Back النظرية السياسية النسوية Arabic Feminist siyasi nəzəriyyə Azerbaijani Teoría política feminista Spanish نظریه سیاسی فمینیستی Persian Teoría política feminista Galician 여성주의 정치 이론 Korean Феміністична політична теорія Ukrainian 女性主義政治理論 Chinese
Feminist political theory is an area of philosophy that focuses on understanding and critiquing the way political philosophy is usually construed and on articulating how political theory might be reconstructed in a way that advances feminist concerns.[1] Feminist political theory combines aspects of both feminist theory and political theory in order to take a feminist approach to traditional questions within political philosophy.[2]
The three main goals of the feminist political theory:
- To understand and critique the role of gender in how political theory is conventionally construed.
- To re-frame and re-articulate conventional political theory in light of feminist issues (especially gender equality).
- To support political science presuming and pursuing gender equality.
Feminist political theory focuses on critiquing the way political philosophy has been constructed to serve men. There are deep rooted misogynistic features that are embedded in our political environment. Feminist political theory combines aspects of both feminist theory and political theory so that it can create a feminist approach to political theory.
The three main goals of feminist political theory are:
- Understanding and critique the role of gender in how political theory is conventionally constructed
- To reframe and rearticulate conventional political theory in light of feminist issues
- To support political science presuming and pursuing gender equality
Background information
Feminist political philosophy is an area of philosophy that focuses on understanding and critiquing the way political philosophy is usually construed and on articulating how political theory might be reconstructed in a way that advances feminist concerns. This field of philosophical questioning combines the traditional structures, assumptions and exclusions that are prominent in mainstream political thought. Feminist political theory aims to reshape and reconstruct the political sphere to be equal for all. Feminist political theory combines aspects of both feminist theory and political theory in order to take a feminist approach to traditional questions within political philosophy.
History and Current Applications of Political feminist theory
Historically, feminist political theory has shaped movements for women's rights such as the suffragist campaigns of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Examples include Mary Wollstonecraft who criticized the naturalization of women's status as she argues that social and political systems construct gender inequality.
The earliest origins of feminist political theory can be traced back into texts written by women about women's abilities and their protesting about women's exclusion and subordination.
Some key primary texts include:
Christiane de Pizan's 1450 "The Book of the City of Ladies", which was written in praise of women and as a defense of their capabilities and virtues in order to combat against misogynist male writing.
Mary Astell's 1694 "A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest," argues that women who do not intend to marry should use their dowries to finance residential women's colleges to provide the recommended education for upper- and middle-class women.
More recent movements include the MeToo movement which demonstrated how feminist political theory continues to influence activism. This specific movement represented how harassment aren't isolated incidents but rather the consequence of the current political structures that allow these injustices to occur. Kimberle Crenshaw, a feminist philosopher reveals how the intersection of gender and race have reshaped political discourse.
Feminist political theory is not just about women or gender. There are no strict necessary and sufficient conditions for being ‘feminist’, due both to the nature of categories and to the myriad developments, orientations and approaches within feminism.[3] Although understanding and analyzing the political effects of gendered contexts is an important field of feminist political theory, feminist theory, and hence feminist political theory, is about more than gender. Feminist political theorists are found throughout the academy, in departments of political science, history, women's studies, sociology, geography, anthropology, religion, and philosophy.[3]
Feminist political theory encompasses a broad scope of approaches. It overlaps with related areas including feminist jurisprudence/feminist legal theory; feminist political philosophy; ecological feminism; female-centered empirical research in political science; and feminist research methods (feminist method) for use in political science the social sciences.
What frequently distinguishes feminist political theory from feminism broadly is the specific examination of the state and its role in the reproduction or redressing of gender inequality.[4] In addition to being broad and multidisciplinary, the field is relatively new, inherently innovative, and still expanding; the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains that "feminist political philosophy serves as a field for developing new ideals, practices, and justifications for how political institutions and practices should be organized and reconstructed."[5]
- ^ Oberhelman, David D. (2001-06-01). "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Reference Reviews. 15 (6). Emerald Group Publishing Limited: 9. doi:10.1108/rr.2001.15.6.9.311. ISSN 0950-4125.
- ^ Tucker, Ericka (2014), "Feminist Political Theory", in Gibbons, Michael T (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, American Cancer Society, pp. 1277–1289, doi:10.1002/9781118474396, ISBN 978-1-118-47439-6, retrieved 2021-11-13
- ^ a b Tucker, Ericka (2014), "Feminist Political Theory", in Gibbons, Michael T (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, American Cancer Society, pp. 1277–1289, doi:10.1002/9781118474396, ISBN 978-1-118-47439-6, retrieved 2021-11-05
- ^ Watson, Lori (2013-01-01). "Feminist Political Theory". International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. doi:10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee757. ISBN 9781444367072.
- ^ McAfee, Noëlle (2014-01-01). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Feminist Political Philosophy (Summer 2014 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.