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A critical assessment of Feminism as a political ideology Amongst the large amount of political ideologies existing today, feminism has been regarded as a fairly new ideology (Heywood 2007) and has changed through out the 20th and 21st Century. Some believe feminism is only a social movement while others regard it as a fundamental political ideology with as much importance as any other classical political ideology. This essay will look at the extent to which Feminism can be regarded as a political ideology emphasising on the definition of ideology and on the development of different trends of feminism. We will focus on Liberal Feminism, Marxist Feminism and Radical Feminism. Each of these share and disagree in many of its fundamental principles which will be evaluated through this essay, showing how each can be regarded as a political ideology in itself. As a result feminisms rather than feminism is the term that would summarize with more precision this contested term (Mc Millan and Mc Lean 2003:198). Political ideologies are the centrepiece of political thought and have been, in many cases, the driver of socio-political and economic change throughout history. They are necessary in society to help situate people within a particular environment (Heywood(a), 2007:2) and create a sense of belonging and/or identity. Due to this bounding element, political ideologies have guided and inspired political action to change structures of society, in Heywoods words the material life (2007:2). Heywood created a framework to identify political ideologies and argues that they should provide a way to understand the world, an account of the existing order, have clear goal to understand political action give a model of the desired world in other worlds have a desired utopia, and finally explain how to change the nature of political systems to achieve the utopia (Heywood(a) 2007:9). Although other scholars argue that political ideologies are more complex and difficult to define consistently we will use this framework to evaluate the validity of feminism as a political ideology. Vicky Randall (1999) argues that feminism picks out and problematises the

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fundamentally political relationship between gender and power. (Hjer and se, 1999:73 cited from Randall 2002:109) making it essentially political. The main feminist movements started in the late 19th century with Mary Wollstonecrafts publication of Vindication of the Rights of Women. As the title explains the main concern of these first wave of feminism was female suffrage and the equality of legal rights. Nonetheless, over time feminist movements have taken more power and political arena, formalizing as an ideology. The main concern for feminists has always been the male-female relationship and the fact women and men are treated differently because they are in a disadvantage position due to sex. (Heywood, 2007:320) Therefore their aim is to transform social relations in order to overcome womens subordination (Lindberg 2009:19). However there are different trends of feminism and each regards this problem and its solution in a different perspective. Feminist ideologies have taken roots form other classic political ideologies such as Liberalism, Socialism and Marxism but have developed a different utopia, making them stand as a singular ideology rather than as a sub-group. Following Wollstonecrafts feminist ideology we find liberal feminism that emphasizes on the rights of women. The main critic of society is that men have had a more powerful position in society and have seen women as inferior due to their gender differences. Liberal feminists main focus was to give women the same rights and privileges of men (Heywood 2007:242) as they believe that this will be the first step for women to also own property, inherit and have higher education. Taylor Mills book On the Subject of Women also argues that women and men should be regarded through reason and not birth, thus focusing on the rule of law (reason) and the need for a change in legislation that will allow society to see women as a human being at the same level as men. This first attempts followed what has been called the first wave of feminism. We can observe that the first wave of liberal feminism has the main three characteristics of an ideology although nowadays their main goal has been met in most western countries, one can say that their utopia has been achieved. It is possible to argue that in this first wave was more of a social movement (Adams 2001:226) that wen into decline after it succeeded its goals.

