Feminism

 Feminism 

Introduction :

Ever since antiquity, there have been women fighting to free themselves from male oppression. Feminism is neither a fad (whim) nor a logical extension of the civil rights movement. The inequities against which feminists protest legal, economic and social restrictions on the basic rights of women have existed throughout history and in all civilizations. Naturally the principles of feminism were formulated long ago. 

Women's liberation movement seems now only because it has come into force in the recent years. Feminism is generally thought of as a phenomenon of the 19th and 20th centuries. The early feminists did not use the term Feminism. Had they given any name to themselves, possibly it would have been something like "defenders" or "advocates" of women.

The early defenders of women were making opposition to cultural and social constraints on women. The early feminists focused upon gender. The sexes, according to them, are culturally and biologically formed. 

The defenders of women worked with the intention of opposing mistreatment of women. They exposed male ideology, personal prejudices and narrowness and defended the general conception of humanity. They often said that women are not born but they are made. On the one hand, the feminist theory was shaped by the new pressures this society created for women. On the other hand, aristocratic women lost considerable economic, political, and cultural power as compared to men of their own class. Women were not allowed to enjoy freedom as much as men were enjoying. They were made to work within the family and domestic circle.

Meaning, Nature and Definition of the Movement:

The early editions of The Oxford English Dictionary defined feminism as a state of being feminine or womanly as did the 1901 edition of "The Dictionary of Philosophy''. By 1906, however, the Dictionaire de Philosophie defined feminism as a position favourable to the rights of women. The movement also gives the concept of the New Woman. It claims for the right of women to a public role and also her right to define herself autonomously. 

To some people Feminism is a philosophy that fights against definitions of masculine and feminine, and aims at placing women in a just perspective. Lisa Tuttle attempts to define feminism in the following manner. The term feminism, taken from the Latin 'femina' (woman), originally meant "having the qualities of females''. It began to be used in reference to the theory of sexual equality and the movement for women's rights replacing womanism in the 1980s.

Since there are mainly individual definitions of feminism in circulation, its fundamental meaning is in dispute. Dictionaries usually define it as the advocacy of women's rights based on a belief in the equality of the sexes. In its broadest use the word refers to everyone who is aware of and seeking to end women's subordination in any way and for any reason. Feminism tends to be thought of as a movement of women, and many feminists absolutely reject the idea of allowing men into it. 

However, men can be as strongly opposed to the injustices from which women suffer as women can. We must accept that feminism is not concerned with a group of people it wants to benefit, but with a type of injustice it wants to eliminate (remove). The distinction is important even though on the whole the elimination of that injustice will benefit more women than men. Feminism is a movement not only for the protection of the rights of women but it is a movement against injustice done to them.

Aim of the Movement:

Feminism originates in the perception that there is something wrong with society's treatment of women. It attempts to analyze the reasons for and dimensions of women's oppression, and to achieve women's liberation Charlotte Bunch has pointed out that feminism is not about "adding in '' women's rights, but about transforming society. 

Therefore, feminism may be called "transformational politics' '. Feminism is a movement which seeks, "the recognisation of the world upon a basis of sex-equality in all human relations. It is a movement which would reject every differentiation between individuals upon the ground of sex. It would abolish all sex privileges and sex burdens, and would strive (try, attempt) to set up the recognition of the common humanity of woman and man as the foundation of law and custom". Its aim is to dismantle all "systems of domination".

Contributors to the Movement:

Feminism emerged in Europe and America in the late 1960s to revive political and social issues associated with women's actual participation in western culture. "Women liberation Movement" has its origin in the eighteenth century and there has been a continuous agitation for women's rights-social.economical and cultural and the freedom and equalities of sexes in the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth century. Mary Wollstonecraft is one of the earliest agitators on behalf of fair sex (women) claiming for their liberty of will in her work, "The Vindication of the Rights of Women" in England. 

In America Margaret Fuller had agitated for women's movement in the middle of the 19th century. In her well-known book "Women in the Seventeenth Century" she has shown how women have been marginalized in our society. 

In the end of the 19th Century J.S. Mill writes a pamphlet entitled "The Subjection of Will" in which he, like Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller, seeks more equality and greater freedom for women. 

Virginia Woolf contributed a lot for the explosive development of Anglo-American feminist criticism in the twentieth century. Her epoch-making work "A Room of One's Own" (1927), her other essays and papers state all about women's economic, cultural, social and educational status in the present time. 

A more radical work than Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" comes in 1949 by Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, entitled "The Second Sex". In this book the radical aspect of feminist criticism is voiced for the first time. In her work de Beauvoir has suggested how the woman is actually "the other" ; she is on the margin or on the periphery in the patriarchal society. She has studied a number of so-called revolutionary writers of female freedom like Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, John Genett and D. H. Lawrence. She corrected and improved their views to a large extent. In 1968 Mary Elman's "Thinking About Women" came which carries the tradition of Virginia Woolf. Here Elman studies a number of American authors and shows that the presentation of women by male writers is stereotyped. This marginalization is also the case with some of the female writers.

Growth of Feminism:

Feminism makes a protest against the subjugation of women, dominance of patriarchy and social, cultural and political controls on women. This progress is mainly due to the two influential works "Sexual Politics" and "Thinking About Women" and other socio-cultural factors. Both in America and England, with the preparation for war there is a strong political movement for female rights and a strong civil rights movement, there is the entry of women into teaching professions particularly in literature and criticism. 

There is the growth of female journalism which in the later time becomes responsible for the establishment of female publishing houses. Thus, all these professional, publication and social work in the 60s work together in bringing the growth of feminism in America and England

Its Utopian Quality:

In feminist movement we find an utopian quality. Thomas Mores' 'Utopia" visualized amongst many things a national system of education extended to men and women alike. In this respect Mores' concern for women's place in society is quite clear. As per this theory, the introduction of more women into public spheres will change the world for the better. 

This view is based on the concept of women' moral superiority to men. It is said that women are morally and ethically more sound than men. It includes the concept that liberation of women will change all human relationships for the better. Feminists dream for an equitable world- a world in which women and men can be equal and different. They foresee a world free male privilege and male hierarchy and authority over women. 

With this view feminism examines the historically inequitable contribution of political, social, and economic power between the sexes. It opposes women's subordination to men in the family and their negligence. It makes a strong attack on patriarchal thought, social organization and control mechanisms. It looks forward to balancing the whole social, economic and political system. The world that feminism promises to reconstruct will be devoid of masculine's hierarchy and male superiority. However, this world visualized by feminists appears to be an imaginary utopia - a dream world.

Conclusion:

Feminism is a movement fighting for the social, cultural, educational and political rights of women. It opposes cruelty, injustice done to women. It demands equal rights for men and women. It is the movement working against male dominated society or patriarchal society. In the 19th and 20th centuries this movement became a full-fledged movement and gained prominence in literature and life. Feminism is a philosophy that fights against the existing horms and traditions supporting and working in favor of male section of the society.