Background Information
Feminist political philosophy is an area of philosophy that focuses on understanding and critiquing the way political philosophy is usually construed and on articulating how political theory might be reconstructed in a way that advances feminist concerns. Feminist political theory combines aspects of both feminist theory and political theory in order to take a feminist approach to traditional questions withinHistory
Pre-History
The earliest origins of feminist political theory can be traced back into texts written by women about women’s abilities and their protesting about women’s exclusion and subordination. Some key primary texts include: Christiane de Pizan's 1450 "The Book of the City of Ladies", which was written in praise of women and as a defense of their capabilities and virtues in order to combat against misogynist male writing. Mary Astell's 1694 "A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest," argues that women who do not intend to marry should use their dowries to finance residential women's colleges to provide the recommended education for upper- and middle-class women. Olympe de Gouges's 1791 "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen", which stated that women, like their male counterparts, have natural, inalienable, and sacred rights. Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", which argues that the educational system deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable and that if girls were allowed the same advantages as boys, women would be not only exceptional wives and mothers but also capable workers. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1898 "Women and Economics", which argues that the economic independence and specialization of women is essential to the improvement of marriage. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, argues that every woman needs a room of her own, a luxury that men are able to enjoy without question, in order have the time and the space to engage in uninterrupted writing time. Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex", which exposed the power dynamics surrounding womanhood and laid the foundation for subsequent feminist theories exposing women's social subjugation.Women's Rights Movement (1800s - early 1900s)
Women's involvement in the women's right movement began mostly as a part of the international movement to abolish slavery. During this, the women participating sought equal political rights with men, namely the right to vote. They also countered the societal norms of women as being weak, irrational and unable to participate in politics by arguing against the cult of domesticity that women were entitled to the same civil and political rights. Furthermore, the members of the suffrage movement worked for women’s rights to divorce, rights to inheritance, rights to matriculate into colleges and universities, and more.Women's Liberation Movement (1960s -1970s)
Feminist political theory as a term only consolidated in the West duringRadical feminism
Radical feminism argues that at the heart of women’s oppression is pervasive male domination, which is built into the conceptual and social architecture of modern patriarchal societies. Men dominate women not just through violence and exclusion but also through language. Thus came to be Catharine A. MacKinnon's famous line, “Man fucks woman; subject verb object.” Radical feminists argue that, because of patriarchy, women have come to be viewed as the "other" to the male norm, and as such have been systematically oppressed and marginalized. Early radical feminism was grounded in the rejection of the nuclear family and femininity as constructed within heterosexuality. The strongest forms of radical feminism argue that there can be no reform, but only recreation of the notions of family, partnership, and childrearing, and that to do so in a way that preserves women’s dignity requires the creation of women-only spaces.Liberal feminism
Marxist and socialist feminism
Ecological feminism
Ecological feminism is branch of feminism that examines the connections between women and nature. Connections between environment and gender can be made by looking at the gender division of labor and environmental roles rather than an inherent connection with nature. The gender division of labor requires a more nurturing and caring role for women, therefore that caring nature places women closer with the environment. In the 1970s, the impacts of post-World War II technological development led many women to organize against issues from the toxic pollution of neighborhoods to nuclear weapons testing on indigenous lands. This grassroots activism emerging across every continent was both intersectional and cross-cultural in its struggle to protect the conditions for reproduction of Life on Earth.Postmodernist/Poststructuralist feminism
Postmodernist feminism rejects the dualisms of the previous 20 years of feminist theory: man/woman, reason/emotion, difference/equality. It challenges the very notion of stable categories of sex, gender, race or sexuality. Postmodernist feminists agree with others that gender is the most important identity, however what makes Postmodern feminists different is that they are interested in how people 'pick and mix' their identities. They are also interested in the topic of masculinity, and instead reject the stereotypical aspects of feminism, embracing it as a positive aspect of identity. One of their key goals is to disable the patriarchal norms that have led to gender inequality.Topics of inquiry
Feminist epistemology
A key aspect of feminist political theory/philosophy is feminist epistemology. Feminist epistemologists question the objectivity of social and philosophical sciences by contending that standards of authority and credibility are socially constructed and thus reflect and re-entrench the sociopolitical status quo. It studies the ways in which gender influences our conceptions of knowledge and practices of inquiry and justification and identifies how dominant conceptions and practices of knowledge attribution, acquisition, and justification disadvantage women, and thus strives to reform them. Feminist epistemologists argue that the current dominant knowledge practices disadvantage women by # excluding them from inquiry # denying them epistemic authority # denigrating “feminine” cognitive styles # producing theories of women that represent them as inferior, or significant only in the ways they serve male interests # producing theories of social phenomena that render women’s activities and interests, or gendered power relations, invisible # producing knowledge that is not useful for people in subordinate positions, or that reinforces gender and other social hierarchies.Gendered political institutions
Political theory on the gendering of institutions explores questions such what does it mean for an institution to be “gendered," how can one evaluate whether an institution is gendered, and what are the consequences of gendered institutions for the people who work within them. An example of such related scholarship is Eileen McDonagh's book ''The Motherless State'' which explores how socially feminized "motherly" attributes have been stripped from modern governance models. An exploration of the history of patriarchy is central to understanding how political institutions have become gendered and the impact this has on feminist political theory. The importance of understanding patriarchy historically is explored in Judith M. Bennet's book 'History Matter: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism'. A definition of patriarchy is provided by Sylvia Walby in her book 'Theorising patriarchy'. This shows how patriarchal systems have historically caused the oppression of women and the male domination of politics.Group identity/identity politics
Theorists studying this aspect of feminist political theory question the construction of women as an identity group. On a basic level, they consider whether it is even possible to come to some sort of conclusion about a "women" group’s relation to politics. One facet of the debate involvesPolitical leadership and gender
This field addresses how women lead differently than their male counterparts in political careers, such as legislators, executives, and judges. Some scholars in this field study how political leadership is itself masculinized to exclude the kinds of political leadership women most frequently provide, often outside of formal offices. For example, Hardy-Fanta looks at grassroots political work in Latino communities in the U.S. to identify feminized political leadership roles, ultimately concluding that Latina women provide the most critical leadership and work in those communities—despite the fact that most studies overlook their leadership because it does not occur within formal officeholding roles.See also
Related journals
* ''Politics & Gender'' * ''Signs'' * ''Feminist Theory'' * ''International Feminist Journal of Politics''References
External links