Feminism

CHAPTER VII

Module Overview
The women’s movement made many advances in recent history, yet its scope and
description must be discussed for one to truly grasp current issues of women and gender
studies. This chapter serves as an introduction to the history of women’s movement, both in
the Philippines and abroad

Module learning Activities

1. Outline the development of Western Feminism; and
2. Explain the factors that shaped its development.

Learning Contents
Feminism is a way of looking at the world through a woman’s perspective. It is a concept
popularized by Western societies, with many feminist issues articulated by Western-
educated women and even men. It is deeply rooted in the Western concept of liberal
democracy and philosophy of equal rights for all as defined by thinkers such as Kant
and Mill. The evolution of Western women’s movement in recent history can be
summarized in three waves, each wave characterized by particular aspects of the struggle
toward emancipation.
WESTERN WOMEN’S MOVEMENT: A BRIEF HISTORY
Discussing Western women’s movement involves looking at what many feminist
historians and theorists call as “waves” of feminism. There are three distinct waves of
feminism in the Western World, each associated to a different school of thought. The first
wave of feminism involves the call for women’s equal rights, focusing on the woman’s
right to vote. It is largely rooted in the liberal political thought which prioritized the power of
reason and the mind. The next wave is the radical feminism, a post-World War era of
feminism where women are already recognized as having distinct biological needs from
men, such as for reproductive health and needs that arose from their being socialized as
women. The last wave of feminism is rooted in the recognition of various theories and
various modes of being. To be truly free from patriarchy, the recognition of
intersectionality considers women’s struggle from different parts of the globe – such as
that of the Black or Latin women – to be distinct struggles that are different from women’s
struggles in the Western World. This feminist thought helped shape our own local feminist
thinking, the Philippine Women’s Movement.

FIRST WAVE: WOMEN AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Theoretical Roots of the First Wave of Feminism –

Liberal Feminism
The first wave of women’s movement is characterized by women’s struggle for
equality. This phase, which occurred from the latter part of the 18th century until the first half
of the 20th century was the period when women articulated their equality with men.
The
development of liberal political thought by philosophers like Kant, Mill, and Roseau
underscoring the equal rights of all men (but not women) inspired women to craft their own
philosophy of equality with men.

FIRST WAVE: WOMEN AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Theoretical Roots of the First Wave of Feminism –

Liberal Feminism
The first wave of women’s movement is characterized by women’s struggle for
equality. This phase, which occurred from the latter part of the 18th century until the first half
of the 20th century was the period when women articulated their equality with men.
The
development of liberal political thought by philosophers like Kant, Mill, and Roseau
underscoring the equal rights of all men (but not women) inspired women to craft their own
philosophy of equality with men.

One can pinpoint the start of the documented feminist movement during the French
Revolution in the late 1700s. The French Revolution was a movement that overthrew the
Bourbon monarchy, a powerful family that ruled France for over a century and controlled
most of French resources. Under the Bourbon dynasty, most of France was poor and
starving. The right to bread was the starting point of the French Revolution. Thousands of
women in Paris, housewives, mothers and workers, marched to the Paris City Hall in 1789
to demand the right to cheaper bread, a right they were deprived of. The French Revolution
was a triumph for the poor and oppressed, with both women and men fighting for their
rights in this movement, showing the power of the people over the elite. While there was no
woman-specific issue addressed during this movement, it inspired the seminal text for the
Western women’s movement: the Citoyennes Républicaines, Révolutionnaires
(Revolutionary Republican Women Ctitizens).
The Citoyennes Républicaines, Révolutionnaires demanded that women be granted
the right to vote and hold civilian and military positions like men. However, the (male)
revolutionaries ignored these calls. It is evident in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen of 1789 which only focused on men and men’s rights. Hence, women still did not
have the same rights as men during the French Revolution.

