Feminists are a political movement who focus on the oppression of women and the struggle to end it. They believe that sociology has traditionally taken a ‘malestream’ view which ignores women. Feminism is a fairly new concept and it examines the women’s experiences and study society from a female perspective. In many of the original theories of sociology women were invisible and didn’t appear in ideologies. Feminists believe society marginalizes the roles of women and that society adapts a male perspective and their theory has been developed since the 1960s and they have attempted to explain women’s struggles by trying to place them at the centre of sociological studies. In this essay I will be assessing the contribution of feminist theorists and researchers to an understanding of society today.…
Feminism has been born through decades of ignorance and misguidance, a perception of a weaker sex, and a belief that equality is not truly meant for all. Because of this deprivation of equality and privileges that exist exclusively for men, decades of work have been put forth from the feminist movement to ensure that no woman will any longer be held back or have opportunities revoked simply for having the status of a “weaker” gender. Before taking this class, I was hesitant to ever label myself in such a manner and questioned those who had, but after reading Penny Weiss’ revealing piece “I am not a feminist, but …” I no longer have that same reluctance.…
According to the dictionary, feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. This means that what a feminist wants is not a matriarchal society where men are oppressed by domineering women, but equality for women. This doctrine has existed for many years, and it first became prominent during the late eighteenth century. However, if we are to explore how feminism affects society today, we must focus on its more recent history. Specifically, the “second wave” of feminism which arose during the 1950s and 1960s. This new feminist movement arose a few years after the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This book struck a nerve with the American housewife, and caused many to question if all a woman was capable of doing was merely cooking, cleaning, and pleasing her husband. In 1966 Friedan and others formed an activist group named the National Organization for Women, or NOW. This group demanded equal pay for equal work and enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment due to race and/or gender. As the feminist movement progressed, more and more women began to stand up for their rights, until in 1980, when women comprised the majority of undergraduates. But enough with history, how does feminism exist in our society today? First we must take a look at how feminism is perceived. According to…
Geoffrey Canada wrote in his book Reaching up for Manhood, "The image of male as strong is mixed with the image of male as violent. Male as virile gets mixed with male as promiscuous. Males as intelligent often gets mixed with male as arrogant, racist, and sexist." In this way many people define the masculinity and try to conform boys in these stereotypes which negative influence on boy’s development and behaviors. This image of masculinity started in antiquity and is still predominate in our days. Gender roles are distributed when babies are born by their parents then by the society. All these roles restrict men to behave like women and reverse. To have healthy society with healthy men we need to reexamine our attitude on the male education.…
Firstly, it can be argued that feminism is a single doctrine as it is united within the core theme of ‘patriarchy’. Patriarchy, literally meaning ‘rule by the father’, is a term used by feminists to describe the power relationship between men: the domination of men and the subordination of women within society at large. Feminists have therefore advanced a theory of ‘sexual politics’ in much the same way as socialists have expressed the idea of ‘class politics’. They are also aligned in their belief that sexism is a form of oppression, drawing similarities to racism, although sexual oppression has traditionally been ignored by conventional political thought. Feminist writer Millett, for instance, described ‘patriarchal government’ as an institution wherein ‘half the populace which is female is controlled by that half which is male.’ She also implied that patriarchy is a hierarchic society in her assertion that it consists of two principles: ‘male shall dominate female, elder male shall dominate younger.’ Feminists also agree that the concept of patriarchy is broad: that men have dominated women in all societies, however the form and degree of oppression has varied…
In the process of creating our country Canada much reform had to be taken by both the British, the founders of this land, and the inhabitants of Canada. One such example is seen through how women had to go through lots of struggle to gain their proper rights and freedom from the opposite gender. At times like the 1800s women were seen as ornaments less human than men. They strived to get by the terrible and abusive labour conditions of textile factories, having no say in their pay, housing and job. Women then decided to put an end to this century long abuse and formed a union against the government in order to get what they truly desired; independence.…
Throughout the last century, Canada has changed greatly as a nation. Events varying from World War battles to human rights breakthroughs have shaped Canada into what the country is presently. Prideful events such as the Battle of Vimy Ridge established identity, independence and nationalism for Canadians. Shameful events though, such as the Internment of Japanese-Canadians, violated human rights and promoted inequality. Canada developed as a nation during the twentieth century through the victory of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War One, the Persons Case in 1929 and the internment of Japanese-Canadians throughout the Second World War.…
Feminist sociologists believe that society is patriarchial – which means that a system of society or government is controlled purely by male figures. Feminist sociologist try to get women more involved in the community and try to enforce gender equality or even make the females more superior to men. Feminists believe there are several differences in society between men and women who they would like to make equal. One of these differences is – Gender oppression. Gender oppression is a theory that women are actively oppressed and even abused by men. They believe that power is a key part that can be changed in the two main theories of gender oppression.…
