A brief powerpoint on the diverse schools of feminist thought and what they entail

1. SCHOOLS OF FEMINIST THOUGHT

2. There are several different types of
feminist theory.
• Liberal feminism
• Liberal feminism is rooted in the belief
that women as well as men are rights
bearing and autonomous human beings
• Liberal feminism central core aspects are
rationality, individual choice, equal rights
and equal opportunities for women

5. Criticisms to Liberal feminism

6.  Radical feminists argue that to argue on the basis of women’s similarity
to men merely assimilates women into an unchanged male sphere.
 Its individualist assumptions make it difficult to see the ways in which
they argue that underlying social structures and values disadvantage
women even if women are not dependent on men they are dependent on
a patriarchal state
 Liberal feminism as a study allows too much of its forces to fall on a
metamorphosis of women into men hence disregard the traditional role
of women
 By focusing on the individual it puts over emphasis on the rational
instead of the emotional state whereas a human is intrinsically
both, and in doing so discredits the importance of a community.

7. Radical feminism
 This type of feminists focus on women as
a class, and particularly a class that is
dominated by another class, the male
class
 Unlike liberal feminists radical feminism
builds its arguments that focus the
differences between men and women,
example of radical feminists include
Catherine Mackinnon, Christine Littleton,

8. Littleton
 Equality as an acceptance.

9. Cultural feminism
 This type focuses on a woman’s difference
and embraces it, a cultural feminist Carol
Gilligan that women because of their
different experiences spark in a different
voice from the men

10. criticisms
 Mackinnon criticizes the inner voice of the
‘woman’ as she says that this inner voice has
after all been constructed in response to the
patriarchy hence the voice is just another
voice of the patriarchy and until women
cease to be victims of insubordination then
they cannot speak for themselves.

11. Postmodern Feminism
 This type eschews around the idea of unitary
truth and of objective reality, it believes in
categories and especially the gender
categories are social constructs, these
constructs are products of the patriarchy and
hence needs feminist reconstruction. it put
emphasis that there is no such thing as the
essential woman or a woman’s point of view

12. Criticisms
 It is argued that it runs the risk of
undercutting the basis of a politics of
action based upon gender indifference
through its very anti essentialism.
 Simone de Beauvoir argued that male
definitions of the woman shouldn’t hold
on that women should define themselves
outside the male dyad; she argued that
women must be the subject rather than
the object of analysis.

13. Marxist Feminism
 This type focuses on the social institutions of
private property and capitalism to explain
and criticize gender inequality and
oppression.
 It states that private property gives rise to
Economic inequality, dependence, political
and domestic struggle between the sexes and
it is the root of women’s oppression

14. Criticisms
 Radical feminists argue that elements of
modern society (law, religion and politics are
all the product of males hence have a
patriarchal character, thus the best solution
for women’s oppression would be to treat
patriarchy not as a subset of capitalism but as
a problem on its own, hence eliminating
women oppressions would be to eliminate all
forms of male domination

15. Socialist feminism
 This type focuses on the public and private
spheres of a woman’s life, and argues that
liberation can only be achieved by working to
end both the economic and cultural sources
of women’s oppression

16. Thanks for
your time, it
was a