Women's Studies 100 Studyguide
>Motherhood as a social institution
Relationship:
--Biological
Institution:
--Women’s primary role
--Social (i.e. cultural, financial)
--Set of expectations and obligations, including $$
Representations of Motherhood
•Religion, Art, Literature, Media
•Traditional images tend to portray the social institution of motherhood rather than the biological state-but the two are often conflated
“Backlash” during 1980s-mothers portrayed positively, single non-mothers depicted as neurotic, unfulfilled, unhappy and dangerous
>Alternatives to motherhood/recent trends in reproduction
--Alternatives to traditional motherhood
-Reproductive Rights
-Alternative/Communal Living
-Reproductive Technologies
--Seemingly liberating, but perhaps constraining?
--Infertile women/Older women/lesbians
--Surrogacy (woman as object/vessel?)
Comtemporary trends of reproduction
--Fewer children
--Late children
--Single mothers
--Child free
Reasons for change
--Availability of Contraception
--Increased Education
--Increased workforce participation
--Health care technology
>Common arguments/rhetoric for and against birth control and/or abortion
Some reasons why ppl oppose reproductive rights
--On religious or moral grounds
--Because they believe that access to education and contraception will encourage moral laxity in sexual behavior
--Because of misinformation and misconceptions (i.e. “the morning after pill”)
>Gendered health issues (i.e. “mythical norm as standard, insurance issues, quality of health care, etc.)
Gendered health issues
1.Differential treatment as providers, caretakers, and as patients
2.Gender bias in research
3.Women’s Access to health care benefits
4.Reproductive organs as hazards and normal reproduction as a health problem
Mythical Norm” as standard
Historically less research/funding for women’s-only issues
Not seen as “public health” issue, but “women’s issue”
i.e. Human Papilloma Virus/Cervical Cancer
Studies/research biased towards male participants
Women, ethnic minorities not included
i.e. aspirin for heart disease
Studies in the mid-90s demonstrated that the male and female heart and blood vessels are different-diagnostic methods and treatments must differ
Male bodies as standard
Insurance biased towards men’s needs
To date, more insurance plans cover Viagra than oral contraceptives
½ fee for service plans cover hormonal contraceptives (though 90% cover sterilization, and 75% cover abortion)
40% of managed health care plans (HMOs) cover all five FDA approved methods of oral contraception
40% of managed health care plans bar contraceptive coverage
**Refusal statutes in 12 states, more pending . . .
Quality of health care
Women given less complete/shorter exams than men
Men have more tests performed
Studies show men more likely to receive prompt treatment of heart, lung and brain diseases
Far more likely to classify psychosomatic reactions in women (i.e hysteria)
Quality of health care
Funding Issues
Disproportionate number of women and elderly on federal medical programs-routinely targeted for cuts
Title X funding for “Family Planning”
Once a woman can no longer bear children, she is no longer covered for routine reproductive health services (i.e. pap smears, etc.)
>Methods for regulating sexuality (i.e. compulsory heterosexuality, sexual scripts, etc.)
Methods for regulating sexuality
-Sexual Scripts
-Compulsory Heterosexuality
-The “myth of the vaginal orgasm”
-Lack of meaningful discourse
Sexual scripts
-Sexual scripts “reflect social norms, practices and workings of power, and they provide frameworks and guidelines for sexual feelings and behaviors” -often reflect the “mythical norm”
-Vary across cultures and time
Compulsory Heterosexuality
-Hetero-normativity is EVERYWHERE
-Television, film, advertisements, greeting cards, textbooks, law and language enforce hetero-normativity
-Cultural institutions such as schools and marriage enforce compulsory heterosexuality
-June 26th, 2003-US Supreme Court ruled laws against sodomy unconstitutional
-Abstinence until marriage programs
-Sex education cannot promote a "homosexual lifestyle," portray "homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style," or "suggest that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex"
>The “myth of the vaginal orgasm”
-Based on male standards: As the penis is the male organ for sexual pleasure and reproduction, the vagina must be the female organ for sexual pleasure-”women defined in terms of how they benefited men’s lives” (375)
-Freud says: The clitoral orgasm is juvenile-women who fail to move to the vaginal orgasm have failed to “adjust” to their role as women
-Women were made to feel sexually inadequate due to their failure to achieve vaginal orgasm-a personal problem rather than a systemic misunderstanding
>The “gag rule”
No US family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to: perform abortions in cases other than a threat to a woman’s life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion, or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country
-During his first week in office, President
Clinton reversed the Global Gag Rule on
international family planning assistance.