Olympia de Gouges is a French feminist, writer, and political activist who believed
strongly in justice and equality for all. She responded to the National Assembly’s
Declaration by publishing in 1791 her own Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the
Female Citizen. She included women’s rights in her manifesto, defending the right of
women as sentient human beings. Her progressive thinking also led her to write against
slavery, the discrimination against children borne out of wedlock, and the ill treatment
of
orphaned children.
The manifesto of de Gouges inspired what can be considered the keystone text of
liberal feminist thought, A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792 by Mary
Wollstonecraft. Considered the mother of Western and Anglo-Saxon feminism,
Wollstonecraft advocated for the uplifting of women’s rights through the valuation of
their
work within the family. Her work highlights the need for women’s education, and that
women are not merely objects to be married off but are also educators and caregivers of
their children. This work declares that women deserve the same fundamental rights as
men. Wollstonecraft’s text is the origin of the Anglo-Saxon feminism that inspired modern
feminist writings. Wollstonecraft was concerned on the elimination of domestic tyranny and
women’s denial of political rights, education and equal work – issues that still permeate
present society. Wollstonecraft connected these concerns to critical issues of her time,
reinforcing her own call for equality. Her ideas influenced other women to press
policymakers in creating woman-inclusive policies for their needs, specifically their
education. Both Wollstonecraft and de Gouges’ works articulate the rights of a Western
woman as a person endowed naturally and equally with human rights. The texts were
written by women, and demanded women’s rights in a male-dominated world where women
seldom had a voice or an identity separate from their husbands.

While these documents show an insight as to why the rights of women were denied
under existing laws, Friedrich Engels, a collaborator of Karl Marx in writing the communist
manifesto, provided a plausible reason why women were oppressed. Given the Marxist
focus on material conditions and the accumulation and production of resources as key
movers of societies, Engels saw the relation between women and goods as the root to
women’s subjugation. Engel’s text, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the
State, published in 1884, describes marriage as a process of gaining control of women.
Monogamy was a creation necessary to pass on wealth to one’s offspring. In non-
communal societies, marriage was a way for groups with more material resources, such as
the bourgeoisie, to keep their money within the family through intermarriage and
inheritance. After all, a woman can be sure of her offspring because she bore them through
her pains of labor. This idea of property and inheritance – of marriage as a social contract –
prevented women from being free to decide on whom to marry. A man needed his wife to
be monogamous to know his kin. Perhaps, this practice reinforced the already dominant
patriarchal system that allowed men to be polygamous and women to be monogamous.
Thus, a woman’s chastity was heavily guarded. This type of oppression guaranteed that
women had no choice on matters concerning their bodies; hence, marriage became a sort
of lifetime slavery

Women and the Anti-Slavery Movement

The idea that a woman is a property of her husband may explain the strong
connection between women’s liberation movement and the anti-slavery movement in the
Western world. The beginning of the women’s movement drew its spark from the
emancipation movement. Various women, often white with a high social status, attended
forums and seminars on slavery to advocate for the liberation of the slaves. However,
women were not taken seriously during discussions about the rights of slaves. Women had
no political voice in this matter. During the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London,
women delegates were even made to listen to proceedings behind curtains. Two prominent
figures of the American women’s movement who attended the convention – Lucretia Mott
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were moved by this insulting experience. Being behind
the
curtain highlighted the similarity of women’s situation with that of slaves. Mott ad
Stanton’s
involvement in the advocacy against slavery paved the way for them to realize that
women
too were oppressed by certain social structures and laws. The active participation of
women
in the social issue of anti-slavery incited them to liberate themselves as well
from their
perceived limited social status. One such limited status involved the right to
participate in
the public sphere.

Women and the Right to Vote

Women’s role in the domestic sphere meant that everyday women were invisible to
the public eye. Those coming from prominent mercantile or royal families,
while visible,
were not often given the chance to influence big decisions. These realities pushed
women
from Western Europe and Northern America to expand their struggle toward
their own
emancipation. Participants in the first wave of the women’s emancipation movement
fought
for the right to vote, equal opportunity for employment and commerce, and
the right to
education. Women fought for equal access to various opportunities as
formalized in the
Declaration of Sentiments that emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention –
the first
women’s convention – in New York City in 1848. Stanton enumerated in this
declaration
various women’s issues that eventually led to what would be known as the
suffrage
movement.

