Equity feminism

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Equity feminism is a form of liberal feminism that advocates the state's equal treatment of women and men without challenging inequalities perpetuated by employers, educational and religious institutions, and other elements of society. [1] [2] The concept has been discussed since the 1980s. [2] [3] Equity feminism has been defined and classified as a kind of classically liberal or libertarian feminism, [1] in contrast with social feminism, [4] [5] difference feminism, [6] gender feminism, [7] and equality feminism. [3]

Contents

Overview

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy refers to Wendy McElroy, Joan Kennedy Taylor, Cathy Young, Rita Simon, Katie Roiphe, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Christine Stolba, and Christina Hoff Sommers as equity feminists. [1] Camille Paglia also describes herself as an equity feminist. [8] [9] Christina Sommers, in particular, explored the topic of equity feminism in her book Who Stole Feminism? In this text, Sommers summarizes how the aim of equity feminism is to attain economic, educational, and political equality of opportunity. [10] Sommers claims that feminists are separated between two categories: equity feminists and gender feminists. She states that the difference between the two is that gender feminists focus on changing societal norms based on gender, while equity feminists focus more on achieving fairness in both genders. [11]

Steven Pinker, an evolutionary and cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author, identifies himself as an equity feminist, which he defines as "a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology". [12]

Distinctions have been made between conservative and radical forms of equity feminism. [13] Many young conservative women have accepted equity feminism. [14]

The "Gender Equity Starts in the Home" article uncovers one of the many reasons equity is not being enforced in the home. [15] Jack Koban contributes to this, as being a stay at home dad, while his wife works as a medicine physician. [15] He mentions how him and his wife have reached a work-life balance by helping each other at work and at home. [15] This example brings equity in the home and not only is it helping Koban and his wife successful in their relationship, but also teaches their kids equity at an early age. [15] The article "What Is Gender Equity?" mentions that a way to help all their children understand the concept of equity is to teach them all basic chores around the house to maintain this balance in the future with their own family. [16]

Equity in Workplace

"4 Real Ways to Embrace Equity for Women in the Workplace" states that companies should accommodate their employees by providing the tools necessary for each employee to create an environment with equal opportunities. [17] Equity feminism is all about treating men and women equally because they are created equally and should be treated as so. [18] Multiverse enlists examples on how employer's can make a change in their hiring process as it tends to be bias. They state jobs hiring should focus on candidate's skills rather than the individual's name or background, include diversified language in their job listings, and pay woman the money they should be getting. [17] Women can perform men's jobs just as well or even better than men and vice versa. The difference in how women are treated differently from men has a correlation on why companies will not consider women for higher-paying positions. [18] Equity in the workplace can increase women's roles in higher positions but as long as their rights are being ignored and pushed away there will continue to be this unjust way of life for women. [17] [18] Equity feminist also push for equally shared responsibilities within households to again lessen the burden on women and push for that equity towards women. [18]

Theorists

Anne-Marie Kinahan claims that most American women look to a kind of feminism whose main goal is equity. [19] Louis Schubert et al. claims "principles of equity feminism remain in the vision of the vast majority of women in the United States". [20]

United States

A button of what the ERA stood for as it tried to pass the House of Representatives in 1972. The Equal Rights Amendment.png
A button of what the ERA stood for as it tried to pass the House of Representatives in 1972.

In the United States, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, two women in the National Women's Party, were involved in drafting the Equal Rights Amendment, with the goal of achieving "constitutional protections from discrimination" for all women. [21] [22]

The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed originally in 1923 by the National Women's Party to congress before being approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in March 1972 that would give both women and men the constitutional right to equity. [23]

Equity in feminism is a branch of liberal feminism that creates a political stance assuring women's rights within or under the law. [24] The battle for equity becomes political as many argue women and other groups who are considered oppressed are denied the same opportunities of cis-gender white males. [24] Since the rejection of the ERA in 1972, the fight for equity has continued to grow in America and pushed for new laws that would protect women as it would have. Equity in feminism is important because it notes that women deserve the same rights. If there is no political push for a feminist equitable society, it would create a statement that women are lesser than men and don't deserve the same treatment regardless of education or social class.