-During his first week in office, President
Bush restored the Global Gag Rule, denying
millions of women access to birth control.
>The differences between cultural and liberal feminist stances on motherhood
Feminist Standpoints on Motherhood
Liberal
•Motherhood as social institution is oppressive to women
•Keeps them tied to home and dependent upon men
Women make up 50% of workforce, but due to cultural conceptions must labor under “double-bind”
Cultural
•Motherhood as unique potential
•Mothers are central to potential cultural and social change
•Mothers share a “distinctive moral sensibility” (relates to cultural institution)
>Poverty, including measurement of, general stats and trends
US Poverty Guidelines
-Poverty thresholds and guidelines originally developed by Molly Orshansky of the SSA (1963)
-$ cost of Dept. of Ag. "economy” plan for families of 3 people and multiplied it by 3
-“Basket of goods” to measure inflation
-Whose basket? (Mythical norm)
Summary of International Poverty Comparison
The U.S. has the 2nd highest child poverty rate of industrialized nations (22.4%).
The U.S. has the highest child poverty rate for single parent households of industrialized nations (55.4%).
It is more difficult to get out of poverty in the U.S. than any other industrialized country.
Wealth is determined by calculating the value of what people own.
Summary of Wealth Distribution
Bottom 90% own 30% of Wealth
Roughly, over the last 20 years the average net value of the bottom 60% of Americans has dropped nearly 70%
Income is determined by how much money a person makes per year (before taxes).
Summary of Income Distribution
Clearly, since 1979 the rich have been getting much richer while the poor have gained little in overall income.
After-tax-income of the top 1% in the U.S. has risen 201%
Summary of Male/Female Income Distribution
On average, males make 10,000 dollars more per year than females.
Females make roughly 75 cents for every 1 male dollar.
Summary of People without Health Insurance
White = 11.1%
Asian = 18.6%
Black = 19.4%
Hispanic = 32.7%
Summary of Income and Poverty Among Race
White per capita income = $26,774
Black per capita income = $15,775
Hispanic per capita income = $13,492
White poverty percentage = 8.2%
Black poverty percentage = 24.4%
Hispanic poverty percentage = 22.5%
>Equal Pay Act of 1963/wage gap
Equal pay for equal work--assumed men and women held the same type of jobs. Was changed to “substantially similar” work
>The way that gender segregation is at play in the workforce
Work is gendered
-Definition of work and measurements of productivity
-Value of Work
-Link between Productive and Reproductive
-Intersects with race, sexuality, class, and disability
Gender Segregation
-Women most often in low-paying positions (i.e. childcare, clerical support, domestic)
-Women in professions are segregated (i.e. female doctors as ob/gyn or pediatrician, professors in the humanities, etc.)
-Women succeeding in “male” roles often do so by adhering to “male” standards/attitudes
>Social reproductive work
-Array of activities and relationships involved in maintaining people on a daily basis and across generations .
--Includes economic activity (consumption and production) plus domestic and family labor.
>Radical (Marxist) feminist approaches and proposed solutions to housework
>“glass ceiling/sticky floor”
Glass ceiling
-Although legislative restrictions have been abolished, women still face “invisible” barriers to advancement
-Women with children (or potential for children) seen as “risky,” less committed
-1995 Commission led by Bob Dole found that women and minorities are still significantly blocked from managerial/executive positions
-Women “promoted” at equal rates to men but to lateral rather than vertical positions
sticky floor
Women Stuck in low wage service jobs; part-time and contingent work
>The “mommy track”
-Women (and men) who choose to commit to parenthood should have allowances made, in terms of flexible work hours, extended “trial periods” for promotion, adequate daycare options, etc.