A woman’s right to vote may not seem like a large issue, yet it was
controversial
insofar as it was believed that women were too emotional and did not possess the
proper
faculties to make rational decisions. Not only that, the numerous movements at
that time
seemed to work against and not for each other. Would a movement for
women’s rights
hinder the emancipation movement? Or the movement of men of color? Would all
women
be able to vote, including uneducated women? Again, this was controversial because
not
all women were allowed to study; hence, allowing women to vote meant
allowing even
illiterate women and women of color to claim this right. Despite this assumed
division, black
women abolitionists still supported the movement. These include Sojourner
Truth, Maria
Stewart, and Frances E. W. Harper.
The suffrage movement was the major struggle of women, uniting the
Northern
American and Western European’s movements during the 19th and 20th
century. When
upper class women, i.e. householder and college educated, won the right to
vote in the
1920s, the movement splintered into various groups like the labor movement and the
right
to education movement.
Fundamentally, the first wave of women’s struggle was focused on establishing
equality with men. It borrows its ideology from political liberalism that assumes
equality of
all people, regardless of race or gender. The first-wavers not only called for the right
to vote
but also the right to smoke, the right to wear pants, and the right to promiscuity like
men
A woman’s right to vote may not seem like a large issue, yet it was
controversial
insofar as it was believed that women were too emotional and did not possess the
proper
faculties to make rational decisions. Not only that, the numerous movements at
that time
seemed to work against and not for each other. Would a movement for
women’s rights
hinder the emancipation movement? Or the movement of men of color? Would all
women
be able to vote, including uneducated women? Again, this was controversial because
not
all women were allowed to study; hence, allowing women to vote meant
allowing even
illiterate women and women of color to claim this right. Despite this assumed
division, black
women abolitionists still supported the movement. These include Sojourner
Truth, Maria
Stewart, and Frances E. W. Harper.
The suffrage movement was the major struggle of women, uniting the
Northern
American and Western European’s movements during the 19th and 20th
century. When
upper class women, i.e. householder and college educated, won the right to
vote in the
1920s, the movement splintered into various groups like the labor movement and the
right
to education movement.
Fundamentally, the first wave of women’s struggle was focused on establishing
equality with men. It borrows its ideology from political liberalism that assumes
equality of
all people, regardless of race or gender. The first-wavers not only called for the right
to vote
but also the right to smoke, the right to wear pants, and the right to promiscuity like
men

