Feminism Is an Intellectual Commitment and a Political Movement - Essay Example

Introduction Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms (Jacqui and Albrecht, 1998). It is a social theory and a political movement at the same time which is primarily informed and motivated by the experiences of women. It generally provides a critique of social relations as feminists disagree about what sexism consists of and what exactly ought to be done about it; they disagree about what it means to be a woman or a man and what social and political implications gender has or should have (Crush, 1995). Nonetheless, motivated by the quest for social justice, feminist inquiry provides a wide range of perspectives on social, cultural, and political phenomena. Important topics for feminist theory and politics include: the body, class and work, disability, the family, globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, reproduction, science, the self, sex work, and sexuality. Issues on gender such as equality have always existed ever since the early ages. Although perhaps, the movement for gender equality gradually evolved in the late 19th century and was fuelled by women movements in the 20th century; the mild, moderate and radical feminist groups mustered their organizing influence to slowly inflict change in the society. For instance, the barrier that significantly defined the fate of every woman in the employment sector has been increasingly downgraded by the emphasis on competitiveness and productiveness. While the traditional system had emphasized the necessity for strength due largely for the lack or insufficiency of machines, this era highlights the essence of competence and intellectual capital. Hence gender (sexual difference) establishes identity by means of a difference that is finally excised. What we end up with is not difference (that 'slightly alien woman') and like the feminized genre of romance, woman becomes redundant. Her role is to mediate between men, as the role of romance is to mediate between history and the historian's tale or page. This phenomenon is even more prevalent on developing and underdeveloped countries. Further, the family, the school and the religious sector also influenced the line of thinking of people. In effect, the sociological perspective can be used as a framework for this occurrence. A Woman's Space in a Man's Society Inside the philosophy of feminism in literature, it has been argued during the 1980's the controversies on morality of caring. This argument is presented in the work of Carol Gilligan, "A Woman's Place in a Man's Life Cycle." The work of Gilligan analyzed the practice of mothering and caring of women. Being a writer and a feminist Gilligan examined the moral problems of girls and women moral problems and differentiate them from the manner that boys and men. For girls and women, caring relationships are frequently most important; for boys and men, principles is more appropriate to be seen in terms of a person to agree with reasonable rules regarding rights. The theoretical endeavour to see in caring a substitute ethic to a certain extent than just a empirically current predisposition with women was in part a response to the overpowering supremacy that the notion of justice, with its associated conceptual moral values, had been an agreement in the moral theory educated and conferred in philosophy and fields pressured by it in the preceding decade and during most of the history of moral theory. The existence of women's experience, an ethic of care distinguished that caring for children and dependent relative persons is a significant action linking moral values; it observes persons as mutually dependent rather than as free human beings and holds that morality should deal with issues of caring and understanding and relationships between people rather than only or first and foremost the rational decisions of solitary moral agents. Most women choose to talk about moral problems in a more realistic situation, this is considered by Gilligan as a intellectual approach and will able to provide a solution to the issues of morality and caring. Their method of discussion is established in caring. Carol Gilligan explains the method: She defined that women themselves should not be confined in the context of their relationship with men, but also evaluates them using their ability to care. What is a woman's place in man's life cycle The whole lifetime of women according to Gilligan's work is: women as, nurturer, caretaker and helpmate, the weaver of their relationships on which she turns out to be dependent. With this belief, women are challenge by more hypothetical moral issues, women frequently ask for more knowledge and facts. Definitely, women cannot organize principles categorically and obtain a more logical conclusion. Gilligan call this process in her work as a peripheral to or even insignificant to moral conduct. Since, women want more knowledge, in order for them to create the real picture. Preferably, women feel the necessity to talk to the participants, to look through their eyes, and facial expressions, in order to assess the whole scenario. Women's moral decision is made up of, their real situations, all are quantitatively, diverse from the solution like their solutions in a mathematical problem. Women are also like act-deontologists in a broader perspective, because of their own actions, emotions, needs, situational and societal conditions, and their sense of personal thoughts instead of their universal beliefs and their application. When talking about women's position in a man's life there is a question that rises stating whether women should abandon their traditional roles to pursue self-fulfilment. Traditionally, women devote her time, energy, and attention to her family. She is obedient, respectful to her husband, protective to her children, and takes care of the chores while men are considered the head of the family who have the authority to demand on other family members. He is the master of the household and everybody in the household should obey his rules. However, the role of women has changed through time. Women, at present, are educated and work like men. More and more women decided not to enclose themselves to performing their duties in the house as they are continuously recognized at the workplace environment. However, inequality still persists among the majority of women in the world because unlike men, they can not prioritize their careers the way men do. Their family should come first before their careers as a personal choice and not because they are dictated by the society to do so making it quite hard for them to totally abandon their traditional roles and pursue individual self-fulfilment by engaging themselves to other environment. According to Hirshman (1995), the feminist agenda will lead to a strong political development through women in power but the development that women can be a strong force in the society because of many views about feminism still depends on what and how women understood and adhere to the principles of the theory. In Gilligan's work, she has