http://mic.

com/articles/11267/feminism-is-a-strength-not-a-weakness-inbusiness-world
Feminism Is a Strength, Not a Weakness, In Business World
By Rebecca Zorowitz July 16, 2012

As a woman and as a businessperson, I am constantly working on and

learning how to balance the masculine and feminine sides within myself.
There is one part of me that is a shark (and love you, ABCs Shark Tank!),
and then there is this other side of me that is an absolute girly-girl feminine,
creative, a little nutty.
When I first started doing business, I was somewhat torn between the two in
my head, and ended up suppressing my inner femininity in a way that wasnt
very true to myself nor very nice to others. I was downplaying my feminine
side, trying to pretend that gender wasnt a thing that people ever thought
about, that we were all simply androgynous business people.
Recently, at a trade show, I was talking with someone at the booth next door,
and he told me that in his personal opinion, all women who get to executive
levels at companies and top positions of power must walk, stand and poise
themselves like men. Physically. To clear up my confusion, he pointed out a
professional woman, in a skirt and blouse, walking alongside two
businessmen in nice suits. All I saw was an attractive, confident
businesswoman, but he saw a woman with her shoulders out, chest up and a
stature full of confidence and self-assurance which, to him, made her
appear like a man.
I realized that his interpretation of an individual exuding confidence was that
of being masculine and/or manly. And I realized I was looking down a neverending rabbit hole of precognitive stereotypes, subconscious programming
and centuries of oppression and suppression.
Then it hit me: my exact thinking pattern, and all the hangups I had in regards
to being a woman and a feminine businessperson, were the exact sort of
negative thinking patterns that aided the oppression of women, as opposed to
liberating us. My mode of thinking was destructive to myself, and to the
female gender as a whole. I had become my own worst enemy.

I understand there is no quick-fix answer that can wipe away thousands of

years of cultural beliefs. However, what I do know is that we can either be a
part of the problem or a part of the solution. As Madame Marie du Deffand
best said, Women are never stronger than when they arm themselves with
their weaknesses.
Today, I embrace my inner femininity in all aspects of my business. I no
longer view characteristics of being sweet, caring and empathetic as
weaknesses, but instead as powerful strengths that show integrity and
honesty. I am able listen to my heart and my inner desires, which lets me be
true and authentic when making crucial decisions. I let myself be vulnerable to
others by expressing my creative self, and putting it out into the world for
others to see. I also see my female intuition as one of my most valuable
tools for guidance and trust.
I could not be more proud to be a woman in business, and every time I push
myself through a situation that makes me uncomfortable or nervous, I feel
stronger, brighter and more powerful than ever. Happiness truly never comes
from what you dont have, but instead from what you do. Embrace the positive
and the negative, the masculine and the feminine, the good and the bad. You
can become quite the force to be reckoned with.
This article originally appeared on the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC),
an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the worlds most promising
young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to
Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a
book of 30+ proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.
https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/richardg/2013/11/03/feminismepistemology-and-activism-an-analysis-of-feminisms-strength-and-weaknessand-considerations-for-future-developments/

Feminism, Epistemology, and Activism:

An Analysis of Feminisms Strengths and
Weaknesses and Considerations for Future
Developments.

