feminism, it speaks (like radical feminism) of women in abstract terms, and therefore
unthinkingly adopts the position of white women. Postmodern feminism is seen as
indulgent and sceptical, and for all its emphasis upon difference, ignores the
problems which black women face, and which make the notion of emancipation a
meaningful ideal. Deconstructing modernity seems a rather hollow enterprise when
women who are black have yet to obtain modernist goals of equality and autonomy.Summary
Liberal feminism seeks to give women the same political and legal rights that men
enjoy so that women can be regarded as rational and autonomous individuals.
Liberal feminists are accused by their critics of disregarding the negative impact
that capitalism and the market make upon women’s lives; of ignoring male
oppression in the so-called private sphere; and of embracing an ideology that is
abstract and absolutist in tone.
Socialist feminism argues that questions of gender must be considered alongside
questions of class. Marxist feminism particularly emphasises the problem posed by
capitalism to the interests of women. Liberal critics contend that women can
legitimately display their equality through becoming executives in business, and
argue that it is wrong to assume that all women should work outside the home.
Other feminists feel that socialists ignore the general problems faced by women in
all societies, while postmodernists feel that the socialist ‘metanarrative’ is as abstract
as the liberal one.
Radical feminists pride themselves on concentrating exclusively on women’s
problems, and insist that male oppression manifests itself in interpersonal relations
as well as in more conventionally political arenas. They are accused by their critics
of an authoritarian disregard for the individual and a prejudice against men. The
differences between women, whether racial or class-based, must be taken into
account, and it is wrong to assume that a scientific view expresses masculinist values.
Black feminists take the view that ethnic outsiders must be explicitly considered,
and generalised views of women are unacceptable. Their critics feel that black
feminists focus one-sidedly upon what is one form of oppression among many, and
that they are guilty of essentialising blackness.
The philosophical feminisms stress either the importance of rigorous scientific
methods (the feminist empiricists); the need to understand the distinctive character
of a woman’s outlook (the standpoint feminists); or the importance of plurality and
difference (the postmodern feminists). Their critics feel that empiricism is vulnerable
to the argument that facts themselves imply values; that a woman’s standpoint varies
dramatically according to circumstance; and that an excessive emphasis upon
difference casts doubt upon the whole feminist project.
These divisions can be resolved by a notion of feminism that seeks to incorporate
the strengths of each of the feminisms and exclude their weaknesses.332 Part 3 Contemporary ideologies