to vote? So how could we define Liberal feminism so that everyone could understand what it means? Well, Liberal feminism is rooted in the idea that women as well as men hold certain …show more content…
The tradition concept of feminism had been ignored by Liberal feminism because it just so happens to be that women are far more oppressed than men in societies around the globe. Earlier, we quoted from Mary Wollstonecraft. Her writing is considered one of the greatest works in the field of Liberal feminism. The basis of equality between men and women is rooted from rational reasoning that women have the same mental aptitude as males. Liberal feminism says women should have the right to choose. Women are sensible human beings just like men (giving both sexes the same rights). One area of difference between liberal feminism and radical feminism is that liberal feminists wouldn’t push for liberation of behalf of all women (necessarily), but instead push towards giving women equal rights (on an individual basis) in relation to the status and individual rights men hold. In summary, Liberal feminists are reformers and use legislation to gather force. Legislation if passed demands equal opportunities and rights for women, including minimizing the wage gap and equal access to jobs. The belief liberal feminists hold is by removing these roadblocks it would challenge patriarchy (thus liberating women). Even though all these are positive aspects, what were the criticisms of Liberal feminism? Some of them include (taken from page 75 and 76 in Doing Feminist