Feminist Theory

Introduction

Since the beginning of time women have been considered inferior to men, which seem to proceed to affect everyday lives of all social beings in this world. Women have a disease, a disease that will prevent them for ever having the political drive to achieve political, social or economic opportunities men have. This "disease" is the need for independency and self-respect or the lack there of. This is what we have come to know as feminism. Feminism refers to the body of thought on the cause and nature of women's disadvantaged and subordinate position in society, and efforts to minimize and eliminate the subordination (Hughes, 2002:160). Understanding that the need for independency and self-respect is not a real disease, it is just a metaphor for how women go about trying to achieve them. "For nearly one hundred and fifty years, women have fought for equality and been oppressed by men, and no matter what they do, they will never be considered equals" (Hughes, 2002:161). Feminism focuses on the relations between genders and how both male and female become classified as distinct groups rather than a team united as one.

The preceding was what feminists and historians want us believe, however, this is not always the case and quite possibly, it has never been the case. For some reason feminism became an international phenomenon. The feminist theory is fairly comparable to this explanation and determinedly claims that the basic structure of society is patriarchal, or male-dominated. The purpose of this paper is to prove that society has changed for women, but women have not changed for society. Women of today have not fought for anything, but they have simply protested their demands and expected society to cater them. This will continue to be true for as long as society takes sympathy upon women and their "needs."

Historical Development of Feminist Theory

Both Third World leaders and Western development specialists assumed that Western development policies would position fragile Third World economics for a "take-off." Few questioned whether this prosperity would extend equally to all classes, races, and gender groups. Ester Boserup's (1970) Women's Role in Economic Development investigated the impact of development projects on Third World women. Boserup discovered that most of these projects ignored women and that many technologically sophisticated projects undermined women's economic opportunities and autonomy (1970:4). Training in new technologies was usually offered to men, which meant that most "modern" projects improved male opportunities and technology and employment. Boserup's study seriously challenged the argument that benefits from development projects would automatically "trickle-down" to women and other disadvantaged groups in Third World nations (1970:8). Women involved with development issues in the United States lobbied to bring this evidence to the attention of policymakers. These women challenged the assumption that modernization would automatically increase gender equality.

The first formal dating of feminism began in the 1630s, for example Abigail Adams' famous "Remember the Ladies" letter to her husband has been referred to in numerous histories of women's rights in America (Rossi, 1973). The high points of feminist activity and writing occurred in the liberationist moments of modern Western history. According to Sheila Rowbotham, "feminism came, like socialism, out of the tangled, confused response of men and women to capitalism"(Kandal, 1998). In the 1780s and the 1790s, there were debates surrounding the American and French Revolution. The problems surrounding the American and French Revolution causes chaos and disorder to spread rapidly through society, especially in France. As a result, women were subjected to a double oppression, at home as well as in the workplace (Kandal, 1998). The chaos and disorder gave women the initiative to fight for their rights.

According to Kandal (1990:10) the Enlightenment and the French Revolution provided the political activity in which expresses them. A more organized effort in the 1850s served as part of the mobilization against slavery and fir political rights for the middle class. The Akron Convention, where Sojourner Truth gave her amazing speech "Ain't I a Woman", is an example of the (Rossi, 1973). Other events that helped to develop the Feminist Theory were massive mobilization for women's suffrage and for industrial and civic reform legislation in the early twentieth century, especially the Progressive Era in the United States ( Ritzer, 2000). In the intervals between those periods, feminism became far less visible, essentially because dominant groups deliberately tried to repress it (Spender, 1982). According to Kandal (1998: 12), men were against feminism because they were afraid that women were equal to them, the family would become dysfunctional.

Intellectual Roots of Feminist Theory

There are numerous men and women who have contributed to the development of the Feminist Theory from the early sixteenth century to the twenty first century. Dorothy E. Smith contributed a lot to the feminist theory. Her work offers sociological alternative to feminist post modernism, and post-structuralism (Ritzer, 1996). Smith also focuses on the concept of ruling apparatuses in which more women are needed to participate in such as government and the presidency. According to Smith, the ruling apparatus is viewed as an organization of class in which minorities are excluded. Jesse Bernard is another person who contributed a great deal to the Feminist Theory. Bernard's interest in women's lives illustrates her ability to rethink core concerns within new intellectual contexts (Ritzer, 1996). Feminist Arlie Russell Hochschild developed the sociology of emotions (Jaggar and Rothenberg 1993).

She focused on emotions such grief, contempt, envy, depression, guilt, anger, and fear. Her theory uncovered that males have learned to repress and deny their female qualities in order to achieve their individual male identity and to qualities in order to achieve their individual male identity and to have underdeveloped relational capacity and view that which is feminine as inferior (Jaggar and Rothenberg, 1993). Patricia Hill Collins focuses on the intersection of race, social class, and gender in understanding the experiences of African-American women based on literature about them and by them (Jaggar and Rothenberg, 1993). Judith Sargent Murry, wrote an essay untitled "On the Equality of Sexes", which

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