FEMINISTS VIEWS OF JUSTICE (an outline by Nancy Jurik)

Revised 10/09

Newly developing body of literature on feminist approaches to Justice. There is no one feminist orientation to justice, actually several and in some ways they are opposing feminist viewpoints. The discourse in feminist theory is very much in developmental stages and is changing all the time. It is one of the most current approaches we will cover right now. Do not try to treat feminist orientations as a single unified approach. I will begin with the common themes of feminist approach and then outline four feminist approaches. For each I will give you the context, assumptions, views, and policy implications. Then we'll talk about where the articles fit in. i. Context of feminist approaches: A. Context: In U.S. in late 1800s movement for women's suffrage declined after right to vote was achieved. 1 st Wave B Women's movement revived again in the 1960s early 70s after the Vietnam war protest movement and during a period of economic prosperity. Drive for Equal Rights amendment in the 1970s B 2nd WAVE C. Feminist analyses become more attentive to issues of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and global variations. Critiques of essentialist views of gender and views that gender refers only to women. 1980s- on. B 3rd Wave

For a good introductory, but thorough overview of feminist history, theorizing and accomplishments, see NO TURNING BACK by Estelle Freedman ii. Common Themes:
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There is gender inequality in society; Historically women have been denied fundamental rights and privileges in most societies. Historical inequalities have lead to women's social, political, and economic disadvantage relative to men in the society. These inequities date back to early history of civilization and are characteristic of almost every society. Can see these inequities in the writings of the major Western Political Philosophers which have inspired those who formed the government and laws of Western Industrial society are based. These writings outline the fundamentally inferior nature of women (at birth) to men. Changes need to be made in society to rectify this situation and bring about greater equality between women and men. iii. Here are several different feminist approaches: Key differences lie in the view of each perspective about women's essential nature and the practical changes that must be made to bring about women's equality.
GROUP I. Liberal Feminism -- (1960s - present with modifications).

Argument: Most well known and largest group of feminism [began in 1960s basically argues for incorporation of women into the existing political and economic structure. Extend equal legal rights--political, social, and economic--to women.]
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Assumptions: So-called sex differences are not biologically based, but are the result of the differential socialization of women and men. Sex differences are really culturally produced gender differences. Women are really fundamentally the same as men. Technological means that women are no longer required to birth and rear children the same as before; jobs have changed, and women can do the jobs that may have only been done by men in the past. (See Betty Frieden, Gloria Steinam, Susan Okin, Mary Hawkesworth) (See Alice Echols for a history of radical feminism bk: Daring to be Bad.) Policy: Incorporate women into the existing political and economic structure. Give them legal rights for equal political participation and equal employment. Some for affirmative action to correct past wrongs.
GROUP II. Feminists Promoting More Radical or Structural Changes (beyond just incorporating women in existing organizational and societal structures).

