qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiop How has feminism changed the lives of women in Europe in the 21st asdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopas century? dfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghj klzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklz xcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxc vbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvb nmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiop asdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopas dfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjkl 1/29/2014
Bansari Raval
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Contents •
Introduction
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What is Feminism?
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Historical background to Feminism in the Western World
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Modern Issues
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Case studies of how Feminism has changed women in Europe
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Do You Identify Yourself as A Feminist?
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Academic Views on Feminism
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Conclusion
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How has feminism changed the lives of women in Europe in the 21 st century? Introduction The feminist movement has been active throughout the 20 th century and 21st century. One the key reason I want explore the feminist movement is because as young girl growing up in the 21 st century I feel privileged to do things I probably wouldn’t have been able to do three or four decades ago, such as work alongside men and get paid the same amount as them regardless of my gender. A simple and clear definition of feminism without over complicating would be a female who fights for female rights and equality. Today feminism has evolved but has taken a standstill. Many young girls I know would not identify themselves as feminists but to what extent is the feminist movement alive in our society and how so has it changed the lives of women today is what I aim to explore in my project. What is Feminism? The collective definition for feminism would be a woman who advocates for women’s rights on the grounds of equality between sexes. Feminism involves different types of feminists that are split up in a number of groups. Liberal Feminism focuses on equality before the law. Liberal feminism ensures that both male and female have equal opportunities in all areas of service and industry. Radical Feminism sees changes in the law. They feel that the presence of equalities in policies as being a part of the small battle of equality for the sexes in society. They believe that patriarchy is much more deeply ingrained that just being a cultural factor and men can dominate women physically not just areas of the work place and through law. Marxist or Social Feminism sees patriarchy as being a key problem in society as well as the type of society in this case capitalism. They are not as traditional thinking radical feminists but still believe that patriarchy can be a problem. Capitalism can be a problem for these types of feminisms as working class women can discriminated against. The last branch of feminism that I will discuss is Post Modern Feminism. Post Modern Feminism argues that women have power in choice, opportunity in contemporary society which is unprecedented. Their heart lies in the issue of women’s identity and individualism. This is just a look into certain types of feminism movements as there are many more movements of feminism in society today. Feminism is important in today’s society as it manifests the changing face of women’s rights and gives a sense of individualism which society previously for women failed to acknowledge, therefore it is key to identify how feminism has changed the lives of women in the 21 st century. Historical Background to feminism in the Western World In Britain The feminist movement started around the late 19 th century with the suffragette movement which came about from the women’s suffrage activists who fought for women’s right and were tired from society’s laws and rules for what women can or cannot do. The Suffragettes were Page 3
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made up mainly from mostly women from upper and middle class backgrounds, with an education to a certain degree and understood they were being repressed by society. The movement had a long and lasting impression on Britain for the first half of 19 th century. The ground-breaking ways that they undertook passive and active ways to protest, lead them to being their voice heard. From chaining themselves to landmarks and statues to lobbying in the Parliament, the suffragettes we’re not be stopped. One woman called Emily Davison threw herself in front of the Kings horse and killed herself to make her point about Women’s right and to a certain degree their liberation from the conventional society boundaries only set for women. The gender roles had to change and take a new turn, which before the Suffragette movement was unheard in the British Society. This shows the commitment they had to their belief of giving women the right to vote and be considered equals to men in making logical decisions about who should rule the country. The group was led by head activist Emmeline Pankhurst the leader of the suffrage movement. Pankhurst named one the most influential people of the 20th century by Time Magazine. They stated that ‘she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going
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back.’ Women were given a new identity by the Suffragettes one that would be called rebellious at the time but today in the western world the society possibly perceives the role of women should be like this. The Suffragettes have contributed to the feminist movement and feminisms as a whole one that is unmatched. Many feminists have got their point across through Literature. World War II allowed women to become independent and become equal half’s to men. This was previously unheard of as ‘In the 1930s, social roles were clearly defined. A woman's place was in the home, a
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man's place was out at work.’ Due these social roles being clearly defined a woman found it hard to break out of her shell and actually follow an unconventional route such as working or following up to higher education. With the breakout of the war society changed drastically becoming a huge liberation movement for women who worked endlessly while the men become fought the war in the battlefields ‘During WWII women worked in factories producing munitions, building ships, aeroplanes, in the auxiliary services as air-raid wardens, fire officers and evacuation officers, as drivers of fire engines, trains and trams, as conductors and as nurses.’