More than ever, political, economic, environmental and health crises and events are
creating new kinds of policy problems and challenges at national and international
levels. In light of such developments, social and political movements everywhere have
actively attempted to shape policy initiatives and frame problems and solutions. While
there is no shortage of approaches to policy and governance, feminism and more
generally gender based analysis have played an important role both nationally and
internationally. In focusing on the respective circumstances, priorities and needs of both
genders, feminism is thought to hold much potential for the realization of social
justice. Still, the narrowing of policy spaces and goals can be detrimental to other
groups. Although feminism is an invaluable paradigm for both activism and knowledge
creation, extending beyond this gender specific framework is likely going to be more
effective in tackling the diversity of inequities in our world today.
To begin, feminism is a useful framework and practice that can be used to address
patriarchy while simultaneously setting concrete goals to combat violence, oppression
and systematic inequality between the sexes. As Arber (2013) explains, because
feminism is interested in ending inequality and injustice, many individuals who are
interested in fighting injustice more generally may describe themselves as being feminist
because its common sense(232). This is problematic for several reasons. Firstly, like
many other paradigms, feminism is a framework of analysis that views politics and power
through a specific lens. As such, because feminism is a theory that puts gender at the
center of how one ought to see the world subscribing to this framework entails more than
simply believing women should not get raped, abused or discriminated against. Rather,
the latter would more appropriately be described as supporting feminist
objectives. Similarly, working to uncover androcentric biases would more appropriately
be described as doing feminist research or participating in feminist politics. If one was to
truly describe themselves as a feminist, this would indicate that they understand
oppression and violence as exclusively the products of patriarchy. While patriarchy may
play an important role in the oppression of many individuals, the narrowing of oppression
is problematic for it ignores a diversity of other perspectives. For instance, communist,
capitalist and post-colonialist would all contend that true oppression and violence stem
from completely different phenomena and the goals that are desired are entirely different
if not conflicting. Feminism is an important framework however, because of the diversity
of inequities in our world today subscribing to any one meta-narrative is likely to ignore
other points of view. Regardless of whether individuals engage with the title feminist,
thinking beyond gender to include other categories which may be contributing to
oppression will as a result address a wider set of problems.
Expanding on this idea further, it becomes clear that one need not be a feminist to
understand oppression. For example, in Shearers (2013) article, he claims not to be a
feminist but rather an advocate for equal rights. This is important because looking
beyond the gender binary, Shearer is able to recognize the embedded effects of
historical, social, and cultural oppressions and privileges. Identifying this diversity of
perspectives is significant, because even within the feminist movement, the critical
interrogation of power and privilege reveal that not all women have suffered the same
injustices. This is more clearly substantiated when one examines the long and deep
history of Black feminist writing, Indigenous feminism, third world feminism, and queer
and post-colonial theory (Bunjun; Hill Collin; Crenshaw; Herk, Dawn and Caroline.). In
these instances, these authors attempted to address the shortcomings of the feminist
framework and develop more contextualized interpretations of the issues facing specific
individuals. In the process of challenging the enumerated limitations of feminism,
knowledge claims were challenged and alternative epistemological approaches which
recognized the embedded effects of historical, social, and cultural oppressions and
privileges were promoted. All things considered, this is an illustration of how moving
beyond gender-based analysis, and drawing on other paradigms which seek more
broadly to respond to multiple, complex and interacting inequities, may be more effective
in tackling the diversity of inequalities in our world today.

In conclusion, while feminism provides a unique perspective, this unidimensional

approach to justice has its weaknesses and the inclusion of alternate paradigms could
have considerable transformative implications. Identifying feminisms epistemological
foundations reveals that similarly to other paradigms focused narrowly on single
variables, this framework may only be able to uncover more general experiences of
oppression. Capturing, articulating, and making visible the relationships between
simultaneously interlocking forms of oppression requires a rethinking of the epistemology
of feminism to include a more complex understanding of systems of privilege and
disadvantage. While the category of gender is not to be rejected, displacing it as the
primary axis for understanding discrimination, power, and privilege could provide an
improved and effective policy strategy for change. Assuredly, this more sophisticated
and comprehensive approach will be necessary if one is to understand the personal
experiences of all men and women, especially those who have been marginalized by
current frameworks. In the end, understanding inequities and the mutually constitutive
forces which create them, is in the best interest of the many facets of society.

Bibliography
Arber, Brandon. Its Just Common Sense. Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and
Power. Ed. Tarrant, Shira, 1963. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Bunjun, Benita. Feminist Organizations and Intersectionality: Contesting Hegemonic
Feminism. Atlantis 34.2 (2010): 115. Print.34(2), 115-126.
Crenshaw, K. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist
Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. Print.
Herk, Kimberley Anne Van, and Dawn, Smith, and Caroline, Andrew. Identity Matters:
Aboriginal Mothers Experiences of Accessing Health Care. Contemporary nurse 37.1
(2011): 57-68. Print.
Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the
Politics of Empowerment. 2 Vol. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print.
Shearer, Haji. Why I am Not a Feminist. Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and
Power. Ed. Tarrant, Shira, 1963. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.

This entry was posted in Politics and

tagged Epistemology, Feminism, implications and consequences on November 3,
2013 by Richard Gaudreau.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110916135740AAHdiFK
I'm not sure I agree with HereIAm. She is trying to make it look like women are equal to
men and then discounting the historical importance of Feminism.
To answer your question, the strengths of feminism are-(1) Reveals the dangers and effects of patriarchy.
(2) Reveals the largely ingored plight of women across all important aspects of life.
(3) Is a voice for women.

(4) Helps to bring power to women across all areas of social life.
(5) Is transformative and not just `theoretical'/
(6) Has changed society without question.
(7) Can have females within all studies, but also include other persepctives, for example by
looking at things in a critical fashion, or functionalist fashion.
Disadvantages-(1) Radical feminism, which is a kind of feminism, is highly critical of men, and this kind of
feminism destroys the aim of `equality' by bashing the other sex.
(2) [Note: This is my personal observation] ---> as women gain more power in western
devloped countries, in particular the U.S. and Australia, and England, the concept of
"gender" will change in terms of how we see masculinity and femininity, and then so too
will the behaviour of men, and also the behaviour of women.