Modern Feminism PP Notes

Feminism and Theories of Empowerment

Gloria Steinman
History
Feminism and other empowerment oriented approaches grew out of the antiwar and civil rights movements of the 1960s and early 1970s.
These movements demonstrated that dedicated individuals, acting together, in a generally non-violent way could change public attitudes significantly and thus change public policy.

Dolores Huerta

What began as the Women’s Movement developed quickly into a number of theoretical perspectives and methods of analysis for the understanding of human behavior.
Feminism is not one thing but a number of different perspectives that share a common set of postulates.

Betty Friedman
Clinical Illustration
The Self-In-Relationship approach was largely used to inform the notion of “codependency”.
– Defining one’s self as independent, assertive, aggressive, and separate – like a man – is good.
– Defining one’s self as interdependent, connected to other, and empathic -- like a woman – is bad.


“Although the codependency construct is popular, it has been poorly defined, lacks empirical research, is culturally determined, and is used primarily in a discriminatory way to pathologize women’s gender-specific behavior”
– Logan, TK; Walker, J.R.; Cole, J.; Leukefeld, C.G. (2002).
Feminism Family Tree
Liberal Feminism
• Earliest perspective and most often popularly
identified with feminism as a whole.
• Men and women are the same because both
have capacity for reason.
• Disparities are based on culture not on ability.
• Women need and deserve access to all that
men have and have access to.
• What is needed is a level playing field where
men and women can compete based on ability
and merit.

• Classic Liberal Feminism
– Government should protect everyone’s civil
liberties.
– Government should insure equal opportunities
for all people.
• Welfare Liberal Feminism
– Government should regulate the marketplace
to improve opportunities for women.
– Government should ensure mechanisms to
redress past injustice against women.
Radical Feminism
• Began as a reaction to the male centered civil
rights movement.
• Sexism is oppression and it is woven into the
fabric of society.
• “The personal is political.”
• A radical change in society is necessary to end
oppression of women.
• Advocates for public provision of child care and
an end to marriage or, at least, the privileged
status of marriage.
Cultural Feminism
• Grew out of and is a reaction to Radical
Feminism.
• Men and women are different.
• There are different ways of knowing and
understanding.
• Difference should be cultivated and valued.
• Relationships among women should be
encouraged and cultivated to develop and
enhance a culture of women.

• Innate Cultural Feminism
– The differences between men and women as regards
world view, ways of knowing, and valuing are inborn
and genetic in origin.
– Men and women can never fully understand each
other.
• Conditioned Cultural Feminism
– The differences between men and women as regards
world view, ways of knowing, and valuing are largely,
if not entirely, socially learned.
– With effort, men and women can understand and
value each others perspectives.

Sally Ride
Socialist Feminism
• Earlier feminist approaches focused primarily on
the personal and psychological effects of
patriarchy Socialist Feminism focused on the
social and economic effects.
• Capitalism is a system developed out of
patriarchy.
• Women are treated as an underclass whose
labor is exploited to make life easier for men.
• Homemaking and child rearing should be seen
as societal and not parental responsibilities.
Lesbian Feminism
• A challenge to sexism and heterosexism.
• Heterosexism is an outgrowth of patriarchy,
people should not be privileged or discriminated
against because of who they choose to be
intimate with.
• All hierarchy serves patriarchy.
• Women are taught to look to men to tell them
how to be women.
• Women should look to women to define
themselves: “woman-identified woman.”
• Women should abandon care taking of men.

Condoleezza Rice
Womanism
• Arose as a reaction to the perception that
feminism was dominated by upper middle
class white women who did not appreciate
the situation of women of color.
• Women have multiple identities: gender,
race, class.
• All of these identities have to be taken into
account in the work of liberation.

• The identity of women of color is fragmented and much
like that of colonized people.
• Activism is primary and should not be sacrificed to prove
some abstract theoretical point.
• Psychotherapeutic Decolonization
– Recognize the systematic and societal process of colonization
and oppression and so become aware of the colonized
mentality.
– Correct cognitive errors that reinforce a colonized mentality.
– Assert and affirm racial and gender identity, developing a more
integrated identity.
– Increase self-mastery and achieve autonomous dignity.
– Work toward transforming oneself and the colonized condition.

Ursula Burns – The 1st Black Female CEO of a Fortune 500 Company

Postmodern Feminism
• Emphasis on socially constructed meaning defining
one’s identity.
• “Gender”, “class”, “race” are all constructs that are
reductionistic and lead to only a superficial
understanding of the human experience.
• Recognizing the diversity of experience is critical.
• Until men and women can move beyond such constructs
they will never be free to be fully themselves.
• Anti-theoretical bias.
• “Woman” is not a universal construct and therefore no
individual or group can speak for all women.
Clinical Implications
• Feminist approaches, like all approaches that
center on the plight of oppressed groups share
much in common with conflict theories.
– Consciousness raising is a first step.
– Recognition of the effects of oppression on personal
identity and self-definition.
– Understanding that personal and social change are
coterminous.
– Movement toward personal liberation and then social
change.

• The object of intervention is
empowerment.
– Empowerment is increasing a person’s power
so that she can take action to improve her
own situation and gain Clinical Implications
control of her own life.
– Raising awareness, validation of feelings, self
disclosure, and building cohesive community
are all powerful tools to this end.

One of the wealthiest women in the world
Feminist Agenda: Intimate Violence
• Societal Level (Macro):
– Pass laws proscribing violence against
women which mandate consequences
including both punishment and intervention for
batterers.
– Give women access to all the privileges and
resources to which men have access.

• Community Level (meso)
– Develop a coordinated community response
to intimate violence that includes all segments
of the community.
– Provide shelters and services for women who
are victims of intimate violence and their
children so that they can experience safety,
security, and hope.

• Provide effective interventions to batterers
to assist them in changing their
misogynistic attitudes and developing
more egalitarian ones.
• Provide effective interventions for victims
of intimate violence which will empower
them to leave abuse relationships.

Judy Chu, 1st Chinese American woman elected to Congress