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Traditional male roles which were regarded to be highly skilled such as Engineers or drivers for trains, trucks started to recruit women for these jobs. This period in a women’s life introduced to them independence, they were able to overcome the barriers and restrictions that were the social norm. The freedom was sudden and was welcomed by these women who felt trapped in their daily lives as opposed to the men in society at the time. While the war in Europe allowed women to break free of their constrictions the other side of the Atlantic women where fighting for equal rights to vote. The Suffrage movement in America was highly influential, the break out of the War lead to being the United States being involved in the war and women being recognised for their skills ‘World War I slowed the suffragists' campaign but helped them advance their argument nonetheless: Women's work on behalf of the war effort, activists pointed out, proved that they were just as patriotic and deserving of citizenship as men, and on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the 1 2 3
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Constitution was finally ratified.’ The law’s, being passed in many countries in the Western World was a key aspect in the feminist movement for women to secure a sense of individualism and independence. However as soon as the war ended women returned to their gender roles of being housewives, mother and caretakers of the homes, a transitional reversion of the norm had been turned around again going back to where they had started with ‘Although some women welcomed the post-war chance to return to the home, other women wished to consolidate on their gain’s
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and some might have been persuaded to do so’ Another important part of the feminist movement was The Sex Discrimination’s Act 1975 was introduced in the UK to ‘prevent women being paid less
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than their male counterparts.’ The Law changed the lives of women in the United Kingdom giving them a vital right which was not a part of the political system. Perhaps the most famous political moment in the History of British politics has to be when Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minstar and to this date the only female prime minister back in 1979 even though many of her close friends would call her a anti feminist and Thatcher herself has admitted that during her years as a prime minster she still is a famous political icon and dare I say it the only female icon that women in the 21 st century can look up to. Her iron will to rule a nation like Britain and not being bound by conventions as a woman made her popular but a victim to Misogynist comments by men surrounding her. The rich history feminism portrays illustrates the brave sacrifices women have had to make in order for the women of the 21 st century to live a life of equality but certain problems still exist in the modern world which are deeply embedded in people’s mindsets which can either never change or take a period of time before any change is shown. Feminism is full of rich history across the three waves the movement has spurned across a century. Here are two examples of British war propaganda. Both use females as their means of promotion, however both images share a different message. The ‘We Can Do It!’ poster encourages women to work and go beyond their ‘societal place’. On the other hand the woman is portrayed as a mother conforming to the stereotype of a woman being the housewife and the ones who take care of the children which was true during the war. Women in World Wars paved a way for women to be introduced to the professional working world rather than staying home and being housewives. This was the first real change which developed into women who began to want to work outside their family homes and become more independent. A first real change which carried on to the 21 st Century for women. 4 5 6
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Modern Issues Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights, who argues that ‘Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the
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opinions and manners of the society they live in.’ This suggests she believed that education was the key for women to gain equality stance with men. In order for women to progress in society, they need to be well educated, limiting them with jobs they can do if they’re not. Wollenstonecraft was a radical feminist and came up with her ideologies when patriarchy in society was at its height. Even though Wollstonecraft states that both men and women must be educated, she does not take into account an individual’s financial standing; some men and women would have been born in poverty and would not have had the money to even get a basic education let alone degree level. Wollenstonecraft’s ideologies can be applied to today’s women to a certain extent, today women in the western world are given a right to education equally as men and maybe with education these young men and women can see beyond the ‘male domination’ that society may oppose. Thus combating the cycle of women’s right being violated. Coming back to the point previously made about women being able to find jobs more easily with substantial education would be correct in today’s day and age due to the recession and credit crunch, but some may still say there is a ‘glass ceiling’ that still hangs over these young soon to be professionals. The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Glass Ceiling’ as ‘an unacknowledged barrier to
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advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities’. Women in many professional positions still feel the glass ceiling is high and active still today in the 21 st century, which would be found surprising since the advancements in laws and societies perception constantly changing for the better ‘Women are perceived to be struggling more than ever to reach the top
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level in their chosen careers, with 80 per cent’ . New research conducted, commissioned by the Financial Advisor School, and polled 2000 Britons, who believed that the glass ceiling still exists at 89% more than half which is astonishing in 2013. According to this study the glass ceiling is still alive and succeeding in keeping women from climbing high up the professional ladder, only being attributed to one thing; their gender. However may disagree with me and give me examples of Anna Wintour the chief in editor for Vogue or Angela Ahrendts the CEO for the luxury British Fashion house Burberry but why is it the professional women in these respective sectors can be counted off on our fingers comparing to the number of men in the sectors. Therefore I still feel that sexism and female oppression have not been eliminated or changed extensively by the feminist movement because when it comes to the work place it is living like a form of disease, which will take time to cut out from its root. The really intriguing part that always gets me is that why women in professional sectors are still going through this treatment and feel that discrimination prevails. The Suffragettes on the other hand did not have prominent role models and fought all for themselves they were successful than why do women feel they can’t break through this ‘glass ceiling’ the question lies in an individual’s mindset. Words such as Misogyny or Chauvinist are just not terms coined out of the blue but we have human beings bring them life with our thoughts and I say again mind sets. These studies highlight the lack of gender equality that is present in today’s 7 8 9
