WHAT IS FEMINISM AND HOW MIGHT IT INFORM POLITICAL ANALYSIS Essay

WHAT IS FEMINISM AND HOW MIGHT IT INFORM POLITICAL ANALYSIS - Essay Example Having identified and adopted as basic, the need for a greater recognition of the woman, certain grey areas still exist among feminist. Issues like roots of inequality, best approach to attain equality, the criterion or criteria to serve as basis for evaluating gender related issues, probably all of these differences emanate from increasing pressures for women to be aligned to traditions which may have originated as a result of the male dominated society. A particular school of thought with liberal inclinations believe that both sexes should be considered as equals socially, socio-politically and economically, without regards to whatever differences there might be when physiological analyses are made. The elimination of a society where certain groups dominate as elites is the driving force behind certain radical feminists. Still there are the modern feminists whose primary concern is centered on the right of women on the integrity and autonomy of their bodies as pertaining reproducti ve health rights that incorporates abortion rights, contraceptives use right maternity cares etc; rights of women at workplace that entails the right to maternity leave and equal pay; the right to be protected from violence within and outside a domestic relationship such as wife battering, sexual harassment and rape, ultimately encompassing all other kinds of discriminations that arise as a result of gender differences. With feminism, the advocates, through grass root mobilization intend to cross boundaries that are based on social status, race culture and religion, with the definition of an effective feminist movement as one that deals with issues which are universally recognized as detrimental to the women folk consisting of rape, prostitution and incest while at the same time addressing issues which may not be obtainable everywhere at the same time like Bureaucracies that seeks to impede the advancement of women beyond certain levels in the corporate world, as it obtains in the w est, female "circumcision" otherwise known as female genital mutilation observable in parts of Africa, and the middle-east. Feminists also abhor the scenario where women are viewed primarily as sexual objects neither do they appreciate patriarchy (2) and oppression against women (3) the core of the different kinds of feminism that obtained today is, the general well being of the women that takes into consideration their rights, interests and every other issue as it relates to them. The different feminist types have advanced different ideologies. Egalitarian and protectionist distinctions in feminism has been postulated by certain feminist who argue that while equality of both male and female gender is the primary pursuit of egalitarian feminism, the use of legal means to shield women against abuses such as masculinist (4) employment and divorce laws. Yet there are other schools of thought among feminist with a more radical approach who believe there is no clear cut distinction in fe minism and argue that without a legal framework in the first place egalitarian feminism would fail considering that it would need the law for a successful campaign. Within the radical feminist, advocates of separatism have also been observed whose major campaign thrust is the complete separation of human beings in the society based on gender differences. The definition and classification of a human being along gender lines is seen by yet another class of feminist as constructions of the society.