Feminism and Theories of

Empowerment
Theodore M. Godlaski
College of Social Work
University of Kentucky

Background
• Feminism and other empowerment
oriented approaches grew out of the
antiwar and civil rights movements of the
1960s and early 1970s.
• These movements demonstrated that
dedicated individuals, acting together, in a
generally non-violent way could change
public attitudes significantly and thus
change public policy.

Background
• What began as the Women’s Movement
developed quickly into a number of
theoretical perspectives and methods of
analysis for the understanding of human
behavior.
• Feminism is not one thing but a number of
different perspectives that share a
common set of postulates.

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 Basic Principles
• Social structures privilege men as a group and oppress
women as a group.
• Knowledge and values are integrated.
• Knowledge is unitary, holistic, global, rather than linear
or dualistic.
• There are many ways of knowing including nonobjective,
intuitive sources of information.
• Psychosocial development focuses on attachment and
relatedness.
• Gender differences should not be equated with female
inferiority.
• Personal problems and sociopolitical conditions are
interrelated.
• Empowerment includes both individual and social
change.

A Clinical Illustration
• Self-in-relationship Theory
– “for women, feeling good about one’s self or believing
one’s self to be of worth should derive, in part, from
being sensitive to, attuned to, connected to, and
generally interdependent with others . . . Women with
high self esteem should differ from women with low
self esteem in the degree to which they are
connected to others and others are included in their
self-definition.” Josephs, R., Marcus, H., & Tafarodi, R. (1992).
Gender and self esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
63, p.392.

A Clinical Illustration

• The Self-In-Relationship approach was

largely used to inform the notion of
“codependency”.
– Defining one’s self as independent,
assertive, aggressive, and separate – like
a man – is good.
– Defining one’s self as interdependent,
connected to other, and empathic -- like a
woman – is bad.

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 A Clinical Illustration

• “Although the codependency construct

is popular, it has been poorly defined,
lacks empirical research, is culturally
determined, and is used primarily in a
discriminatory way to pathologize
women’s gender-specific behavior”
– Logan, TK; Walker, J.R.; Cole, J.; Leukefeld, C.G. (2002).
Victimization and substance abuse among women:
Contributing factors, interventions, and implication. Review
of General Psychology, 6(4): 325-397.

Feminism Family Tree

Feminism

Liberal Radical Socialist Lesbian Womanism Post-Modern

Classic Welfare Cultural

Inate Conditioned

Liberal Feminism
• Earliest perspective and most often popularly
identified with feminism as a whole.
• Men and women are the same because both
have capacity for reason.
• Disparities are based on culture not on ability.
• Women need and deserve access to all that
men have and have access to.
• What is needed is a level playing field where
men and women can compete based on ability
and merit.

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 Liberal Feminism
• Classic Liberal Feminism
– Government should protect everyone’s civil
liberties.
– Government should insure equal opportunities
for all people.
• Welfare Liberal Feminism
– Government should regulate the marketplace
to improve opportunities for women.
– Government should ensure mechanisms to
redress past injustice against women.

Radical Feminism
• Began as a reaction to the male centered civil
rights movement.
• Sexism is oppression and it is woven into the
fabric of society.
• “The personal is political.”
• A radical change in society is necessary to end
oppression of women.
• Advocates for public provision of child care and
an end to marriage or, at least, the privileged
status of marriage.

Cultural Feminism
• Grew out of and is a reaction to Radical
Feminism.
• Men and women are different.
• There are different ways of knowing and
understanding.
• Difference should be cultivated and valued.
• Relationships among women should be
encouraged and cultivated to develop and
enhance a culture of women.

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 Cultural Feminism
• Innate Cultural Feminism
– The differences between men and women as regards
world view, ways of knowing, and valuing are inborn
and genetic in origin.
– Men and women can never fully understand each
other.
• Conditioned Cultural Feminism
– The differences between men and women as regards
world view, ways of knowing, and valuing are largely,
if not entirely, socially learned.
– With effort, men and women can understand and
value each others perspectives.

Socialist Feminism
• Earlier feminist approaches focused primarily on
the personal and psychological effects of
patriarchy Socialist Feminism focused on the
social and economic effects.
• Capitalism is a system developed out of
patriarchy.
• Women are treated as an underclass whose
labor is exploited to make life easier for men.
• Homemaking and child rearing should be seen
as societal and not parental responsibilities.

Lesbian Feminism
• A challenge to sexism and heterosexism.
• Heterosexism is an outgrowth of patriarchy,
people should not be privileged or discriminated
against because of who they choose to be
intimate with.
• All hierarchy serves patriarchy.
• Women are taught to look to men to tell them
how to be women.
• Women should look to women to define
themselves: “woman-identified woman.”
• Women should abandon care taking of men.

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 Womanism
• Arose as a reaction to the perception that
feminism was dominated by upper middle
class white women who did not appreciate
the situation of women of color.
• Women have multiple identities: gender,
race, class.
• All of these identities have to be taken into
account in the work of liberation.

Womanism
• The identity of women of color is fragmented and much
like that of colonized people.
• Activism is primary and should not be sacrificed to prove
some abstract theoretical point.
• Psychotherapeutic Decolonization
– Recognize the systematic and societal process of colonization
and oppression and so become aware of the colonized
mentality.
– Correct cognitive errors that reinforce a colonized mentality.
– Assert and affirm racial and gender identity, developing a more
integrated identity.
– Increase self-mastery and achieve autonomous dignity.
– Work toward transforming oneself and the colonized condition.

Postmodern Feminism
• Emphasis on socially constructed meaning defining
one’s identity.
• “Gender”, “class”, “race” are all constructs that are
reductionistic and lead to only a superficial
understanding of the human experience.
• Recognizing the diversity of experience is critical.
• Until men and women can move beyond such constructs
they will never be free to be fully themselves.
• Anti-theoretical bias.
• “Woman” is not a universal construct and therefore no
individual or group can speak for all women.

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 Clinical Implications
• Feminist approaches, like all approaches that
center on the plight of oppressed groups share
much in common with conflict theories.
– Consciousness raising is a first step.
– Recognition of the effects of oppression on personal
identity and self-definition.
– Understanding that personal and social change are
coterminous.
– Movement toward personal liberation and then social
change.

Clinical Implications
• The object of intervention is
empowerment.
– Empowerment is increasing a person’s power
so that she can take action to improve her
own situation and gain Clinical Implications
control of her own life.
– Raising awareness, validation of feelings, self
disclosure, and building cohesive community
are all powerful tools to this end.

Feminist Agenda: Intimate Violence

• Societal Level (Macro):
– Pass laws proscribing violence against
women which mandate consequences
including both punishment and intervention for
batterers.
– Give women access to all the privileges and
resources to which men have access.

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Feminist Agenda: Intimate Violence
• Community Level (meso)
– Develop a coordinated community response
to intimate violence that includes all segments
of the community.
– Provide shelters and services for women who
are victims of intimate violence and their
children so that they can experience safety,
security, and hope.

Feminist Agenda: Intimate Violence

• Provide effective interventions to batterers
to assist them in changing their
misogynistic attitudes and developing
more egalitarian ones.
• Provide effective interventions for victims
of intimate violence which will empower
them to leave abuse relationships.

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