-Points of divergence from above: Disagree that women are essentially the same as men. Disagree that we must simply incorporate women into the existing political/economic system. -Several groups of radical feminists and their contribution: A) Marxist feminists and Socialist Feminists - (19601980s)
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Emerged out of Marxist approach we've already discussed Argue that any attempt to bring about women's equality will fail unless accompanied by a socialist revolution and fundamental restructuring of the economy. Capitalism requires women's free labor in the home and their cheap labor in the workplace. Marxist feminist retain notions of the primacy of economic inequality (esp under capitalism) as the root of gender inequality. Socialist feminists seek to emphasize both the institutions of capitalism & patriarchy as sources of gender oppression and inequality B both must be eliminated. See Angela Davis. Reader edited by Karen Hansen. More recently socialist feminists analyze the effects of colonialism and globalization on gender inequalities around the world. See Maria Mies or Saskia Sassen. B) Radical feminists (1960s-early 1970s --1967-75 according to Alice Echols): Women are different from men, but these differences are the outgrowth of oppression and should not be glorified. The point is to transcend them. Some RFs argue that the source of women's oppression is physiological in that it is routed in women's reproductive capacity and their role in heterosexual intercourse - Heterosexual intercourse is invasive and repressive. Man's desire to establish his identity as a father. That and child-rearing are the root of women's oppression. Policy: Seek to dismantle patriarchy. Consciousness raising of men and women to re-establish new relationships. For some Communal child rearing. C. Lesbian Separatist Feminism: (1970s) But now Lesbian Feminists & Queer Theory
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Much of feminist writings presumes that women are heterosexual. Lesbians have been ignored/silenced or marginalized by the early 2nd wave feminists. Rich argues that lesbians and even strong non-sexual links among women are a threat to a society that rests on women=s sexual and economic dependence on and subordination to men. Talk of Awomen=s experience@ often ignores the somewhat unique experiences of lesbians who are stigmatized and often denied employment opportunities. Lesbian sexuality has been marginalized. Some early lesbian feminists advocated separatist communities away from men and sometimes from heterosexual communities. Most lesbian feminists today perceive a need for Aseparate spaces and times,@ but also argue that they must survive within the larger heterosexually dominated community....many work for form alliances with other feminists as well as supportive men. (See Rosemarie Tong book Feminist Thought for her chapter on this. Also Mary Dalys work). More recently, lesbian feminists do not advocate separation to the extent previously called for. In the wake of AIDS, lesbian feminists have worked with gay men to challenge the failure to allocate funds and non-Victorian strategies for diagnosis and treatment of AIDS. Postmodern theories have also inspired the rise of Queer Theory which challenges taken-for-granted norms of heterosexism and restricted gender roles. The concepts of Aqueerness@ and gender as performance are used to challenge these assumed taken-for-granted worlds. (e.g., challenging assumed heterosexuality in social policies, queering Christmas as a taken-for-granted holiday). (also see later discussion and Judith Butler: Gender Trouble). D) Cultural feminists: (mid 1970s - 1980s) The psychological make-up of women differs from men in significant ways. Women's characteristics, their concern for and care of others have been devalued. That is a problem. Their characteristics provide a key to building an alternative, more
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humane society. Differences come from socialization (Carol Gilligan) for some, and/or biological (Robin West) for others. To cultural feminists, women=s difference does not equal their inferiority. Actually women=s difference can offer keys/insights as to how to redesign social institutions. (e.g., women=s concern with relationships may promote better teamwork in organizations). Policy: change structure of organizations and politics to support women's virtues E. Feminist Critical Legal Studies (late 1970s to present; grew out of Critical Legal Studies movement. Catharine MacKinnon is most prominent. She argues we do not know the source of women=s oppression, but still argues that women are so economically and sexually subordinated by inequality in economic institutions that make women dependent on men, in laws and CJ institutions that re-victimize women rather than protect them from men=s violence (e.g., legalized marital rape). This domination is so internalized in women=s consciousness that notions of consent in sexual intercourse and marriage are virtually meaningless. Borrowing some from Foucault, she argues that socially constructed patterns of sexuality define heterosexual roles of dominance and subordination as erotic and desirable. These images even pervade homosexual relationship. These images are spread throughout the media especially through pornography B but not limited to pornography. Again, women may not feel oppressed in their associations with men, but that is a form of false consciousness (Hegel's slave mentality). They learn to view themselves and their bodies in terms of what men define as attractive. Gender inequality is institutionalized/formalized in law and CJ system practices. In practice, rape is regulated not prohibited,
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and the same is true for domestic violence, sexual harassment, employment discrimination. Policy: Includes legal fights against pornography and rejection of heterosexual relationships. Women draw together to define their own language and identity. MacKinnon also led the fight to recognize sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII (Equal Employment Opportunity Laws). She also pioneered civil suits for rape and domestic violence victims to recover damages from their assailants. Radical economic and social changes. F) Postmodernist feminist (1980-now) Draws on Foucault and a large cadre of prominent French feminist theories. Cannot define women's essential nature. Deconstruct oppressive images of women Attempt to do so fails to consider that women are constantly changing and will change as they obtain more freedom from oppression. Also fails to understand that there are vast differences among women -- by race and by class to name two. (See Nancy Wonders chapter in Bruce Arrigo=s Social Justice Criminal Justice for an overview; also Carol Smart, Feminism and the Power of Law) G) Critical Race Feminists (some key works in 1970s now but heyday started in 1980s) Women of color in the U.S. and third world argue that much of the women's movement has excluded their concerns B Examinations of so-called Awomen=s experience@ is usually that
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of white middle class women. Much of the liberal feminist movement benefitted them and not poor women of color. (CRF draws on writings from the postmodern feminists, socialists, lesbian, and feminist critical legal studies; CRF now exerts tremendous influence on most feminist perspectives) They focus on getting women rights to run for political office and to hold high level corp jobs does not deal with the reality of poor women and U.S. women of color, and in the third world. The complaints of liberal feminists about being home all day confined to housework was lost on poor women who have always had to work and wish they could stay home with their children. The advancements of the women's movement did little to advance the position of poor women and their children. (See Patricia Hill Collins - Black Feminist Thought or bell hooks work to name just two) ADoing Gender@ or Social Construction of Gender Approaches: (Drawn from ethnomethodological, interactionist and postmodernist approaches) For example, Candace West and others have argued that gender is as an ongoing interactional accomplishment that occurs within a wider social historical context. This accomplishment may vary somewhat by situation, but is always frame by individuals= awareness that they will be called upon to account for their behavior. Judith Butler argues this from a more postmodernist perspective and looks a gender as a production. Judith Butler (1990) rejects the binary system of gender categorization (i.e., male vs. female). She questions the category Awoman,@ arguing that it implies a natural, essential, and unified identity for all women. She argues that notions of gender as a fixed attribute are culturally constituted. She describes gender as an ongoing performance by individuals through gender stylizations of the body (e.g., modes of walking, talking, and dressing). This stylization permits individuals to resist dominant cultural conceptions (e.g., as with drag queens), but
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H.