-Cultural feminist idea
>The “double-shift”
-Women who work full time still bear the brunt of childcare/domestic responsibilities at home
-Working mothers have two careers
>Affirmative action
-Collection of Practices and Policies aimed at eliminating discrimination and increasing diversity in employment and education (formal & informal)
-Utilization
-good will to reach targets
-record keeping
>Sexual harassment
>“comparable worth”
-Relative worth of different jobs based on skills and experience
-Wages tied to the value of the job and not the gender of the person doing the job
>FMLA (what is it? When did it pass?)Family & Medical Leave Act 1993
Companies with 50 workers must allow 12 weeks of annual unpaid leave for employees who need time off to care for seriously ill dependents, pregnancy, or own illness
guarantees health benefits and give same or equivalent job when you return
>Domestic violence-definition, stats, attitudes and ideologies that perpetuate it
Domestic Violence
-Women 11 times more likely to be victims than perpetrators
-Every year, 2.5 million women are assaulted by a male partner in the US
-Women in the US are more likely to have been injured, raped, or murdered by a male partner than by all other types of attackers
-Every year, about 2,000 women are murdered by their current or former male partners in the US
-1992-Surgeon General declared that physical abuse by partners was the leading cause of injury for women aged 15-44 . . .
-AMA called domestic violence “an epidemic”
-A man beats a woman every 9 seconds in the US
-More than ½ the women assaulted retain injuries (app. 25% seek medical attention)
-Between 10 and 33% of women visiting ER, and up to 25% of pregnant women seeking prenatal care are victims of partner abuse
>Techniques or strategies used by abusers to maintain power
-Denial: “creates and reinforces the perceptions that a) battered women are weak, b) we are not weak, c) therefore we are safe” (332)
-Shame
-Financial concerns (particularly with regards to children)
-Inadequate resources (i.e. shelters)
-Fear of legal system
-Fear of further violence/retribution
>Rape, acquaintance rape and “rapability” (i.e. Catherine McKinnon)
Rape & Sexual Abuse
-Rape is forced sexual intercourse
-Includes “psychological coercion” as well as physical force
-Acquaintance rape more common than stranger rape
-“Simple Rape”: no violence (?), a single attacker, no other crime committed
-McKinnon-rape and “rapability” central to our construction of gender
>The ways that religion, and particularly Judeo-Christianity, have oppressed women
Many biblical verses seem to prescribe or proscribe women’s actions and social status
-1 Corinthians 11:7-9: “For a man…is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason…the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.”
-1 Corinthians 14: 34-35: “…women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church”
-Ephesians 5:22-24: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife…wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
Major Biblical Protagonists were male
-God, Moses, Jesus
-“Maleness of God marginalizes or excludes the value and importance of femaleness, and thus of women, while promoting the value and importance of men…”
-“God is male, males are God” (Mary Daly)
Major female figures promote & reinforce cultural images of women
Eve: brought sin into the world, brought pain upon women in childbirth
Mary: Virgin Mother (enough said…)
Mary Magdelene: whore
Delilah: temptress
Women excluded from religious leadership
-No participation in formulation of religious codes of ethics
-Little agency in personally interpreting the word of God (God only speaks to men…)
-Medievil Council convened to determine whether women and animals had souls. Animals were denied; women squeaked by with one vote.
>Ways of reconciling religion/spirituality with feminism
Religion as empowering to women
-Julian of Norwich, Margery Kemp
-Spiritual strength/enlightenment (i.e. slavery, civil rights, etc.)