The Equal Rights Amendment guarantees equal rights for all American citizens. This would assure to dispute any distinctions between sexes.

Europe

In many respects, Europe has a more progressive stance than the United States when it comes to feminist and gender equity support. [25] Organizations in Europe were made to promote not only equality and equity, but they also aimed to promote diversity while being an ally for women across the continent. Compared to the European Union, the lack of publicly identified feminists in the Americas poses some political challenges for the movement. Integrating feminists' methods into institutions is how European countries have been able to advance the interests of equity and feminism.

See also

Related Research Articles

Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.

Individualist feminism, also known as ifeminism, is a libertarian feminist movement that emphasizes individualism, personal autonomy, freedom from state-sanctioned discrimination against women, and gender equality.

Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy and informed by a human rights perspective. It is often considered culturally progressive and economically center-right to center-left. As the oldest of the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought, liberal feminism has its roots in 19th century first-wave feminism seeking recognition of women as equal citizens, focusing particularly on women's suffrage and access to education, the effort associated with 19th century liberalism and progressivism. Liberal feminism "works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure." Liberal feminism places great emphasis on the public world, especially laws, political institutions, education and working life, and considers the denial of equal legal and political rights as the main obstacle to equality. As such liberal feminists have worked to bring women into the political mainstream. Liberal feminism is inclusive and socially progressive, while broadly supporting existing institutions of power in liberal democratic societies, and is associated with centrism and reformism. Liberal feminism tends to be adopted by white middle-class women who do not disagree with the current social structure; Zhang and Rios found that liberal feminism with its focus on equality is viewed as the dominant and "default" form of feminism. Liberal feminism actively supports men's involvement in feminism and both women and men have always been active participants in the movement; progressive men had an important role alongside women in the struggle for equal political rights since the movement was launched in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Hoff Sommers</span> American author and philosopher (born 1950)

Christina Marie Hoff Sommers is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics, she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Sommers is known for her critique of contemporary feminism. Her work includes the books Who Stole Feminism? (1994) and The War Against Boys (2000). She also hosts a video blog called The Factual Feminist.

Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of both genders in all domains. This includes economic and political equality, equal access within the workplace, freedom from oppressive gender stereotyping, and an androgynous worldview.

This is an index of articles related to the issue of feminism, women's liberation, the women's movement, and women's rights.

Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred throughout the Western world and aimed to increase women's equality by building on the feminist gains of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Feminist legal theory, also known as feminist jurisprudence, is based on the belief that the law has been fundamental in women's historical subordination. Feminist jurisprudence the philosophy of law is based on the political, economic, and social inequality of the sexes and feminist legal theory is the encompassment of law and theory connected.The project of feminist legal theory is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status. Feminist legal theory was directly created to recognize and combat the legal system built primarily by the and for male intentions, often forgetting important components and experiences women and marginalized communities face. The law perpetuates a male valued system at the expense of female values. Through making sure all people have access to participate in legal systems as professionals to combating cases in constitutional and discriminatory law, feminist legal theory is utilized for it all.

Postfeminism is a term popularized by the mass media to describe an alleged decrease in support for feminism from the 1990s onwards. It can be considered a critical way of understanding the changed relations between feminism, femininity and popular culture. The term is sometimes confused with subsequent feminisms such as fourth-wave feminism, postmodern feminism, and xenofeminism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist sociology</span> Subdiscipline of sociology

Feminist sociology is an interdisciplinary exploration of gender and power throughout society. Here, it uses conflict theory and theoretical perspectives to observe gender in its relation to power, both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within social structures at large. Focuses include sexual orientation, race, economic status, and nationality.

Antifeminism, also spelled anti-feminism, is opposition to feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as the right to vote, educational opportunities, property rights, and access to birth control. In the mid and late 20th century, antifeminists often opposed the abortion-rights movement.