SECOND WAVE & WOMEN’S LIBERATION

Women in the Western world eventually earned the right to vote. While more
and
more gains were identified for women, there was still a large gap between
women’s and
men’s freedoms. Despite women attaining the right to vote, they were still
viewed as
second-class citizens. A new struggle arose, one that involved marginalized
sectors such
as black women, lesbians and homosexuals, women in developing countries,
and other
marginalized women. The second wave of feminism is more concerned with
the idea of
womanhood and the issues that came with social construction of a woman’s
role, and
therefore her identity. Thus, a deeper understanding of womanhood, its
implications and
the issues surrounding women emerged.
The World Wars I and II greatly influenced the second wave of the feminist
movement. Women stepped in to help with the war effort. For example, the
American
propaganda “Rosie the Riveter” became an icon of women. It shows a poster image
of a
woman doing mechanical work, a traditional male job, in a bid to invite women to
work in
factories as most men were assembled for war. However, when the war
ended, men
returned to their roles and women were sent back to the domestic sphere.
The 1950s
promoted an image of women as loving housewives and doting mothers.
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique describes the growing discontent of white
and middle class housewives during the post-World War II period. Her idea of the
“problem
with no name” united housemakers across America regarding the growing
helplessness
that women felt due to their lack of power as they remained trapped in the domestic
sphere
and lacked representation in the public sphere.
Simone de Beauvoir, a French feminist best known for her work, The Second Sex,
explored how women were seen as unequal by men and that the very
realization of
women’s existence as persons were structured to be inferior. They were
reduced to an
object at every turn, as a wife, daughter, a lover, a mistress and a whore.
Their very
existence was defined, or more precisely reduced, by the male subjectivity. Women
were
constructed by society to be servants of men and to be the producers of children.
Their very
image, how they act and beautify themselves are all oriented to serving male
systems that
do not benefit the flourishing of women as persons. A woman was always and only
defined
in relation to man. There is a marked critique on the definition of woman in the essay
by de
Beauvoir. It articulates how the essential meaning of woman is a construct that
limits the
realization of her existence, but as a construct, this meaning can be re-articulated.
Her work
also claims that patriarchy and patriarchal structures further reinforce the wrong
notion that
women are secondary to men despite women and men being treated equally in the
eyes of
existing laws. Until a woman is seen as a woman in her own right, de Beauvoir
asserts that
a woman will not attain true freedom.
Although focused on the personal enslavement of women, this wave of
feminism
also tackled that the construction of womanhood was fundamentally political.
Shulamith
Firestone and Kate Millett showed how this construction was an outcome of the
economy,
the culture, and society at large. The fact that this notion of womanhood was created
to be
as such means that the expectations surrounding women could change as well.
Firestone,
in her text The Dialectic of Sex, called for a feminist revolution that could
help liberate
women from the inequality brought about by their biology, specifically those
concerning
conception, childbirth, and child-rearing. Firestone believed that society must
change to
help address women’s concerns – the limitation of their biology, specifically child
care; the
right to economic independence and self-determination; their integration into all
aspects of
society; and their freedom in relation to their sexuality – before women can
be liberated.
Kate Millet’s text focuses on politics as power structures and the relation of sex –
coitus and
biological sex – thus, creating the fundamental link between gender
socialization, the
patriarchal system, and the formation of women as oppressed. The struggle is
defined by
power and can be changed if women are able to gain power. Theoretical Roots in the
Second Wave of Feminism –
Socialist Feminism
Socialist feminism was developed after Marxist feminism to address gaps found
in
Marxist theories. Unlike Marxist feminists, socialist feminists believe that
women are
oppressed in all aspects of their lives, not only in the economic aspect. Socialist
feminism
draws a different meaning from the Marxist idea of human productivity: one’s
productive
activity is based on the sexual division of labor which is determined by society and
human
nature.
Socialism believes that women’s subjugation is rooted in the concept of
having a
monogamous family in which monogamous women are confined in their homes
and are
discouraged to participate in productive labor. Engels argued that women could be
liberated
from their oppression if they entered the productive zone, with their
reproductive needs
taken over by the state. Socialism asserts that both productive and reproductive
labor must
involve the greater society, as both are responsible for sustaining and
maintaining the
society at large. Hence, the state must also prioritize social welfare and
structures that
support the reproductive needs of a woman. The second wave of women’s movement
was
built on these Marxist and radical feminist principles, which focused on
sexuality and
alienation arising from one’s womanhood and motherhood.

Theoretical Roots in the Second Wave of Feminism –

Radical Feminism
The civil rights movement in the US inspired another form of feminism that
is
grounded on structural change. This feminist perspective – known as radical
feminism –
sought to ensure that women’s differences from men were recognized and
celebrated. At
this point, equality no longer meant sameness but being different and equally
capable and
valuable. Radical feminism came about as a reaction to the lack of attention given to
sex
and sexuality in the women’s struggle. Socialist, Marxist, and liberal feminism
focused less
on the body and more on what the mind or body could do. Radical feminism identifies
one’s
biology as the root cause of the oppression of women, which lies in the idea
that one’s
ability and role could be reduced to his or her sex. The second wave is
significant as it
examined not only the need for equality but also the very root of inequality. It
explained that
women were oppressed because they were defined as the lesser sex by
systems that
shape the society; the most pervasive of which is patriarchy, in which man
assumes the
dominant gender role.

