Liberal Feminism PDF

Patriarchy Is there inequality in the distribution of power, resources, and social benefits between men and women – even in liberal-democratic countries like Canada? There is an abundance of evidence indicating that the answer is yes. For example: a). Economic: There are different ways of me...

Patriarchy Is there inequality in the distribution of power, resources, and social benefits between men and women – even in liberal-democratic countries like Canada? There is an abundance of evidence indicating that the answer is yes. For example: a). Economic: There are different ways of measuring the gender gap in income. However, almost all of these statistics indicate that women make less than men working in comparable circumstances. For example, in terms of the average hourly wage, for every $1 earned by men, women only earn 89 cents (2021). b). Political: In the Canadian House of Commons, only 30.5% of elected MPs are women (2022). During its entire 155 year history, Canada has had a female Prime Minister for a grand total of 4 months (as of September 2022). In sum, there is a significant gap between the number of women, their representation in leadership positions, the extent of their economic reward, and the extent of their political power. The question is why? Feminist theory argues that the answer is Patriarchy – where patriarchy is defined as a social system that (explicitly or implicitly) privileges one gender (male) over another (female). There are different explanations for why patriarchy exists and what should be done about it (i.e. there are many different versions of feminism). In this module, we will focus on one specific version: Liberal Feminism In the Liberal Feminist tradition, the focus has been to extend the rights and freedoms granted to men (like voting) to women as well. Freedom and choice must mean freedom and choice for all. One way of understanding the diversity in the Liberal Feminist literature is to align it with the versions of liberalism that we have already discussed: 1). Classical Liberal Feminism: The focus here was/is to eliminate explicit legal inequalities. Women should have the same legal rights and freedoms as men. This includes suffrage, the right to hold public office, and the right to equal treatment in the economy. The struggle for equality of rights in the Canadian context: 1918: (Most) women granted the right to vote in Federal elections 1929: Women declared to be legal persons (Persons Case – Edwards v A.G. of Canada) 1930: The first woman (Cairine Wilson) was appointed to the Senate 1982: The first woman Supreme Court Judge (Bertha Wilson) 1993: The first female Prime Minister of Canada (Kim Campbell) 2). Reform Liberal Feminism The right to equal participation in law does not always result in equality in practice. The reason: Legal obstacles are not the only barrier that women face. More subtle structural barriers are often at work. These structural barriers have the effect of denying women equality of opportunity. For example, it is more difficult for women to fully participate in the public sphere because of the responsibilities that patriarchy has assigned in the private sphere. Politically this means changes to government policy (including in some cases affirmative action) to facilitate women’s participation in the public realm as equals. Critiques of Liberal Feminism from within the Feminist tradition The liberal feminist account aligns too closely with mainstream patriarchal thought - Including its binary assumptions about gender, as well as its political goals. Should the goal of feminism be removing obstacles to joining the current patriarchal system? Or should the goal be overturning patriarchy entirely?