Feminist Political Theory - Book Report/Review Example

Division between public and private in Mary Wollstonecraft's work Public vs. Private in Wollstonecraft's writings: Wollstonecraft is labeled as liberal feminist and her theory feminist political theory. Feminists work to get equality for women under law and also ensure their rights. To remove gender discrimination is their main goal. They are extremely critical of restraints on inclusion of women in public sphere, it being totally a male sphere1 . In fact, Wollstonecraft had shown rather strong liberal feminism which originated from the then situation where women were not allowed to vote and not to think beyond domesticity. In the vindication of rights of women Wollstonecraft compares humans with angels because of their passion and rationality. Human also differ from animal in having imagination and they are thus above animals. But when men call women angels, they put them at superior position. This contradiction with prevailing condition of women, restricted to a inferior private position, created dilemma for her. She valued friendship as a bond between equals based on virtue.2 The concept of public and private domains puzzled Wollstonecraft. What is political or governmental and what is outside it. For her the importance was of relationships among individuals and their relationship with the society. All human are individuals with their rights and her human included woman also in its rightful place. The feminist believe that the democratic theory is patriarchal or male dominated. Wollstonecraft considered the individual, independent human central to her writing. She was provocative in relieving the individual, particularly her own tribe, from biased and repressive social institutions3 . Wollstonecraft has developed her individual liberalism from women's day to day experiences. Women in the early nineteenth century were barred from politics and just trained in only matters of the body and emotions so that4. Wollstonecraft consider such 'education' to woman an attempt to leave them ignorant and never desire anything more from life besides a husband, home and love. This made them a slave in their own ignorance, destined for the private sphere of society. Furthermore, it conditioned them to be subordinate to men and a belief that was 'a weak substitute for simple principles' (Wollstonecraft as in Evans 2-3). Wollstonecraft did not ridicule the women's duties as wife and mother, she in fact closes the gap between public and private life using these private relations as creator of virtue . She explains that public virtues can not be attained without private virtue. The tyranny against women by government originates from tyranny at home by husbands and fathers. For public life she rated virtuous public life as most important duty of a legislator5. Wollstonecraft also stated that justice also had same duties for relation between citizen and relation in private , between family members. Thus the pillars of society, government and justice, had to consider the welfare of individual, the human and not just confine any individual in some stereotypes while leaving others free to do as they wish. An interesting angle of Wolstonecraft's philosophy is explored by Whelehan6 . According to her Wollstonecraft argues the concept of public and private. Public for her is sphere of life where the state can intervene while the private is man's domination without any public interference. She emphasized 'gender man' here while female is the irrational side of human nature she belongs to home as someone to be protected and who has only emotions. In other words the man reigns both public and private arena while woman is only a folly of nature which is to be controlled by man as. Wollstonecraft emphasized that women are both a human and a citizen they should have equal rights. Why should the society be deprived of contribution of half of its population7. Johnston8 arranged views of Wollstonecraft in highly rational manner. The main emphasis by Wollstonecraft for inclusion of women equally in public and private domains is because of three main reasons: first, under present arrangements women are denied the chance to develop as moral human beings and are reduced to vain fools, frustrated old maids, or careless mothers; second, no logic supports denial of women the same educational opportunities as men if society looks for same rationality and virtues in both , and, third, society will benefit in every way if women are given the same rights as men. Wollstonecraft was piqued at the huge public private gap and that half of human population (the women) are not making any effective contribution to public domain. She attributed this to lack of meaningful education, independence of thoughts and equality in marriage. Her views on these factors deserve a place in this article. Education : Wollstonecraft was extremely concerned about women's education. In fact she considered the cause of all miseries was lack of education9. The lack of education or the mere teachings about propriety of a good woman in the name of education prevented them from entering into the public sphere of society. Furthermore, Wollstonecraft advocated a place for women as rational and thinking individuals and not just the object of men's discourse. She argued that true political freedom implied equal liberty of choice of all facilities rather than discriminating between the two. She vehemently condemned the 'disorderly kind of education' (Wollstonecraft 1995: 26 as in Evans 3) women received which prevented them from entering into the rational discourse reserved for men and creating an image of women unsuitable for discussion or deeds that require mental efficiency. It was a serious task for Wollstonecraft to convince people, at that time, that women also possess power of reason, it is only suppressed by lack of education as strongly emphasised by her. 10. According to Johnston11 Wollstonecraft shows influence of Rousseau regarding women's education. Her thoughts were based on the middle class daughter at that time. She had education and was intelligent but no value in the society except being a marriage commodity. The women in agricultural society contributed to economy by their work but the middle class girl had almost everything but no vocation. It is the situation that led both to comment that women too should be educated as men, rather than learning mere feminine propriety and contribute as well to all strata of society and public. She posited that it is lack of education in women explained their position in this ideological concept of a subordinate woman. Any 'natural sagacity' women may have possessed was soon turned 'into life and manners' (Wollstonecraft 1995: 26 in Evans 3) to have propriety of her tribe in order to survive in patriarchal society Women are primarily designated in the society for their reproductive function though if given education they can prove their potential and contribute to intelligent discourse12,13. Marriage: She went through the literature on women by men and found that rather than treating females as human, these were treated as mere women. It surprised her since any society or relationship is