INJILA MUSLIM ZAIDI

B.A. LL..B (Hons.)

REGULAR (1st year)

POLITICAL SCIENCE

FEMINISM

INTRODUCTION

Feminism is a commitment to achieve the goals of equality for women with respect to men. It
aims to end the male dominance in society and give women equal rights as men possess. The
main concern is the status and role of women in relation to men. It holds that “Women are not
born but made.” Its men who mould women according to their needs and desires. As write
and editor Marie Shear famously wrote in 1986, "Feminism is the radical notion that women
are people." This radical notion is not exclusive to women: men, while benefiting from being
the dominant sex, also have a stake in overcoming the restrictive roles that deprive them of
full humanity.1

Feminism holds that women have suffered and are still suffering injustice because of their
sex; hence it seeks effective measures for the redressal of that injustice. In short it implies a
voice of protest against the inferior status accorded to women in society, which is the product
of the institution of patriarchy, and not based on reason.23

Though the media has maligned feminism as a drive for selfish fulfilment by female
professionals, those who stand to gain the most are actually those who have the least. The
demand for full equality for all women is profoundly radicalizing when it addresses the
additional layers of discrimination women experience because of class, race, sexuality,
disability, and age, and also the heightened impact on women and children of war, poverty
and environmental degradation. Multi-issue feminism quickly develops into a critique of the

1
 “Feminism 101,” Red Letter Press, 27 August 2007, http://www.redletterpress.org/feminism101.html
(accessed Date Month Year).
2
Concept of ideology; an introduction to political theory by O.P.GAUBA
3
Patriarchy means ‘rule of the father’. It is applied to denote male domination in general, including its
occurrence in labour market as well as domestic division of labour.

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 whole social system. As Clara Fraser, the pioneering theorist and builder of socialist
feminism, wrote, "The logic of feminism is to expand into generalized radicalism.” Clara
Fraser, "The Emancipation of Women," in Revolution, She Wrote .

The word ‘Feminism’ which has been the Merriam- Webster’s word of the year in 2017 is
still misunderstood by people. People instead of taking action towards gender equality are
talking much about it and taking Feminism critically.

MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING FEMINISM

 Feminism encompasses a huge variety of people and positions. Feminists are religious,
atheistic, and somewhere in between; They're Black, White, Latino, Asian and any
combination of the above. They are married, single, dating, in open relationships and in
polyamourous relationships; they're LGBTQIA, straight and asexual. they're transsexual,
female, male and gender queer; they're feminine, masculine, all of the above and none of the
above. They're pro-choice, pro-life, politically liberal and politically conservative. They're
young, young at heart and old. Some of the famous misconceptions faced by Feminists are
listed below:

1. Feminists hate men.

2. Feminists are angry.
3. Feminists are unattractive and not feminine.
4. All feminists are lesbians.
5. Feminists are all pro-choice.
6. If you are a feminist, you cannot be religious.
7. All feminists are career women and do not support stay-at-home moms.
8. Feminists don’t believe in marriage.4

“Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft,
destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.”

-By Pat Robertson

4
https://www.berry.edu/womens_studies/myths/

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 Priyanka Chopra, a famous star and UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador said in an
interview that "There is movement but it is very nominal. We need to work so much more. In
our country and across the globe, girls are treated as secondary citizen. They face violence
and abuse everywhere. And feminism is a way to control that situation, but it has become a
negative term,"5

Feminism for her, is about women getting the opportunities that men have always enjoyed,
not to snatch away the rights of men but to reach up to the same level, where men stand.

If you have ever found yourself saying “I’m not a feminist, but I am for
equality,” then ask yourself why you do not claim the title? If it is because of the
misconceptions of what a feminist truly is then empower yourself to raise awareness about
what feminism is really all about. Feminists are all about equality between genders.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX AND GENDER?

Sex is whether or not someone is male or female. Gender is the social construction of
feminine and masculine traits. When we use the term ‘sex’ its scope is limited to biological
differences such as reproductive function and secondary characteristic such as body hair and
breast development. But the term ‘gender’ refers to cultural ideas that construct ideas and
images of both females and males. Nature has divided us between men and women but our
culture has determined their role and status in our society.

ISSUES RELATING TO SEX AND GENDER

The issue Division of society into men and women

Point of division Sex and Gender

Basis of division Product of nature and product of culture
Symptom of division Natural inequality and conventional inequality
Character of division Unalterable and alterable

CONCLUSION
5
Outlook magazine’s “People still don’t understand what Feminism actually is: Priyanka Chopra.”

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Why this commitment; Feminism is important is another a question in peoples mind? What is
the role of feminism? What has it done for society? As such it is not a revolution that will
give freedom to people immediately or will bring a drastic change in society but if one reads
about the real stories of women’s harassment faced by them and having no way to come out
of this problem like sexual harassments, feelings of being a means of entertainment of men
and maids in homes Feminism is a big platform for them to speak out their problems. There
are many stories published in newspapers and magazines in which women shared their pain
and for these women #me too (a feminist movement) has become a big platform for them
who could not share their trauma and stood up against the harassers .

Currently, there are two broad views concerning equal rights for women: (a) one view is that
there is no difference between men and women as regards their capabilities; hence they
should be governed by the same laws; and (b) another view is that women are essentially
different from men-biologically, culturally and socially; they should be given equal
opportunities to develop and apply their distinctive capabilities along with equal rights. Thus,
women could be exempted from hazardous tasks, like underground mining and working in
night shifts. Similarly, women should be entitled maternity leave and related benefits,
arrangements for maintenance and custody of children after divorce, etc.

In a nutshell, feminist perspective on justice calls for securing the overall

development of women, including improvement of their health and education as well as
giving them adequate share in economic and political power.