Prior to 1921, men were the only members of the Canadian parliamentary system. With the first Canadian women being elected into the Canadian parliament in 1921, women have had the ability to participate and become elected into the House of Commons. Since then, Canadian women’s participation in the House of Commons has substantially increased from 1 female seat holder in 1921 to the present day 64 seats held by women. Although this increase is seemed as substantial, the debate about the underrepresentation of women in politics has been a central topic of debate by politicians, scholars and the general public in Canada. Although it is widely agreed that representation of women in the House of Commons needs to increase, there are two fundamentally different views regarding this underrepresentation; the explanatory perspective and the feminist perspective. The explanatory perspective argues that “political institutions should reflect the composition of civil society” , while the feminists perspective argues that, “since women offer unique perspectives, their exclusion from political power means that their needs, demands, and interests would currently not be echoed in the political arena.” However, through the assessment of the definition of democracy, and the evaluation of the feminist’s arguments and explanatory perspectives, the relatively low number of women elected to the House of Commons does not mean the Canadian political system is insufficiently democratic.…
Basic rights (such as the right to vote and work) for women of visible minorities were extended to them long after the same rights were extended to white men and women and of course, later for white women. Before the World War Two ear, the media romanticized the role of women as housewife leaving the man to be the sole breadwinner for the household as the woman does the unpaid work in the house taking care of the family. In relation to Lecture 6, post-World War Two era, Canada has seen a notable increase in women’s presence in the labour market, however there is a distinct unequal representation in the three labour sectors – primary, secondary and service sectors. With respect to gender dynamics, it is important to note that there is a higher percentage of women who are working in these service sector. (cite?) Further analyzing the intersectionality of race, gender, class, sexuality and in this context class. This continues to be a problematic factor within our labour force. It is important to note that women often encounter the “glass ceiling”. However, there are much more limitations placed on other visible minorities of women in the labour market than there are white women.…
The Canadian government has been building better relations with Canadian women. Over the last century, women did not have the right to vote, let alone be considered a person in Canada. Women were unable to articulate their ideas fluently in Canada. Males were portrayed as more superior over women, which resulted in an insufferable relationship between women and the Canadian government. During the First World War, women were given the opportunity to contribute to Canada and work outside of their homes to replace the males who had to vacate their jobs for the war. After world war one, women fought long and hard for the right to enter the senate, a constitutional ruling took place…
Gender equality in Canada has been a struggle for a great deal of time, and to this day, still is. The greatest accomplishment that Canada can show for this issue is Kim Campbell and her roughly half year in office. The biggest cause for the disproportional gender balance in politics has to do with the stigma against women in office due to the social values from the past. Because society treated women and men much differently in the past, especially in politics, there is still a similar mentality in modern society. With that being said, there are also other extraneous variables that could explain the gender balance in politics. First, the political ideologies of a woman running could be on the right wing, but could be in a left wing society.…
Every woman has the right to moral, legal and political choice. As we look to the past, women fought for the right to be treated the same as men and fundamentally to have the same rights as men. Prior to the turn of the century, women had little to no rights. World War I and II gave way to change, allowing women to work and eventually allowing them to vote. The feminist movement has made drastic progress since the war. Today women are seen as equal and have the right not only to vote, but to be educated. In 1977 the Canadian Human Rights Act ensured that women could no longer be discriminated based on their sex, race, religion or sexuality. The act specified that there must be “equal pay for work of equal value”. It is important to educate the youth on the historical struggles that women have faced. The women’s rights movement improved the lives of women in Canada and although women have made significant progress, there are still gender inequality issues that must be acknowledged and addressed.…
Transgenderism have a goal, that goal is to be happy in their skin no matter who says so. In today’s age transgender has been appearing a lot more. Welch (2011) definition of transgender is “an umbrella term, refers to people who feel that their biologically assigned gender is a false or incomplete description of themselves” (pg.53). Transgender is one of the leading outcomes of suicide. It is a worldwide problem and it has been show with research; however in Canada the rates are higher. This is shown throughout the youth populations in Canada. Today’s outcome of what transgender really is can lead to different speculations of what is right or wrong. Transgenderism can lead to many different thoughts and many different opinions. The purpose…
FEMINISM Introduction to Sociology Feminism Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The movement organized around this belief. Feminism Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide.…