| Who was Simone De Beauvoir? | An existentialist philosopher who wrote the book "the second sex". She was influenced by the french existentialist movement. |
| What were the problems identified by Simone? | Women were made by men, not born, women need sexual liberation, Women were the 'other' restrictively living their lives |
| What was Simone's solution? | higher education, economic freedom and to be stripped of home making roles and the nuclear family model |
| Key quote from Simone? | "For women to love... not to escape herself but to find herself" |
| What stance does Simone take? | De Beauvoir was a socialist who came to see that class struggle was not enough by itself to improve the position of women. However, de Beauvoir did not see the idea of a ‘feminine nature’ as positive |
| Who was Sheila Rowbotham? | Rowbotham is a socialist feminist who argued that women’s oppression was the result of economic and cultural factors. |
| What were her key two points? | Capitalism – women are forced to sell their labour to survive and use their labour to support their family under the capitalist system.
The family – not just an instrument for disciplining and subjecting women to capitalism but a place where men took refuge from alienation under a capitalist economy. |
| What did Rowbotham criticise? | She criticised the concept of marriage, arguing that it turned women into serfs, similar to a feudal system. In addition, men are able to dominate their wives, which provides them with relief from the alienation of working in a capitalist economy. |
| What was Rowbotham's solution? | he way to improve the position of women was to radically change the ‘cultural conditioning’ of humanity, for instance by overthrowing capitalism and changing views on child-rearing and the workplace. |
| Who was Kate Millet? | Millett is an American radical feminist who argued in Sexual Politics (1970) that female oppression was political and cultural. |
| What were Millet's two key points? | Family – undoing the traditional family was the key to true sexual revolution.
Portrayal of women in art and literature –patriarchal culture produced writers and literary works that were degrading to women. |
| What were the problems identified by Millet? | This is because the man dominates the family- traditionally, the wife was seen as part of the husband’s property, and the wife had no possessions of her own so was dependent on the man. Millett also argued that women are degraded in art and literature (an effect of the patriarchy), never having autonomy and being used as commodities for the gratification of men. |
| What were the solutions according to Millet? | This included the portrayal of romantic love, which needed to be overthrown in a sexual revolution. Removing the traditional family structure would be the surest way to liberate women from patriarchy. |
| Who was bell hooks? | hooks used a pseudonym (her grandmother) and lower-case letters to empower her to fight against oppression, without the ego associated with names |
| What were hooks two key points? | Women of colour –cultural concerns of women of colour brought into the mainstream feminist movement. Intersectionality – the mainstream feminist movement had focused mostly on the plight of white, college-educated, middle/upper-class women who had no stake in the concerns of women of colour. |
| What were the problems identified by hooks? | Women of colour had been doubly disadvantaged by their race and gender, and had been torn between supporting feminism (ignoring race) and the civil rights movement (ignoring gender). |
| What was the solution for hooks? | Therefore, there is a need to recognise the differences women of colour experienced in their treatment, and that there should be solidarity between gender, races, and classes. |
| Who was Charlotte Perkins Gilman? | Gilman was an American socialist feminist. |
| What were Gilman's two key points? | Sex and domestic economics are hand in hand – for women to survive, they have to depend on their sexuality and body in order to please their husbands. Societal pressure – young girls are compelled to conform in society and prepare for motherhood by playing with toys and wearing clothes that are specifically designed for and marketed to them. |
| What were the problems identified by Gilman? | Women were dependent on their husbands to survive financially, so used sex to please their husbands and continue to be supported. From an early age, girls were encouraged to fulfil a domestic role, which is done through the family structure and the culture of society (such as ‘girls toys’). |
| What were the solutions according to Gilman? | Therefore, women should achieve economic independence to be free from men, which could be achieved through communal living and changes to marriage laws. |