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Nevertheless, later in 1960s Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique portrayed the second wave of feminism with the National Organisation of Women movement, it amounted to virtually a new ideology (Adams, 2001:227). This new wave not only wanted to pursue female universal suffrage but also equality of women on the professional, social and political realm. Nonetheless it is important to highlight that Liberal feminist are Reformists, not revolutionary (Heywood 2007). Thus, the main critic to society was the female discrimination in the professional arena; the utopia was to allow women not only to have equal rights but also to change institutions and practices so that this equality would be realistic and possible. The way forward is to create new regulations in the professional work, such as equal (on minimum) ratio of male : female employees, or giving equal pregnancy to men and women and the states provision of childcare. In this sense we can argue that although the first and the second wave of feminism have different utopias, they both aim to give equal rights to women and men in the public sphere and believe that the private (family) structure and decisions should be left to the freedom of each individual. Hence, Liberal Feminism has a critic of society, a clear utopian society and a way forwards by changing socio-political institutions. One can say that liberal feminism, including the different waves, is an ideology in itself which has been transforming and changing as society changes, a moving and adapting political ideology. Nevertheless, its constant mobility can be in itself a cause of weakness because it means that there are no clear goals to strive for, thus loosing the ability to create a collective idea and a sense of belonging. Following Friedan, Kate Millet developed feminist theory focusing on patriarchy as the cause for women subordination. She questioned the fact that even though women had equal rights to men, they were still subordinated by men in their role in society. She argued that women had been brainwashed since childhood to comply with a feminine stereotype that men had created using laws, education, language and culture (Adams 20001:228). This concept developed further by radical feminists such as Simone Beauvoir who made a clear distinction between sex and gender saying that: One is not born a woman, one becomes one (video ideologia de genero). She suggests that due to male oppression female and masculine roles have been regarded as natural or biological but are actually socially constructed. She highlights that the only difference

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from men to women is a biological capacity to reproduce, hence sexual differences, but this should not make men and women different in any other area of life. In this sense, she argued that gender is the main politically significant social cleavage and believed that it is rooted in the structures of domestic life (Heywood, 2007:233). She also used patriarchy to explain that it had created a false consciousness amongst society, which was the base of the way society is structured. The whole social organization of the world is bias towards men and regards women as different. Tehrefore, this is political as it shows the essential power relationships of domination and oppression that benefits the one in power, just as the father in the family. In this sense the state is but one manifestation of patriarchal power, reflecting other deeper structures of oppression (Bryson 1992 cited from Freeden 1996). Hence, radical feminists merge the private and the public sphere and believe that the personal is political. Radical feminists believe that there should be radical change in the socio-political, economic, cultural educational and religious discourse of society. A transformation in the way men and women are seen, recognizing them as equal human beings and not as two different beings. Therefore, they propose to deconstruct and rewrite every aspect of life, therefore there they discard the believe the notion of marriage or family as these have a patriarchic and gender bias connotation. As a result they propose new education and a change in the meaning of words so that there are no gender differentiation. They also reject any type of relation between sex and relationships as this again connotes female and male roles therefore there ought not to be terms such as heterosexuality, homosexuality or lesbianism. Therefore, we can see that radical feminist have an idea of a society where gender differences are abolished and the only difference between men and women is sex; where individuals are regarded as such, and the political and social discourse changes to fulfill these goals. However it is difficult to structure a whole society based on these ideals as they do not address other essential structures of society such as the economy. Additionally, redefining social fundamentals such as lagunage is almost impossible to achieve in a global level. As a result some argue that the utopia is not achievable and thus reject radical feminism as an ideology. Nonetheless, whether the utopia is possible or not, radical feminist fulfill Heywoods political ideologies framework and so it can be argued that it can be regarded as a political ideology in itself. Although Heywood mentions political mobilization and social change, he does not stipulate that

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political mobilizations must be successful, just as marxism failed to achieve its utopia, without being discarded as ideology, it is possible to argue that radical feminism is a political ideology. Moreover, Marxists feminists believe that womens domination is caused by the capitalist system that dominates the whole structure of society. They also acknowledge the existence of a patriarchal structure in the family, this form of power arrangement emerged from the private realm to the public one and has shaped the way society, economics and culture has been organized. Therefore, the capitalists system, with a patriarchal approach has created power structure to oppress women, Feminist Marxism places women as the proletariat (Coole, p.158) and thus, just as Marxists, there is a need for a feminist revolution what will change completely the existent social structure. In Origin of the Family, private property and the State Engels express his believe that the existence of private property was responsible for women subordination. He relates men as the bourgeois while the wife is the proletariat (Adams, 2001:225) thus a communist revolution that changes the economic structure and most importantly private property would lead to abolishing the oppression within the family and free women from oppression. We can see that there is a critic to society due to capitalism; the way forward is to have a communist revolution to achieve a socialist society were women (the proletariat) are no longer in a lower position than men. Their ultimate goal is that women will no longer depend on men and will be free from their domestic duties allowing them to enter as equal into society. This strand of feminism differs from liberal feminism in that its critic of society is different as well as their way to achieve the utopia. Nonetheless is is not a Marxist theory in itself as it does not take class buy rather gender as the central critic to society. Although it applies Marxist ideas, its main concern is different so I would argue that Marxist feminism is a separate political ideology in itself just as liberal and radical feminism. Therefore, as Lindberg (2009:34) points out, all feminists do not think alike and feminism has a past, a present and a future. Each trend of feminism share the same fundamental desire for women emancipation and gender equality (or abolition for radicals) but have major differences on the way forwards and the utopian society. Radical and Marxist Feminism are revolutionary while liberal feminism is reformist. They