-Female-centered religions
>“victim feminism” vs. “power feminism”
>Reasons for and arguments from the feminist “backlash”
Susan Faludi
-Reactionary response to the gains of women’s movement
-counter-argument that blames feminists for the problems they identified
-goal to discredit feminism
>Anti-feminist stereotypes of feminism
-Too radical (unrealistic)
-Rejection of family
-Lesbians
-Bra burners
-Man Hating
-Aggressive Style
-Anti-Christian
>Womanism
>Marxist/Materialist/Socialist feminism
>Eco-feminism
>Radical Feminism
>Post-feminism” (in all its manifestations)
>International/Global Feminism
-Women from each nation have the right to determine and interpret for themselves the issues that most affect their status
-Action: loosely connected web of organi-zations and movements operating on local, national and transnational level, expanding policy debates, shaping and transforming international institutions
>NGO (Non-governmental organization)
Voluntary associations, non-profit groups, labor union, activists, community based organizations, (not under the direct control of the government), example YWCA
>Gender Empowerment means
-Political Representation
-Literacy/Education
-Labor Force
-Managerial/Administration
>Beijing 4th World Conference on Women
-4th World Conference on Women
-Governments pledged to “revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex.”
-governments pledged in the Outcome Document they adopted to review domestic legislation “with a view to striving to remove discriminatory provisions as soon as possible, preferably by 2005…”
-The 2005 deadline has not been met and laws that explicitly discriminate against women remain in force in many countries.
>Capabilities Approach Amartya Sen Nobel Prize (1998)
Universal set of values that could be used to judge the quality of life in any society
-right to life, bodily health and integrity
-right to participate in political affairs
-right to hold property
>Issues/state of international women’s rights
-Polygamy
-Wife Obedience Laws
-Marital Rape
-Domestic Violence
-“Honor” crimes
-Sex trade/trafficking
-Labor Laws
-Citizenship/Voting Rights
>Ethnocentrism/cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism
Evaluating behaviors and beliefs in other societies in terms of your own culture
Cultural relativism
Assess the social and political status of women from within the framework of each group’s unique cultural and historical context
Relationship:
--Biological
Institution:
--Women’s primary role
--Social (i.e. cultural, financial)
--Set of expectations and obligations, including $$
Representations of Motherhood
•Religion, Art, Literature, Media
•Traditional images tend to portray the social institution of motherhood rather than the biological state-but the two are often conflated
“Backlash” during 1980s-mothers portrayed positively, single non-mothers depicted as neurotic, unfulfilled, unhappy and dangerous
>Alternatives to motherhood/recent trends in reproduction
--Alternatives to traditional motherhood
-Reproductive Rights
-Alternative/Communal Living
-Reproductive Technologies
--Seemingly liberating, but perhaps constraining?
--Infertile women/Older women/lesbians
--Surrogacy (woman as object/vessel?)
Comtemporary trends of reproduction
--Fewer children
--Late children
--Single mothers
--Child free
Reasons for change
--Availability of Contraception
--Increased Education
--Increased workforce participation
--Health care technology
>Common arguments/rhetoric for and against birth control and/or abortion
Some reasons why ppl oppose reproductive rights
--On religious or moral grounds
--Because they believe that access to education and contraception will encourage moral laxity in sexual behavior
--Because of misinformation and misconceptions (i.e. “the morning after pill”)
>Gendered health issues (i.e. “mythical norm as standard, insurance issues, quality of health care, etc.)
Gendered health issues
1.Differential treatment as providers, caretakers, and as patients
2.Gender bias in research
3.Women’s Access to health care benefits
4.Reproductive organs as hazards and normal reproduction as a health problem
Mythical Norm” as standard
Historically less research/funding for women’s-only issues
Not seen as “public health” issue, but “women’s issue”
i.e. Human Papilloma Virus/Cervical Cancer
Studies/research biased towards male participants
Women, ethnic minorities not included
i.e. aspirin for heart disease
Studies in the mid-90s demonstrated that the male and female heart and blood vessels are different-diagnostic methods and treatments must differ
Male bodies as standard
Insurance biased towards men’s needs
To date, more insurance plans cover Viagra than oral contraceptives
½ fee for service plans cover hormonal contraceptives (though 90% cover sterilization, and 75% cover abortion)
40% of managed health care plans (HMOs) cover all five FDA approved methods of oral contraception