more often they conform to culturally proscribed versions of gender. I. Queer Theory - late 1980s - present (described above). Butler=s book Gender Trouble is often viewed as one of the major inspirations for queer theory. J. Pro-Feminist Theories of Masculinities 1990s Critique of dominant notions of masculinity as aggressive, controlling over women. Critique of binary opposite views of women. Analysis of changing dominant images of masculinity throughout history and call for more flexible and less domineering (or violent) models of masculinity in the future. (See Robert Connell Gender & Power or James Messerschmidt=s work on masculinities and crime, or Michael Kimmel and Michael Messner=s reader on Men=s Lives.) K. Post-colonial and Global Feminist Theories 1980s, 1990s -present This label covers a wide variety of theoretical foci including issues of ethnocentrism in much western feminist theorizing, the effects of colonialization and continuing post-colonial domination, the impact of heightened globalization on culture, economies and health around the world. Some of these analyses are informed by socialist feminist, neo-Marxist, and world systems theories (e.g., Maria Mies). Some are informed by cultural feminist ideas or post-modernist critiques of gender essentialism, cultural hegemony and nationalist ideologies (e.g., Edward Said, Margaret Strobel). Social movements by women who aimed to locate missing family members and to demand better economic conditions to provide for families and women=s trade union movements have also informed critiques of Western feminist approaches and neoliberal policies and state dictatorships (e.g., June Hahner=s Emancipating the Female Sex: The Struggle for Women=s Rights in Brazil; Nancy Naples and Manisha Desai=s Women=s Activism and Globalization; Ela Bhatt of the Self Employed Women=s Association). For example, google women=s organizations such as: La Red Feminist Campesina
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(Feminist Peasant Network in Mexico, or the Feminist Halozat in Hungary (or see No Turning Back by Estelle Freedman; Chandra Mohanty Feminism Without Borders). L. Ecofeminism - Ecofeminism is represents social movements and theorizing. It regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected. Recent ecofeminist theorists have expanded the analyses to identify interconnections between the domination of nature (animals included) and social inequalities (including class and race domination). Much ecofeminism is influenced by socialist feminist and Marxist analyses, but some versions are strong influenced by cultural feminist type theories... linking women to nature. (See work of C.J. Adams: Beyond Animal Rights: A feminist Caring Ethic for the Treatment of Animals; Jane Caputi: Gossips, Gorgons and Crones; Sturgeon=s Econofeminist Natures: Race Gender Feminist Theory and Political Action .

M. Feminist theories about the Body - New feminist perspectives on the body address the dynamic interplay of nature and nurture forming human experiences (Lorber, 2001). These gender-as-embodied approaches argue that gender imagery is significant in shaping human bodies (e.g., through dieting, physical activity, and conditioning). For example, Kathy Davis (1997) links the cultural formation of women=s bodies to issues of power. AFrom the sexualization of the female body in advertising to the mass rape of women in wartime, women=s bodies have been subjected to processes of exploitation, inferiorization, exclusion, control, and violence@ (from Kathy Davis, Embody-ing Theory, 1997, pp. 10-B15). These new approaches emphatically oppose the taken-for-granted view that men and women have essential natures, and move beyond earlier feminist arguments about whether women are essentially the same as or different from men (Messerschmidt, 2004). For example, biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling (2000) emphasizes the changeability of human bodies over the lifetime. She argues that
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because genitalia come in many sizes and shapes, and because the physiology of sex changes over the course of the life time, sex should be regarded as a continuum rather than as a static category fixed at birth.
CONCLUSIONS:

No one feminist position. I would argue there is some truth to each of them. Overarching themes might be: -Must work for increased legal rights and economic opportunities. -Not enough to tweak the Asystem@ -- more radical changes needed. -Capitalism in it present form cannot accommodate equality -Erasing capitalism alone won't get rid of sexism/racism -Women as a group may exhibit differences from men as a group, but women and men also may be very similar and there is tremendous variation within gender categories. - Must deal with global variations and effects of colonialization and continuing imperialism -Gender categories are more malleable than we typically recognize. -Some of those so-called feminine traits may be problematic and the product of a long history of oppression (Some have argued that women might at times be overly dependent on what others think of them or lack clear self identity); -Some of those traits, we need more of to have a more altruistic society -- care and concern for others -- mutual aid, less aggressive. (e.g., humanize institutions).
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-The positive traits typically attributed to women could help us build a better society. -No unified woman's or man's nature ; Much diversity especially along class, race and cultural lines. -Must glorify diversity of persons and their perspectives instead of trying to make everyone the same. -Must be sensitive to concrete life experiences of all different types of persons and consider how any policy/law will affect their experiences. -Men pay a high price for dominance, as do women for subordination. -Old ways of thinking about the body vs. the social must be rethought, but this does not mean a return to simplistic thinking about biological determinism. The social mediates and shapes the body. -Sometimes women=s advancement in organizations depends on blending into the status quo or behaving in ways attributed to men. -Link between environmental degradation and racial, class, and gender domination

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