Since the 19th century, men have taken part in significant cultural and political responses to feminism within each "wave" of the movement. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in a range of social relations, generally done through a "strategic leveraging" of male privilege. Feminist men have also argued alongside writers like bell hooks, however, that men's liberation from the socio-cultural constraints of sexism and gender roles is a necessary part of feminist activism and scholarship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminism in the United States</span> History of the feminist movement in the USA

Feminism is aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. It has had a massive influence on American politics. Feminism in the United States is often divided chronologically into first-wave, second-wave, third-wave, and fourth-wave feminism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist movements and ideologies</span>

A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.

The feminist movement has affected change in Western society, including women's suffrage; greater access to education; more equitable pay with men; the right to initiate divorce proceedings; the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy ; and the right to own property.

Feminism is one theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, even though many feminist movements and ideologies differ on exactly which claims and strategies are vital and justifiable to achieve equality.

<i>Who Stole Feminism?</i> 1994 book by Christina Hoff Sommers

Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women is a 1994 book about American feminism by Christina Hoff Sommers, a writer who was at that time a philosophy professor at Clark University. Sommers argues that there is a split between equity feminism and what she terms "gender feminism". Sommers contends that equity feminists seek equal legal rights for women and men, while gender feminists seek to counteract historical inequalities based on gender. Sommers argues that gender feminists have made false claims about issues such as anorexia and domestic battery and exerted a harmful influence on American college campuses. Who Stole Feminism? received wide attention for its attack on American feminism, and it was given highly polarized reviews divided between conservative and liberal commentators. Some reviewers praised the book, while others found it flawed.

This is a timeline of feminism in the United States. It contains feminist and antifeminist events. It should contain events within the ideologies and philosophies of feminism and antifeminism. It should, however, not contain material about changes in women's legal rights: for that, see Timeline of women's legal rights in the United States , or, if it concerns the right to vote, to Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States.

The following is a timeline of the history of feminism.

