FeminismAn introduction for ICUDS

By Ed MiddletonDec ‘12

Contents

The Feminist Movement Employment Objectification Gender Roles Intersectionality

What? and Why?

Introduction

GENDER IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT Both genders are equal

“Different but equal” Identical

Differences: Biological Socialised

The Feminist Movement

First wave: De jure/mandated inequalities

Second wave: De facto/non-official inequalities

Third wave: Post-structural Deconstruction of gender

Employment – What?

Pay gap Vertical segregation

Positions of management Horizontal segregation

Types of career Perception of colleagues

Employment – Why?

Maternity (genuine costs + excuse) Lack of role models ‘Old boys club’ Similarity bias Gender roles Socialised behaviour

Employment - Solutions

Quotas for boards Incentives to work

Tax breaks Subsidies in education State sponsored childcare

Educational focus

Objectification – What?

1. instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier's purposes;2. denial of autonomy: the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-

determination;3. inertness: the treatment of a person as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in

activity;4. fungibility: the treatment of a person as interchangeable with other objects;5. violability: the treatment of a person as lacking in boundary-integrity;6. ownership: the treatment of a person as something that is owned by another (can

be bought or sold);7. denial of subjectivity: the treatment of a person as something whose experiences

and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.8. reduction to body: the treatment of a person as identified with their body, or

body parts;9. reduction to appearance: the treatment of a person primarily in terms of how

they look, or how they appear to the senses;10. silencing: the treatment of a person as if they are silent, lacking the capacity to

speak.

Objectification – What?

Pornography Advertising Individual interactions Sexualisation of girls and women Narratives about women

Objectification – Why?

Harms of pornography: Coercive Violent Deprecating

Rape culture Paedophilia and abusive relationships Value of women

By men and women

Gender Roles – What?

Personality Career Parenting Component of:

Employment problems Objectification Basically everything

Gender Roles – Why?

Self-actualisation Benefits to society Family division of labour Harmful effects of above Other groups affected by defined genders:

Men Transgender people LGBTQIA

Gender Roles – Solution?

Education Up-bringing Positive Discrimination Education

Intersectionality

Interactions with other minority identities: Sexuality Ethnicity Class Religion

BUT IT AFFECTS MEN TOO…

…Who cares?