distinguished the metaphorically female moral voice, and has separated it from the metaphorically male moral voice. The moralization of gender is more a substance of how people think, how people reason out, matter of the moral issues people feature to women and men than of true numerical disparities between women's and men's moral reasoning. Gilligan's conclusions reverberate with the experiences of countless people because those experiences are formed, in part, by cultural traditions and typecast of gender which even feminist posits may not disperse. Consequently, both women and men inside the same culture anticipate women and men to show this moral dichotomy, and, it is this belief which has formed both Gilligan's examinations and the plausibility which features them. Whatever moral issues men apprehension of themselves with is classified, marvellously, as subjects of' justice and rights,' while the moral anxieties of women are allocated to the devalued sorts of 'care and personal relationships.' Virginia Woolf's essay "Shakespeare's Sister" is considered to an essay with painstaking power that lies in its capabilities to direct a reader to its perspective. The essay talks to the reader to, think, for example. Woolf's achievements in encouraging non-feminist that deficiency of a female character in Shakespeare is because of the flaws of women other than to social forces and limitations. In this work, Woolf decided to come out, and started to talk to her enemies of her feminist beliefs and she has been criticized by her fellow feminist (Cavell, 1981). Those arguments that claim their perspective and politics should be careful enough that polemic can turn away understanding as fast as an essay, in its in its readiness to listen to and even articulate a contrasting view, may turn away the overpoweringly committed. It is not anything in resistance to the essay that it is not polemic, just as it is not anything in antagonism to polemic that it is not an essay. Even though "Shakespeare's Sister" reveals with an autobiographical tale, it is a tale that centres the reader's interest on Woolf's thought, on the subject of women and fiction, not on Virginia Woolf herself: Woolf presents the readers a little about herself to help convey into focus the difficulty of the thought, the significance with which she advances the topic, not because she wants us to like her (DuPlessis and Blau:1985). This curiosity in the well-chosen evidence that will help to give details one's facts is innermost to personal analysis, as is the longing to put explanation in the context of everyday life. In this mixed and ongoing discussion the essay must not only give explanation its views but also demonstrate an enthusiasm to be convinced otherwise. Woolf repeatedly pleas to her frame of mind, her view, her own facts, scrutinizing accepted beliefs against the text and her. So there is a sagacity of literature being unlock to anyone willing and able--which is why she disagrees for rooms and money to do that kind of thorough thinking. It is not a kind of philosophy dependent relative on any one teaching, on any scheme (Cavell:1981). Woolf demonstrates women the aptitude they previously articulate in spite of dissuasion from others and from themselves. Like all any other writers, Woolf is adhering her principles, particularly on women, consequently results to cultural, political and social factions because of the diverse stakes of people who are directly and/or indirectly concerned with the controversial issues on feminism, her essay, "Shakespeare's Sister" serves as an efficient medium of expressing such beliefs while protecting the specific interest of the poet as well as the people who are characterized in the feminist literary pieces. As such, there will be enough leeway, freedom, space as well as flexibility regarding the specific applications and truth of claims when expressed poetically. Most feminist writers could be observed to take on the protective nature of the openness of poetry to have a sense of control and litheness of expressing ideals and view points. Moreover, writers who are characterized with this type of defence or protective boundary against the consequences of communicating and articulating their strong beliefs through the arts are accorded with much freedom. This very different in the case of more aggressive communication media that literally and frankly states their concerns regarding equality. Conclusion It is important to highlight the continuous evolution of techniques and means of expressing feelings and ideals through writing. This opens new opportunities for advocates of gender equality to contribute to the feminist cause while also taking into consideration the privacy and other personal nature of the contents as well as message of the poems published. Literature is considerable as a direct and active involvement supporting the ideals of feminism, poem serves as an avenue to take control of the public as well as the private experiences of women that are protected under the principles of feminism. The experimental initiatives among feminist to use literature to creatively cast their stand on societal issues contributes to the rich history and substance of feminism as a political movement in the history of mankind. Similarly, efforts to discover ways of expressing one's feminist opinion and stand on particular issues that directly confronts the society can provide an opportunity for development on different writing styles among poets. This emphasizes the extensive development possibilities in the art of poetry as contributed by the feminist movement in literature. The fight for equality is really dependent on whether a woman is aware of her own capabilities. Women should be able to built their confidence and be more independent so that the relationship between men and women will be more equal. However, the fact that not all women are liberated enough to fully express equality among the male population due primarily to the fact that they themselves choose to be so because of the "womanly" duties and responsibilities that they are willing to engage themselves in appears to hinder feminist expression. As such, expression of fight for equality for women using literature describes the ways incorporated by poets to express feminist ideals but not fully revoking their submissive beliefs on the traditional roles of women in the society. This is particularly, obvious in the works of Gilligan and Woolf that encourages liberation among women through depiction of abuse and other forms of gender inequality. Works Cited Cavell, Stanley. Pursuits of Happiness. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1981. Crush, J. Power of Development. London: Routledge,1995. DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. "For the Etruscans." The New Feminist Criticism. Ed. Elaine Showalter. New York: Pantheon, 1985. Hirshman, M. Women and Development a critique InFeminism/ Postmodernism/Development, London: Routledge, 1995. Jacqui A and Albrecht L, The Third Wave: Feminist Perspectives on Racism. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1988. Read More