Labor feminism was a women's movement in the United States that emerged in the 1920s, focused on gaining rights in the workplace and unions. Labor feminists advocated for protectionist legislation and special benefits for women, a variant of social feminism. They helped pass state laws regulating working conditions for women, expanded women's participation in unions, and organized to oppose the Equal Rights Amendment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Liberal Feminism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 18 October 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2016. (revised 30 September 2013)
  2. 1 2 Black, Naomi (1989). Social feminism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN   9780801422614.
  3. 1 2 Halfmann, Jost (1989). "Social change and political mobilization in West Germany". In Katzenstein, Peter (ed.). Industry and politics in West Germany: toward the Third Republic. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press. p. 79. ISBN   9780801495953. Quote: Equity-feminism differs from equality-feminism in the depth and scope of its strategic goals. A feminist revolution would pursue three goals, according to Herrad Schenk:
  4. ↑ Buechler, Steven M. (1 September 1990). "3: Ideologies and Visions". Women's Movements in the United States: Woman Suffrage, Equal Rights, and Beyond. Rutgers University Press. p.  118. ISBN   9780813515595. Equity feminism, whether liberal, Marxist or socialist, relies on male classifications…Social feminism, whether maternal, cultural or radical, appeals to female values
  5. ↑ Black, Naomi; Brandt, Gail Cuthbert (16 April 1999). "7: Towards a New Analysis". Feminist Politics on the Farm: Rural Catholic Women in Southern Quebec and Southwestern France. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 200. ISBN   9780773518285. we found two strands, both of which we wanted to include as political: an equity feminism seeking equal rights…and women's collective action that looked more like a social feminism
  6. ↑ Kramarae, Cheris; Spender, Dale, eds. (16 April 2004). "Equality". Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge. Routledge. p. 672. ISBN   9781135963156. There are two dominant strains within the equality debate: "equity feminism" and "difference feminism".
  7. ↑ Kuhle, Barry X. (January 2012). "Evolutionary psychology is compatible with equity feminism, but not with gender feminism: A reply to Eagly and Wood". Evolutionary Psychology . 10 (1). SAGE: 39–43. doi: 10.1177/147470491201000104 . PMC   10480852 . PMID   22833845.
    See also Eagly, Alice H.; Wood, Wendy (May 2011). "Feminism and the evolution of sex differences and similarities". Sex Roles . 64 (9–10). Springer: 758–767. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9949-9. S2CID   144177655.
  8. ↑ Paglia, Camille (2018). "The modern battle of the sexes". Free women, free men: sex, gender, feminism. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd. ISBN   9781786892171. Quote: I am an equity feminist - that is, I believe in equality of the sexes before the law and the removal of all obstacles to women's advance in society. However, I oppose special protections for women, which had been sought from the start by some leading feminists... I represent the pro-sex wing of feminism that has turned the tide and that is close to winning the culture wars of the past fifteen years.... And I think that a younger generation of women are no longer in sympathy with the censorious, anti-pleasure wing of feminism.
  9. ↑ Smith, Rich (22 March 2017). "Who's worse: Camille Paglia, sanctimonious liberals, or my sniveling self? (blog)". thestranger.com/slog. SLOG . Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  10. ↑ "Who Stole Feminism?". 18 October 2007. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "What is the Difference Between Gender Feminism and Equity Feminism?". Language Humanities. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  12. ↑ Pinker, Steven (2002). "Gender". The blank slate: the modern denial of human nature. New York: Viking. p. 341. ISBN   9780142003343.
  13. ↑ Almeder, Robert F. (13 August 2003). "Equity Feminism and Academic Feminism". In Pinnick, Cassandra L.; Koertge, Noretta (eds.). Scrutinizing Feminist Epistemology: An Examination of Gender in Science. Rutgers University Press. p. 183. ISBN   9780813532271. I defend the stronger or more conservative form of equity feminism…I identify these latter more radical forms of equity feminism with academic feminism
  14. ↑ Iannello, Kathleen (18 August 2010). "8: Women's Leadership and Third-Wave Feminism (in Part II: History of Women's Public Leadership, in Volume One)". In O'Connor, Karen (ed.). Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook. SAGE Publications, Inc. p. 76. ISBN   9781412960830. The concept of equity feminism has taken hold among many younger conservative women
  15. 1 2 3 4 Smith, David G.; Johnson, W. Brad (2020-05-04). "Gender Equity Starts in the Home". Harvard Business Review. ISSN   0017-8012 . Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  16. ↑ "What Is Gender Equity? Definition & Examples | United Way NCA". United Way NCA. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  17. 1 2 3 "4 Real ways to embrace equity for women in the workplace". www.multiverse.io. 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Kramarae, Cheris; Spender, Dale (2004-04-16). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-96315-6.
  19. ↑ Kinahan, Anne-Marie (3 August 2004). "One: Foundations: Women Who Run from the Wolves: Feminist Critique As Post-Feminism". In Prince, Althea; Silva-Wayne, Susan (eds.). Feminisms and Womanisms: A Women's Studies Reader. Canadian Scholars’ Press. p. 120. ISBN   9780889614116. Most American women subscribe philosophically to that older "First Wave" kind of feminism whose main goal is equity… A First Wave, "mainstream," or "equity" feminist wants for women what she wants for everyone…equity feminism has turned out to be a great American success story.
  20. ↑ Schubert, Louis; Dye, Thomas R.; Zeigler, Harmon (2014). "13: Civil Rights: Diversifying the Elite: Women's Rights in the United States". The Irony of Democracy: An Uncommon Introduction to American Politics (17th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 331. ISBN   9781305537491. The principles of equity feminism remain in the vision of the vast majority of women in the United States.
  21. ↑ "The Equal Rights Amendment Explained". www.brennancenter.org. Brennan Center for Justice. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  22. ↑ "Alice Paul". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  23. ↑ "The Equal Rights Amendment". Women's Studies Quarterly. 43 (3/4): 271. 2015. ISSN   0732-1562. JSTOR   43958572.
  24. 1 2 Baehr, Amy R. (2007-10-18). "Liberal Feminism".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ↑ Guenther, Katja M. (2011). "The Possibilities and Pitfalls of NGO Feminism: Insights from Postsocialist Eastern Europe". Signs. 36 (4): 863–887. doi:10.1086/658504. ISSN   0097-9740. JSTOR   10.1086/658504. S2CID   146711537.
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