Feminist theories

Gender Studies · Concepts and theory. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Feminist theories agree that women are disadvantaged but disagree on the cause and the cure. Liberal feminism blames unequal laws and opportunities and asks for reform inside the existing system. Radical feminism names patriarchy, a system of male domination that reaches into family life and sexuality, as the root. Marxist and socialist feminists point to capitalism, class and unpaid housework.

Cultural feminism values qualities linked with women, such as care and cooperation. Postmodern feminism doubts that 'woman' is one fixed category.

Intersectionality adds that gender combines with race, class and other identities to produce distinct forms of discrimination. Eco-feminism and Islamic feminism apply feminist questions to nature and to religious texts.

Rules to remember

Liberal: equal rights through legal reform and education (Wollstonecraft, J. S. Mill, Friedan).
Radical: patriarchy is the root cause (Kate Millett, Sexual Politics, 1970); slogan 'the personal is political'.
Marxist/socialist: capitalism and class; Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884).
Postmodern: gender is performative, not a fixed identity (Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, 1990).
Intersectionality: term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989.
Eco-feminism: term coined by Francoise d'Eaubonne in 1974; links the domination of women and of nature.
Islamic feminism: seeks gender justice by rereading the Quran within an Islamic framework (Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman, 1992).

Common mistake

Students mix up radical and Marxist feminism. Ask what the theory names as the root cause: patriarchy points to radical feminism, capitalism and class point to Marxist or socialist feminism.

Worked example

A writer argues that women are paid less because employers profit from cheap female labour and from the free housework that keeps workers fit for work. Which school of feminism is this?

Find the root cause named: the profit system and unpaid domestic labour.
A liberal feminist would point to unfair laws and unequal opportunity instead.
A radical feminist would point to male domination as a system in itself.
A cause located in capitalism and class belongs to the Marxist or socialist school.

Answer: Marxist/socialist feminism.

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