THIRD WAVE OF FEMINISM

The 1990s brought about the recognition of the different oppressions women
face
around the globe. The rise of communism and the new global order along with
biomedical
and technological advances shaped the issues of this era. The feminist movement
shifted
focus to include the needs of women from developing countries in light of the
effect of
globalization and neoliberal economic policies. The idea of the universal
woman’s
experience was challenged, and there was a call for a feminism that embraced the
plurality.
of women’s experience. This new wave of feminism was deemed more
inclusive, as
voices from post-colony and post-socialist countries were involved in the movement.
With
these developments, third-wave feminism was born.
Third-wave feminists were “motivated by the need to develop a feminist theory and
politics that honor contradictory experiences and deconstruct categorical
thinking”. What
characterizes this feminism is its “local, national, and transnational activism in areas
such
as violence against women, trafficking, body surgery, self-mutilation, and the
overall
‘pornofication’ of the media”, issues that affect different women from various
countries.
Third-wave feminists were raised by second-wave feminists. They lived by the
principles of gender equality and women empowerment. They had access to the
resources
that previous movements had won for them. The feminists of this time had
numerous
publications on women and gender issues, gained academic niches in
universities that
include women’s studies in their curriculum, and had greater opportunities in
terms of
economic capabilities and work. This exploration of womanhood and gender
came at the
expense of the previous endeavors of women activists. Because of this, the
feminist
movement of yesteryears was critiqued and questioned.
The idea of post-feminism manifested during the third-wave of feminism, in which
the second wave was assessed for purporting a universal feminism that created one
truth
for all women, with one answer for all issues and directing the movement’s
concerns to
target one dominant group – the white and Western feminists. According to
the book by
Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake, Third Wave Agenda, post-feminism sought
to
critique previous feminisms in regards to what work had yet to be done.
Despite the
difference in the experiences of women, the call for sisterhood was present as
ever,
embracing the differences of women from around the world.
Feminists of the third wave not only critiqued previous feminisms, they also
questioned the ideas that were present during the previous women’s
movement.
Womanhood as an identity was one major movement that was scrutinized. This
movement
that questioned, renamed, and reclaimed the concept of womanhood was
called
postmodern feminism. Gender, beauty, sexuality, and the concepts of feminine
and
masculine were also questioned. The notion that gender is an absolute marker of
identity
was suddenly challenged. The theme of “gender as a social construct” was prevalent
during
this time due to the pivotal text Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of
Identity by
Judith Butler published in 1990. The challenge for feminists in this period was
to be
conscious of how one could express his or her gender identity in a manner
that truly
represented him or her. Identity politics was a driving force for discussion.
The transformation of notions of the self was also supplemented by the
transformation of structures and processes that could be deemed oppressive
to women.
There were moves to reclaim other social structure that seemed oppressive, such
as the
media that sexualized women, or language that was used to oppress women. The
words
“girl”, “bitch”, and other condescending terms used against women were reclaimed
by the
feminists of this movement. Different ideas were challenged. Instead of a
head-on attack
against these structures, a societal transformation that aimed to reconstruct
the idea of
womanhood on a woman’s own light took place.
A notable woman during the third wave of feminism is Judith Butler. She is
an
American philosopher and academic whose book Gender Trouble: Feminism and
the
Subversion of Identity, brought to light the fluid nature of gender. Here, she
challenges
notions of the rigidity and pre-determined nature of gender. She assumed that
gender is not
an essence that one’s characteristics and behavior drew its origin from.
Instead, the
repetition of certain characteristics created the idea of gendered behavior.
Humans are
socialized to repeat these gendered characteristics.
One of the many key words that explain Judith Butler’s philosophy is performance.
Gender is performed, and one’s identity is shaped through the performance of traits
that are
gendered. The performance of gender further proved that it was a social
construct that
should not limit a person’s identity.

A brief history of the Western feminist movement is presented to show the various
strides that women have made in recent history. Various kinds of feminism
with different
viewpoints and priorities emerged, depending on the needs of women at that time.
These
movements were created as reactions to historical events or struggles, such
as the civil
rights movement. Despite this rich diversity, all the “ists” and “isms” of feminism
show that
one thing has been the priority of the movement: uplifting women such that they can
fully
participate in society as equals with others, and removing structural barriers
that prevent
them from doing so. While much work has yet to be done, it is important to recognize
the
heroes of the past for what they have achieved to privilege this generation of
a better
future.