LIBERAL FEMININSM1

1 BACKGROUND

Liberal feminism is a response to and development of Liberalism(Wollstonecraft,2005) .Mainstream Liberalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in whatever variant offered a form of thought in which the individual is a descendent of the Enlightenment concept of an autonomous rational being and political equality is associated with that ability to reason. According to Enlightenment thinking, all those who can reason are capable of independent thought and action and hence should be capable of independent thought and action and hence should be able to par participate in society (Wollstonecraft, 2005).Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women.2

Liberal Feminism is the most mainstream form of feminism which is committed to the major or economic re-organization and considers redistribution of wealth. It advocates for the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. Liberal Feminism emphasizes on the equality of the men and female in terms of the equal opportunities. It assumes that once female are provided with supportive environment and are liberalized ensuring their rights then they are not less than men and can stand up on their own. So this is basically an individualistic form of theory. It focuses on womens ability to show and maintain their equality and maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. Thus, aims to transform the society into a more gender equitable place. Liberal feminism advocates womens access over reproductive and abortion, aware and fight against sexual harassment, voting, and education for women, fair compensation for work, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women. The main philosophy of this theory is eradication of institutional bias and the implementation of better laws for the freedom of women. There is unclear understanding of what freedom is so hence it has been categorized as follows:

Paper prepared by Pabitra Sharma, Ruby Shakya and Subita Pradhan on the partial fulfillment of the course Gender and Social Inclusion 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism

(I)Classical liberal or libertarian feminism This theory conceives freedom as freedom from coercive interference. It holds that women, as well as men, have a right to such freedom due to their status as self-owners. It holds that coercive state power is justified only to the extent necessary to protect the right to freedom from coercive interference. Equity feminists are classical liberal or libertarian feminists .They hold that feminism's political role is to bring an end to laws that limit women's liberty in particular, but also to laws that grant special privileges to women. Some equity feminists see a nonpolitical role for feminism, helping women to benefit from their freedom by developing beneficial character traits or strategies for success, or navigating among their increasing options. Other equity feminists are socially conservative and argue that, while the state should not enforce them, traditional values function as bulwarks against state power and produce independent and self-restraining citizens. Cultural libertarian feminists are classical liberal or libertarian feminists who hold that the culture of societies like the United States is patriarchal and a significant source of oppression of women. They hold that the patriarchal culture and the state are complementary systems of oppression. Cultural libertarian feminists hold that much of the oppression women suffer today is non coercive, however, and thus should not be met with state remedies but with a nonviolent movement for feminist social change. Readers interested in classical liberal or libertarian feminism may want to skip ahead to that section now. II) Egalitarian liberal feminism. Egalitarian liberal feminism conceives of freedom as personal autonomy that is living a life of one's own choosing as well as political autonomy which means being co-author of the conditions under which one lives. Egalitarian liberal feminists hold that the exercise of personal autonomy depends on certain enabling conditions that are insufficiently present in women's lives, or that social arrangements often fail to respect women's personal autonomy and other elements of women's flourishing. They hold also that women's needs and interests are insufficiently reflected in the basic conditions under which they live, and that those conditions lack legitimacy because women are inadequately represented in the processes of democratic self-determination. As the protection and promotion of citizens' autonomy is the appropriate role of the state on the egalitarian liberal view, egalitarian liberal feminists hold that the state can and should be the women's movement's ally in protecting and promoting women's autonomy. There is disagreement among egalitarian liberal feminists, however, about the role of personal autonomy in the good life, the appropriate role of the state, and how egalitarian liberal feminism is to be justified. Readers interested in egalitarian liberal feminism may want to skip ahead to that section now.

2. FINDINGS
I) Achievements and Contributions There are many achievements gained by the liberal feminism such as: China-Abolished foot binding system Married women could own property of their own. Women got right to education, employment, property and to caste vote. Women can compete equally with men in politics and waged employment. Reproductive rights recognized and abortion rights legalized Equal pay for equal work.

There are many contributions which were brought by it such as: Making language, childrens books, and education more gender neutral. Making formal and informal gender discrimination visible and Countering its effects by mentoring and networking in multicultural Womens professional and occupational associations. Working with civil rights organizations to frame affirmative. Action guidelines and to bring lawsuits for women and disadvantaged men. Getting more women elected and appointed to government positions. Child care and paid parental leave.

These achievements and contributions greatly helped for women to gain freedom and better opportunities as women were suffering from inequity in many public spheres mostly in the workplace and in education. Higher education for women, paid labor and entry into politics were the main concerns as it based on the major goal of personal empowerment of individual women, dignity, self fulfillment and equality.

II) Criticisms Ignores the study of social structural factors Liberal Feminists have focused their attention upon "equality of opportunity between males and females. They have largely ignored the study of social structural factors that other Feminists see as a basic cause of inequality in Capitalist societies.3 It doesnt challenge capitalism or patriarchy or any other fundamentals structure of society but rather looks for the removal of barriers that prevent women operating effectively in the public sphere on equal terms with men. As patriarchy and capitalism are also one of the barriers prevailing in the society for gaining equality of opportunity. Failure to understand that in any society fundamentally unequal in its economic and social structure Society is divided into different class of women in terms of economical structure and social structure. Equality of opportunity also differs from one class of women to another class of women as between upper and lower class of women. Individualistic approach of equality of opportunity ignores the class differences of women in the society. It fails to adopt the community based approach focusing totally on individualistic form of women as class and position of women matter in ensuring equal opportunities in terms of freedom and opportunities. Too much focus on women becoming like men Too much focus on women becoming like men as it is based on the notion that all people are created equal women are essentially the same as men. Providing equality of opportunity can make women same as men. This disintegrates the importance and the unique characteristics of women of the society. Providing equality of opportunities means to be self dependent and having self identity. This ignores or diminishes the self identity of women as distinct identity.

Feminism: Some General Points of Criticism...www.sociology.org.uk 2005

3. CONCLUSION Women have been always considered as women first then secondly as individual human beings. Liberal feminism considered women primarily as individual human being based on the principle equality of opportunity and freedom. Women are also rational agent but exclusion in public sphere has made to prevent from realizing their own potential. Freedom and equality of opportunities eliminate the gap between a women and men through involvement in better education and privileged social position which men enjoy. Eradication of institutional bias and the implementation of better laws cannot bring women equality even she is no longer dependent , she will be still living in a patriarchy society so institutional changes alone are insufficient to give women equality, social structural factors must change along with it. References Wollstonecraft to Wolf, 2005. Modernist Emancipatory Feminism: Liberal Feminism Beasley02.qxd 2/4/2005 4:09 PM Page 28. http://www.suite101.com/content/types-of-feminism-a51502 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-liberal/