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also agree on bringing the private and the public sphere together while liberal feminists acknowledge the separation of these two arenas and only want to change the public sphere. Lindberg (2009:33) also highlights that feminism is a struggle to end sexist

oppression, thus it excludes liberal feminism for being to narrowly focused on individual
autonomy and equality of opportunity. However, radical feminists different to Marxist feminists reject the claim that capitalism is to be blamed, because this is just an economic structure that has appeared due to the existence of previous patriarchal social structure such as the family. De la Bellacasa (cited from Lindberg 2009) regards these different views of feminism as a political nebula and as positions; i.e. it can be possible to think of them as part of a conflictive, tense, as an unclosed togetherness. In this sense, although there are major conflicts between each strand of feminism they all tackle the same problem and due to the fact that they can each be regarded as a political ideology, they can complement and strengthen each other in their struggle for womens equality. Lent (1998:162) argues that over time there has been a crossfertilization between the different feminisms, they help and respond to each other in innovative ways. In conclusion, it is useful to go back to Antoine Destutt de Tracy and the definition of ideology as a science of the human mind capable of pointing the true way forward (anon, n.d). Thus, ideologies give a sense of purpose and can inspire common action and satisfy our aspiration to createthe best possible world in which all, or at least those most worthy, can find fulfillment. (Adams, 2001:4). Therefore if an ideology is fits these definitions and the three basic requirements stipulated by Heywood, feminism is as much an ideology as liberalism or any other classic ideology. As mentioned before the fact that feminism has not achieved governmental power, does not mean that it ought to be regarded as less important. Neither De traccy nor Heywood say that an ideology must be able to run a country, instead they say it should influence the way in which society works and develops. In this sense, feminism has been able to transform the role of women around the world. Looking at history one can see that at least the liberal utopia has been achieved and that overtime womens role in society has

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and is changing.

Therefore, unlike most of the great ideologies of modernity,

[feminism] find itself in a healthy position to confront the challenges of the [changing] millennium. Having mentioned this, one can say that the reformist nature of feminism can be regarded as their main asset and the gradual influence feminism has had in shaping society and creating political change gives feminism, even when regarded as feminist perspectives in plural (Lindberg 2009), a big strength as a political ideology. Word count: 2465

References

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ADAMS, I., 2001. Political Ideology Today. Second Edition. Manchester: Manchester University press. ANON. Ideology. About.com [online] http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/general/bldef_ideology.htm [accessed on: 7 May 2010] COOLE, D., 2001. Threads and Plaits or an Unfinished Project? Feminism Through the

Twentieth Century. In: M. FREEDEN, Reassesing Political Ideologies. London: Routledge.

HEYWOOD, A., 2007. Political Ideologies: An introduction. Fourth edition. London: Pelgrave Macmillan. HEYWOOD, A., 2007. Politics. Third Edition. United Kingdom: Pelgrave Macmillan. LENT A, 1998., New Political Thought. London: Lawrence and Wishart Limited. LINDGERG, H., 2009. Only Women bleed? A Critical Reassessment of Comprehensive

Feminist Social Theory. Thesis. rebro University, Sweden.

McMILLAN, A and McLEAN, I., 2003. Concise Dictionary of Politics. Third Edition. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. RANDALL V, 2002. Feminism. In: D. MARSH and G. STOKER, Theory and methods on political Science. Second Edition. United Kingdom: Pelgrave Macmillan.

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