40% of managed health care plans bar contraceptive coverage
**Refusal statutes in 12 states, more pending . . .
Quality of health care
Women given less complete/shorter exams than men
Men have more tests performed
Studies show men more likely to receive prompt treatment of heart, lung and brain diseases
Far more likely to classify psychosomatic reactions in women (i.e hysteria)
Quality of health care
Funding Issues
Disproportionate number of women and elderly on federal medical programs-routinely targeted for cuts
Title X funding for “Family Planning”
Once a woman can no longer bear children, she is no longer covered for routine reproductive health services (i.e. pap smears, etc.)
>Methods for regulating sexuality (i.e. compulsory heterosexuality, sexual scripts, etc.)
Methods for regulating sexuality
-Sexual Scripts
-Compulsory Heterosexuality
-The “myth of the vaginal orgasm”
-Lack of meaningful discourse
Sexual scripts
-Sexual scripts “reflect social norms, practices and workings of power, and they provide frameworks and guidelines for sexual feelings and behaviors” -often reflect the “mythical norm”
-Vary across cultures and time
Compulsory Heterosexuality
-Hetero-normativity is EVERYWHERE
-Television, film, advertisements, greeting cards, textbooks, law and language enforce hetero-normativity
-Cultural institutions such as schools and marriage enforce compulsory heterosexuality
-June 26th, 2003-US Supreme Court ruled laws against sodomy unconstitutional
-Abstinence until marriage programs
-Sex education cannot promote a "homosexual lifestyle," portray "homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style," or "suggest that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex"
>The “myth of the vaginal orgasm”
-Based on male standards: As the penis is the male organ for sexual pleasure and reproduction, the vagina must be the female organ for sexual pleasure-”women defined in terms of how they benefited men’s lives” (375)
-Freud says: The clitoral orgasm is juvenile-women who fail to move to the vaginal orgasm have failed to “adjust” to their role as women
-Women were made to feel sexually inadequate due to their failure to achieve vaginal orgasm-a personal problem rather than a systemic misunderstanding
>The “gag rule”
No US family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to: perform abortions in cases other than a threat to a woman’s life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion, or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country
-During his first week in office, President
Clinton reversed the Global Gag Rule on
international family planning assistance.
-During his first week in office, President
Bush restored the Global Gag Rule, denying
millions of women access to birth control.
>The differences between cultural and liberal feminist stances on motherhood
Feminist Standpoints on Motherhood
Liberal
•Motherhood as social institution is oppressive to women
•Keeps them tied to home and dependent upon men
Women make up 50% of workforce, but due to cultural conceptions must labor under “double-bind”
Cultural
•Motherhood as unique potential
•Mothers are central to potential cultural and social change
•Mothers share a “distinctive moral sensibility” (relates to cultural institution)
>Poverty, including measurement of, general stats and trends
US Poverty Guidelines
-Poverty thresholds and guidelines originally developed by Molly Orshansky of the SSA (1963)
-$ cost of Dept. of Ag. "economy” plan for families of 3 people and multiplied it by 3
-“Basket of goods” to measure inflation
-Whose basket? (Mythical norm)
Summary of International Poverty Comparison
The U.S. has the 2nd highest child poverty rate of industrialized nations (22.4%).
The U.S. has the highest child poverty rate for single parent households of industrialized nations (55.4%).
It is more difficult to get out of poverty in the U.S. than any other industrialized country.
Wealth is determined by calculating the value of what people own.
Summary of Wealth Distribution
Bottom 90% own 30% of Wealth
Roughly, over the last 20 years the average net value of the bottom 60% of Americans has dropped nearly 70%
Income is determined by how much money a person makes per year (before taxes).