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society despite many feminist movements being highly active. To a certain extent they are failing to change these rules in society ‘Sexism and female oppression are by no means eliminated, in America or worldwide. Women continue to average lower paying jobs, higher childcare responsibility and costs, more economic dependence, and an absolute non-existent voice in politics’
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UKIP Leader Nigel Farrage recently came under fire for saying that ‘Women must sacrifice their family life to succeed in finance’. Due to stereotypes that have been a part of the Western World for years women ‘traditionally’ are known to sacrifice motherhood or their family life in order to succeed in their professional lives. Discrimination against women who work and decide to have a baby is high in the Western World due to the demands of meeting deadlines and boosting roles of company in today’s rescission. Due to this replacements become permanent job holders either leading to the women stepping down or becoming unemployed. Is this all due to the fact if a women decides to have a child than she automatically becomes useless to her work place due to the fact she has to take time off of her choosing to pursue a family life is sin in the professional world as losing one member of the work establishment combats the establishments progress as a whole. An article published by the Telegraph stated some important facts and figures ‘Data analysed by the House of Commons library found that 14 per cent of the 340,000 women who take maternity leave each year find their jobs under threat when they try to return, with some told that they cannot continue in their role part-time.’
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The data was analysed sometime around mid-2013. The fact the
data is very current suggests that discrimination against women in a work place continues today despite many law’s being intact to protect women from this kind of discrimination. The UKIP leader even stated that ‘If a woman with a client base has a child and takes two or three years off work, she is worth far less to the employer when she comes back than when she goes away because her client base cannot be stuck rigidly to her.’
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These comments are evidence in today’s society and
women that face maternity discrimination such as ‘A survey of 1,000 mothers by the legal firm Slater & Gordon found that more than a quarter said they were unsure of what they could and couldn’t expect of their employer when they returned to work.’
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Women in the media are represented in a specific way. As well as that they have to look a certain way in order to be a part of the media. The gender gap is one issue but so is the need to look the best is. Young women look up to the women in the media as role models. John Berger once famously said that ‘men act and women appear’
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. Berger at the time was making a point about women in
society and how they were depicted but that was back in 1972 but the looks still play a huge account in her getting any further in the professional world. The biggest portrayal of this unjust has to be in the entertainment industry; not knowing if this is done deliberately or ‘coincidently’ just seems to 10 11 12 13 14
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happen all the time. The western world falls prey to ‘idyllic’ beauty. Words such as stunning, attractive, beautiful are used constantly to laud a women’s appearance that is if she fits society’s conception of what beauty is such as sitcom’s such The Big Bang Theory or New Girl include an array of beautiful women amidst as ‘normal looking men. Or daytime televisions include presenters like Philip Schofield and women who look like Holly Willoughby. The point here is that beauty today may only be a person’s outer appearance and if feminism has advanced to such a level why is a woman’s appearance so important compared to a man’s. Dustin Hoffman an American actor once said about him dressing up as woman in his film Tootsie ‘I think I am an interesting woman when I look at myself on screen. And I know that if I met myself at a party, I would never talk to that character. Because she doesn’t fulfil physically the demands that we’re brought up to think women have to have ‘Today
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the famous phrase ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’
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is just another phrase its
use or value has long gone out of the window clearly after studying these examples given. Double standards continue to exist in the forms of derogatory words such as ‘slut’ or ‘whore’. A women’s choice of sexual partners is completely her choice but if she has multiple of them people are quick to make assumptions based on her character and morals. However somehow the same is not applied to man who would be called a ‘stud’ if he had multiple partners, to me this is a clear sign of chauvinism or a misogynist mindset in today’s society that continues to survive ‘This standard evolved into the conditional double standard in which women were permitted to engage in sexual relations only within committed love relationship, whereas men were permitted to have as many sexual partners as they wanted without any condition’
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Another issue in today’s society is the idea of gender roles which are even if people claim have changed are still present and stuck in cement. Women are conventionally viewed as homemakers. They have titles such as housewife or mother and do not have a professional career. Even though this mindset is conventional of the previous centuries it still feels that things have still not changed and people still suffer from this outdated mindset. In a world today where more than millions of woman work and take care of their families in other words successfully balance their personal and professional lives this believe still is a part of today’s society ‘Women’s traditional role as wives and mothers has not disappeared but has been reinvented to fit in with the needs of exploitation. They are now expected to juggle all aspects of their lives and are blamed as individuals for any failings in family or work life.’
