This essay will aim to discuss the relationship between Western Feminisms and International Feminisms as explored by various non-Western Feminists. It will aim to investigate the origins of this 'relationship ', the complexities/complications within it, evaluate how effective both paradigms are in the third wave and ultimately what is still needed to be done to create a transnational, intersectional feminist movement irrespective of the backgrounds of all women. To discuss the relationship between ‘Western Feminism’ and ‘International Feminisms’ we must first create clear definitions of what each term means, implies, and advocates for. Far too often the relationship between the two paradigms has been framed in the traditional framework of …show more content…
Gloria Anzaldúa writes in her essay ‘Speaking in Tongues: A Letter To 3rd World Women’s Writers’ that the “woman of colour is invisible both in the white male mainstream world and in the white women’s feminist word”. Anzaldúa refers to the other International feminist writers and thinkers as her “dear Hermanas”; it speaks to other International feminists thinkers as a collective branch of sisters, fighting the male patriarchy and female racism. Anzaldúa does not advocate for women of colour to stay complacent in the name of preserving the sanctity of the Feminism with a capital F. Instead her essay makes clear that “we cannot allow ourselves to be tokenized”, and as a result should use writing, in and out of academia to make ‘our’ points heard. Anzaldúa is an International Feminist, specifically as she refers to it, as a 3rd World feminist despite living and writing in the US. She is an International Feminist as she is writing in a language that is not her native Spanish. Similarly, bell hooks advocates too for what Anzaldúa is emphasising. hooks states that it is with contradiction that “white females have structured a woman’s liberation movement that is racist and excludes many non-white women” but insists that this contradiction should not “lead any woman to ignore feminist issues”. Both hooks and Anzaldúa are agreed in the continuous marginalisation of non-white female voice in Western feminism, but insist that non-white feminists must “re-appropriate the term “feminism” to focus on […] the authentic sense of the term”. What we can take from this then, is that the relationship between Western Feminism and International Feminism is virtually non-existent due to the rampant diminishing of non-white female voices and the
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Show MoreMcCann, C. R. & Kim S. (2013), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives (3rd ed.) (pp 161-173).
For this critical analysis two readings, US Third World Feminism: Differential Social Movement by Chela Sandoval and Cultural Feminism versus Poststructuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory by Linda Alcoff will be used to explore the depth of the relation between each authors thoughts an interpretations of feminism. It is obvious from the titles that these two authors clearly are focusing on different aspects of feminism and provide unique insight into the diverse branches of the feminist movement.
The origins of Third Wave feminism are highly debated, as there is no clear commonality that this wave uses to differentiate between the First and Second waves that occurred prior. Emerging during the 1990’s, Third Wave feminism sought to build upon the achievements and ideas that were accomplished during First and Second wave’s, by increasing the significance and accessibility of its ideas to a greater spectrum of people.
Feminism is a political movement that seeks equality between the sexes. Motivated by the search for social justice, feminist analysis provides a wide range of perspectives on social, cultural, economic, and political ideologies. Important topics for feminist politics and theory include: the body, class and work, family life, globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, reproduction, sex work, human trafficking, and sexuality. From early beginnings, to its current state, feminism has been a pervasive movement that has incited social, political and economic change and advancements. Generationally speaking, over the decades feminism has taken on many different meanings. Feminism has become a spectrum; each generation, or wave,
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press 2000. 333-358.
First and foremost, what are the concepts of Global feminism and Transnational feminism? Charlotte Bunch explains Global Feminism as something which “has...a way of describing the growth of feminism(s) around the world...” (Bunch 129). The core concept of Global Feminism is that women around the world are united amongst the overarching issue of patriarchy. In this view of feminism, it can be argued, such as theorists Mendoza, Said and Spivak do, that global feminism suffers from a Western perspective, or as Mendoza says, it “produces a global feminism whereby First World feminists are positioned as saviors of their poor Third World sisters” (Mendoza 319). Transnational feminism, as described by Mendoza, can be understood as a view where “the term...points to the multiplicity of the world's feminisms and to the increasing tendency of national feminisms to politicize women's issues beyond the borders of the nation state...the position feminists worldwide have taken a...
Feminism. The word itself implies discriminatory and unjust interpretations of ‘equality’. The definition of feminism has been modernised to such an extent that its original meaning is completely lost. In Britain 61% of the people who agreed with gender equality would not describe themselves as feminists. The profound ideology which characterizes women as the eternal victims and prey for the aggressive, violent and savage male species, illustrates the illusion of a never-ending engulfment of power which [modern] feminists
Even though Anzaldua was a well-known feminist and writer, she did look up to other feminists and writers. In “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers” Anzaldua quotes other colored women feminists to help to further convey her thoughts of why colored women do not have a voice. She quotes a woman named Luisah Teish, who stands up against white feminist by telling them that even though they too are women, they will never know the daily struggles of a colored woman. In the essay Anzaldua quotes, “If you are not caught in the maze that (we) are in, it’s very difficult to explain to you the hours in the day we do not have. And that hours that we do not have are hours that are translated into survival skills and money. And when
Youngs, Gillian. "Feminist International Relations: a contradiction in terms? Or: why women and gender are essential to understanding the world 'we' live in." International Affairs 80.1 (2004): 75-87. JSTOR. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
What is within the boundaries of the feminine is always considered to have less status and power and is always subordinate and marginal—women always remain ‘other’. I perceive feminism as a part of the process of challenging the boundaries of the socially constructed role for women in our society—a process which through struggle will create for women a different notion of the normal and natural and a different tradition of being female. (Goodman, Harrop 4)
Feminism can simply be defined as a range of movements and ideologies in which share a common ground in terms of defining, establishing and achieving equal opportunities to that of males, in regards to economic, cultural and social rights. It is a critique of male supremacy with efforts in changing this to end the social oppression of women. (Hooks, 2000)
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).
The socialist/Marxist theory of feminism is explained as the idea that, “women’s oppression [begins] in the structure of capitalism and its interrelationship with patriarchal gender relations,” (Andersen 2015). The socialist or Marxist framework gives
One can hardly talk of a single united feminism, but rather, manifold feminisms. The US feminist movement ‘s main global struggle has been to enable ‘womankind’ to fully lead her existence and live her humanity by standing against the injustices of the dominant patriarchy and sexist discrimination . Throughout history, the dominant mainstream Feminism ( with capital F) tends to have been related to conform to the aspiration of the educated middle-class heterosexual white women who have traditionally been given unequal power to widen their significance--but the movement has lately had more ramifications. Currently, there are different kinds of feminism whose disagreements stem from fundamental intrinsic understanding of what feminism, sexism or phallocentrism mean. Each trend views it from a different perspective as in accordance with its motives or concerns. Nonetheless, they share common claims as to “the body, class and work, disability, the family, globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, reproduction, science, the self, sex work, and sexuality.”