Summary of Income Distribution
Clearly, since 1979 the rich have been getting much richer while the poor have gained little in overall income.
After-tax-income of the top 1% in the U.S. has risen 201%
Summary of Male/Female Income Distribution
On average, males make 10,000 dollars more per year than females.
Females make roughly 75 cents for every 1 male dollar.
Summary of People without Health Insurance
White = 11.1%
Asian = 18.6%
Black = 19.4%
Hispanic = 32.7%
Summary of Income and Poverty Among Race
White per capita income = $26,774
Black per capita income = $15,775
Hispanic per capita income = $13,492
White poverty percentage = 8.2%
Black poverty percentage = 24.4%
Hispanic poverty percentage = 22.5%
>Equal Pay Act of 1963/wage gap
Equal pay for equal work--assumed men and women held the same type of jobs. Was changed to “substantially similar” work
>The way that gender segregation is at play in the workforce
Work is gendered
-Definition of work and measurements of productivity
-Value of Work
-Link between Productive and Reproductive
-Intersects with race, sexuality, class, and disability
Gender Segregation
-Women most often in low-paying positions (i.e. childcare, clerical support, domestic)
-Women in professions are segregated (i.e. female doctors as ob/gyn or pediatrician, professors in the humanities, etc.)
-Women succeeding in “male” roles often do so by adhering to “male” standards/attitudes
>Social reproductive work
-Array of activities and relationships involved in maintaining people on a daily basis and across generations .
--Includes economic activity (consumption and production) plus domestic and family labor.
>Radical (Marxist) feminist approaches and proposed solutions to housework
>“glass ceiling/sticky floor”
Glass ceiling
-Although legislative restrictions have been abolished, women still face “invisible” barriers to advancement
-Women with children (or potential for children) seen as “risky,” less committed
-1995 Commission led by Bob Dole found that women and minorities are still significantly blocked from managerial/executive positions
-Women “promoted” at equal rates to men but to lateral rather than vertical positions
sticky floor
Women Stuck in low wage service jobs; part-time and contingent work
>The “mommy track”
-Women (and men) who choose to commit to parenthood should have allowances made, in terms of flexible work hours, extended “trial periods” for promotion, adequate daycare options, etc.
-Cultural feminist idea
>The “double-shift”
-Women who work full time still bear the brunt of childcare/domestic responsibilities at home
-Working mothers have two careers
>Affirmative action
-Collection of Practices and Policies aimed at eliminating discrimination and increasing diversity in employment and education (formal & informal)
-Utilization
-good will to reach targets
-record keeping
>Sexual harassment
>“comparable worth”
-Relative worth of different jobs based on skills and experience
-Wages tied to the value of the job and not the gender of the person doing the job
>FMLA (what is it? When did it pass?)Family & Medical Leave Act 1993
Companies with 50 workers must allow 12 weeks of annual unpaid leave for employees who need time off to care for seriously ill dependents, pregnancy, or own illness
guarantees health benefits and give same or equivalent job when you return
>Domestic violence-definition, stats, attitudes and ideologies that perpetuate it
Domestic Violence
-Women 11 times more likely to be victims than perpetrators
-Every year, 2.5 million women are assaulted by a male partner in the US
-Women in the US are more likely to have been injured, raped, or murdered by a male partner than by all other types of attackers
-Every year, about 2,000 women are murdered by their current or former male partners in the US
-1992-Surgeon General declared that physical abuse by partners was the leading cause of injury for women aged 15-44 . . .