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The fact this article states this makes women question if feminism
has really changed anything all the same old tradition has continued on but in other words or terms Case studies of how feminism has changed the world Feminism has affected society in a positive light for females and same may say negative but it is responsible for many changes in society. The feminist movement has taught women many new things about life and social changes that previously would not have been thought of Freedman states that “In the past two centuries, a revolution has transformed women’s lives. Unlike national 15 16 17 18
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revolutions, this social upheaval crosses continents, decades, and ideologies. In place of armed struggle it gradually sows the seeds of change, infiltrating our consciousness with the simple premise that women are as capable and valuable as men”
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. The feminist movement is
responsible for many new changes and the starting of many groups that have either caused controversy such as the Suffragettes to bring awareness to their cause or have been majorly successful in getting across their point. An example of this would the controversial group FEMEN an exhibitionist group started in Ukraine. The group was founded in 2008 describing it as a ‘fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations - sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion”
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. Femen’s ideology is ‘Sextremism’. The
FEMEN website defines ‘Sextremism’ as ‘a fundamentally new form of women’s feminist actionism developed by FEMEN. Sextremism is female sexuality rebelling against patriarchy and embodied in the extremal political direct action events. Sexist style of the actions is a way to destruct the patriarchal understanding of what is the destination of female sexuality to the benefit of the great revolutionary mission’
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The group came into prominence due to its infamous topless protests
outside religious building, parliament etc. The group has unknowingly reshaped modern feminism in a negative way. Many women do not agree with the actions undertaken by the FEMEN group as they feel they are too bold and objectify women more rather than helping them fight for their rights. The group came further under attack as it was revealed that the ‘mastermind’ behind the group is man named Victor Svyatski who was labelled in the media as a ‘sexist’ and ‘misogynist’. The documentary ‘Ukraine is not a Brothel’, directed by 28-year-old Australian film-maker Kitty Green talked about Svyatski’s control over then group how “It’s his movement and he hand-picked the girls. He handpicked the prettiest girls because the prettiest girls sell more papers. The prettiest girls get on the front page... that became their image, that became the way they sold the brand,”
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The rather
tactless actions get a lot of negative media backlash questioning FEMEN’S aim about ‘fighting patriarchy’
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. The group FEMEN has since shifted to France where there base is. They still continue
to protest against religious establishments and political laws and parties. FEMEN may be successful at sexually projecting themselves in the public eye and become the butt of a sexist joke. They feel empowered over their sexuality and by protesting topless they get a power over themselves but does that power always transcend in to change for all those women living a life of unfair laws in society, where men rule the roost women are ‘second class citizens’? That question still continues to stay unanswered. The UK government announced in November 2013 that it would be introducing ‘Clare’s Law: the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme’. The law aims to protect women from domestic violence letting know women about the partner’s crime history if they have one in order to make them vigilant. The Law was named after Clare Wood a women who murdered by a man she met on an 19 20 21 22 23
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Internet dating website. The general reaction of politicians, police and the public was positive ‘If we hold this information and determine there is a risk of harm then we have a duty of care to disclose and inform to stop women from being victims in the first place.’
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However there were some
specific concerns to the law and how helpful it would be ‘I’m concerned that the government is going for quick fixes and potential headlines. The number of women killed though domestic has remained consistent for over 10 years. Yet that’s not the whole story. It’s being reported today that 88 women were killed through domestic violence last year, but I’ve counted 120 women killed through men’s violence, including 16 women who were killed by their sons. Clare’s Law would not have helped them. We’re not being told the whole story about men’s fatal violence against women.’
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Clare’s Law will end up protecting women against domestic violence by their
spouse, partner or boyfriend but the question stays that will it against those women who are victims of domestic violence by another man such as, what if the man happens to be the woman’s son. The Clare’s Law does not acknowledge these loopholes that are found in the law. The Clare’s Law can be credited as helping women from becoming victims of domestic violence and making them vigilant towards their partners. The Law enables to:
• ‘Right to ask’ - this enables someone to ask the police about a partner’s previous history of domestic violence or violent acts. A precedent for such a scheme exists with the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme;
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• ‘Right to know’ - police can proactively disclose information in prescribed circumstances.