inconceivable without the female as equal counterpart of male. The then society emphasised a woman to develop into desirable mistresses rather than caring wives and rational mothers14. Wollstonecraft has shown great influence of Rousseau. She was both in agreement and disagreement on various views with him. The private or public virtue for a women is very difficult. Rousseau and other writers have confined woman to a strict enclosure of propriety i. e. just being feminine in appearance and deeds. It is denial of liberty to reflect and reason. As a result the frustration gave way to vices such as flaunting wealth or if they are ambitious they need to cultivate cunning to fulfill their desires15 .The women of that time also fell prey to taking such an expressions as feminine and lived for love and wealth only. Wollstonecraft blame women for their vanity, felt anguish and wished they should have thought of becoming more virtuous and involve themselves in nobler causes. She emphasized that both boys and girls should be educated together in schools. When they study together they develop decency towards each other rather than sexual distinctions that taint the minds. Since if the marriage is most important bond in the society than both the partners should be modeled same way to prove worthy of this relationship. A marriage has only meaning and is sacred when woman is a companion to men rather than his legalised mistress. On private front she advocated that both man and woman to be equal in education and all other rights in the marriage and family.16 Besides, the education brings virtue in women since she is oppressed and the oppression leads to vices and cunnings as retaliation damaging the society. The women may be ignorant but they can meddle in public affairs. As women is allowed only private accomplishment, men has freedom to have variety of experiences. Women would blow up husband's money making frivolous expenses. The conflicts would result so the society should not enforce restraints but equality to bring virtue in the public and marriages would be sacred17. Liberty or independence: 29- Wollstonecraft considers feminine vanity, on which the women are raised, a hurdle that restricts woman from giving her contribution to society and the public sphere of human life. Since the women could double these contributions so keeping half of population away from their responsibilities is great loss to society and governance18. Wollstonecraft asks for equality of liberty, rights and law. Wollstonecraft never demeaned the domestic roles of women. She clarified that to have rights women need not have same roles as men , they can have rights in what roles they already have. Thus woman's rights and liberty originates from list of her own human rights.19 Wollstonecraft valued the liberty and strength of character greatly. The latter, for her, included economic independence, psychological and moral strength. She agreed with Rousseau that to be alone is necessary for knowledge. She was worried as women are always surrounded by other women. Solitude and reflection is necessary for developing character and knowledge for self-awareness. She has shown criticism for women who showed more concern for discussing their lapdog than their children20. She was also annoyed that the relationship in the social institution are not based on mutual respect, equality and liberty of thoughts so these are not virtuous. The society had many relationships from top to bottom, but all of dominance and subordination21. Conclusion: Wollstonecraft advocated equality of men and women in public and private domains that included education, independence and equality in marriage. She rated virtues in public and private as biggest necessity. She found that both man and woman need to have private virtue since it nurtures public virtue. The women would preserve their reputation while men their honor. Without virtue and moralities the duties of husband, wife, father and mother become relations of convenience. Wollstonecraft may be considered biggest proponent of women's education just as the men study. She ridiculed the then education of women which only taught feminine propriety and made them ignorant and dependent. As a result they were unable to make much contribution to public good. What Wollstonecraft emphasized is reflected in today's human rights. . 18- Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) was a reaction in literary sense to the Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791). 22- Therefore, when Wollstonecraft breached the divide between the public sphere of men and the private domain of women with the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman it left her vulnerable to the misinterpretation of her person. Under this threat there was a decline in the willingness of many women writers 'to speak out publicly, except through literary works that obscured their real political intent' (Fay 1998: 59.) REVIVING THE PUBLIC/PRIVATE DISTINCTION IN FEMINIST THEORIZING TRACY E. HIGGINS Feminist Interpretations of Mary Wollstonecraft Falco- By 1998 Education and contribution to economy Johnston-Both Rousseau's and Wollstonecraft's concern with the education of women stems from a new and increasingly problematic social phenomenon--the emergence of the middle-class daughter, often well educated and intelligent but with no clear value in society except as a marriage commodity. Unlike women of earlier ages (or the poorer classes) she had no real work to do, and the only meaningful role society could offer her was marriage to a middle-class man so that she could become a brood mare, producing, as the saying has it "an heir and a spare." The only alternative Wollstonecraft describes is that, if she does not marry, she becomes an unwelcome lodger in her brother's family, a constant source of trouble for her sister-in-law. in earlier ages, the women in society, except in the very upper ranks, had a clear economic function. In a predominantly agricultural economy the farm wife and mother is essential (similarly in the small family home business). As Marx might put it, she had work to do, and therefore she had an identity; even if in many social matters she clearly ranked below the males of the household, no one questioned her value. The new middle-class daughters had many things that their ancestors might have envied--some education (they could read and write), often a good deal of leisure, a beckoning and tempting social world, many material benefits, and increased freedom--but they often lacked what their ancestors had possessed, some meaningful occupation which conferred upon them a sense of value. Public vs. private: By An advocate for women's education: 4- thesis- Morgan http://adt.waikato.ac.nz/uploads/approved/adt-uow20070228.092833/public/01front.pdf SAPIRO- By Published by Drawing on all of Wollstonecraft's works and treating them thematically rather than sequentially, Sapiro shows that Wollstonecraft's ideas about women's rights, feminism, and gender are elements of a broad and fully developed philosophy, one with significant implications for contemporary democratic and liberal theory . 81- . VW 1792- By Edition: 3 Original from Read More