-AMA called domestic violence “an epidemic”
-A man beats a woman every 9 seconds in the US
-More than ½ the women assaulted retain injuries (app. 25% seek medical attention)
-Between 10 and 33% of women visiting ER, and up to 25% of pregnant women seeking prenatal care are victims of partner abuse
>Techniques or strategies used by abusers to maintain power
-Denial: “creates and reinforces the perceptions that a) battered women are weak, b) we are not weak, c) therefore we are safe” (332)
-Shame
-Financial concerns (particularly with regards to children)
-Inadequate resources (i.e. shelters)
-Fear of legal system
-Fear of further violence/retribution
>Rape, acquaintance rape and “rapability” (i.e. Catherine McKinnon)
Rape & Sexual Abuse
-Rape is forced sexual intercourse
-Includes “psychological coercion” as well as physical force
-Acquaintance rape more common than stranger rape
-“Simple Rape”: no violence (?), a single attacker, no other crime committed
-McKinnon-rape and “rapability” central to our construction of gender
>The ways that religion, and particularly Judeo-Christianity, have oppressed women
Many biblical verses seem to prescribe or proscribe women’s actions and social status
-1 Corinthians 11:7-9: “For a man…is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason…the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.”
-1 Corinthians 14: 34-35: “…women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church”
-Ephesians 5:22-24: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife…wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
Major Biblical Protagonists were male
-God, Moses, Jesus
-“Maleness of God marginalizes or excludes the value and importance of femaleness, and thus of women, while promoting the value and importance of men…”
-“God is male, males are God” (Mary Daly)
Major female figures promote & reinforce cultural images of women
Eve: brought sin into the world, brought pain upon women in childbirth
Mary: Virgin Mother (enough said…)
Mary Magdelene: whore
Delilah: temptress
Women excluded from religious leadership
-No participation in formulation of religious codes of ethics
-Little agency in personally interpreting the word of God (God only speaks to men…)
-Medievil Council convened to determine whether women and animals had souls. Animals were denied; women squeaked by with one vote.
>Ways of reconciling religion/spirituality with feminism
Religion as empowering to women
-Julian of Norwich, Margery Kemp
-Spiritual strength/enlightenment (i.e. slavery, civil rights, etc.)
-Female-centered religions
>“victim feminism” vs. “power feminism”
>Reasons for and arguments from the feminist “backlash”
Susan Faludi
-Reactionary response to the gains of women’s movement
-counter-argument that blames feminists for the problems they identified
-goal to discredit feminism
>Anti-feminist stereotypes of feminism
-Too radical (unrealistic)
-Rejection of family
-Lesbians
-Bra burners
-Man Hating
-Aggressive Style
-Anti-Christian
>Womanism
>Marxist/Materialist/Socialist feminism
>Eco-feminism
>Radical Feminism
>Post-feminism” (in all its manifestations)
>International/Global Feminism
-Women from each nation have the right to determine and interpret for themselves the issues that most affect their status
-Action: loosely connected web of organi-zations and movements operating on local, national and transnational level, expanding policy debates, shaping and transforming international institutions
>NGO (Non-governmental organization)
Voluntary associations, non-profit groups, labor union, activists, community based organizations, (not under the direct control of the government), example YWCA
>Gender Empowerment means
-Political Representation
-Literacy/Education
-Labor Force
-Managerial/Administration
>Beijing 4th World Conference on Women
-4th World Conference on Women
-Governments pledged to “revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex.”
-governments pledged in the Outcome Document they adopted to review domestic legislation “with a view to striving to remove discriminatory provisions as soon as possible, preferably by 2005…”
-The 2005 deadline has not been met and laws that explicitly discriminate against women remain in force in many countries.
>Capabilities Approach Amartya Sen Nobel Prize (1998)
Universal set of values that could be used to judge the quality of life in any society
-right to life, bodily health and integrity
-right to participate in political affairs
-right to hold property
>Issues/state of international women’s rights
-Polygamy
-Wife Obedience Laws
-Marital Rape
-Domestic Violence
-“Honor” crimes
-Sex trade/trafficking
-Labor Laws
-Citizenship/Voting Rights
>Ethnocentrism/cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism
Evaluating behaviors and beliefs in other societies in terms of your own culture
Cultural relativism
Assess the social and political status of women from within the framework of each group’s unique cultural and historical context