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Some argue that the Clare’s Law is sexist towards men and fails to acknowledge the fact that men can be victims of domestic violence as much as women can be. However some believe that The Clare’s Law is in protecting women from violence. The fact the women is worried from the beginning to go to the police and ask about her partners previous history of any criminal records regarding domestic violence may be an indicator she is already in a form of danger or certainly feels it. The Clare’s Law however may not be the best law to protect women from domestic violence as ‘According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales 1.2 million women and 800,000 men reported being victims of domestic abuse last year, up 10% in the past three years.
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These
figures suggest The Clare’s Law protection is not as useful. Feminism is defined as advocating for female rights and The Clare’s Law would be outlined as something that has stemmed from the Feminism movement. It can be said it has helped changed women’s right and given them protection previously which was not present. On the other hand it can be argued that women need laws 24 25 26 27 28
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especially for them to be protected in society even in the 21 st century where women are treated with ‘equality’ and have ‘equal rights’. Groups such as FEMEN and law’s like The Clare’s Law are indication that a certain extent the feminist movement has failed to advocate for women’s rights. FEMEN is highly controversial and viewed as a feral group of women who protest for no purpose by sexualising and objectifying their bodies. Whereas The Clare’s Law is criticised for being sexist and one sided by only protecting women. This suggests that even in today’s society women are the ones that need protecting and not men. Do You Identify Yourself as a Feminist? As a part of my project I took time to do some research of my own, which I found beneficial. The aim of my questionnaire was to inform me about what the 21 st century generation feel about feminism is and how strongly they can or cannot identify themselves as feminist. I wanted to see if women still feel that feminism is active in today’s society or not. During this research all the females that had done the questionnaire for me their identities were protected and the questionnaire was done anonymous. My sample ranged from 16 year olds to 45 and over. Due to this large age gap between my samples’ I found I got a lot of varying views between the older and younger generation. My results are as followed:
I found that 34% of females aged 16-25 didn’t identify themselves as feminists and 45% of this age group didn’t know what identifying themselves a feminist meant. This may be due to now prominent fourth wave of feminism as happened since the third wave of feminism in the early 1990’s till the 2000s. The age group that identified themselves as feminists was the by far the largest were the age groups 35-40 at 29% and 45 and over with 34%. I was expecting these age groups to be the highest as they would be a part of the second and third wave feminism movements and landmark changes have happened during these periods which have pushed feminism into the limelight several times. Even though my sample consisted of around 70 different female’s relatively small, I found that Feminism is not known as it was a decade ago due. Many discussions that I have had with young girls always say what the need of feminism but I feel they may be saying this as they don’t know the full extent of what Feminism is and how it has helped immensely in shaping the world for women in the 21 st century. Page 11
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Academic Views on Feminism The Three Waves of Feminism have given birth to some the most renowned feminist writers whose ideologies have survived and changed how feminism is viewed today. Simone de Beauvoir was a French writer and intellectualist. Her book The Second Sex (1949) became a modern feminist masterpiece. Before the book was published traditional feminism was what existed. Beauvoir’s most famous quote from her book has to be ‘One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one.’ 29 The quote reinforces the idea of gender and sex being two different things. By being born male or female does not mean you are a man or women. In order to become a man or woman you gradually construct the identity yourself. Her ideas are said to be revolutionary at the time by disconnecting sex and gender she identifies the difference between the two. Her book talks about society’s perceptions and constructions of what gender or sex is. Similarly this could be applied to feminism as in society it is only perceived to be a group of women who advocate and fight for women’s rights but there is much more to feminism than just that. Kate Millett is an American feminist writer. Like Beauvoir she is credited for bringing in the second wave of feminism. Her book Sexual Politics (1969) discusses the role patriarchy plays in sexual relations and criticises the works of many renowned authors such as D.H Lawrence and Henry Miller for undermining women in the sexual relationship portrayed in the novel. ‘In Sexual Politics, Kate Millett explores the treatment of women in art and literature. The book begins with a graphic passage from Henry Miller’s Sexus. The analysis of Miller's matter-of-fact male dominance reveals how readers take for granted the “compliant woman” role in both literature and society’30. Conclusion Having done research around feminism before writing this project I have come to conclusion feminism has changed the lives of women in the 21 st century. There have been many movements that can be credited for law’s that have been introduced, groups and the gradually elimination of the mind-set women cannot do things like men can. The three waves of feminism have been a huge influence in Europe and the world and will continue to do so. Feminism today may not be a highly active movement but continues to dominate many aspects of an individual women’s life in different ways which where they find it to be relevant in their lives today.
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