How well do you think women understand the history?

Question

and principles of feminism? I don't see much understanding of these subjects in most women I know (and these are educated women). Is my experience out of whack with reality or is there a problem with education here?

You know, I'm genuinely surprised by the first two answers! I asked a straightforward question, I was not comparing men and women. I have a better than average understanding of these matters but this is about what YOU think is the general level among women. I already acknowledged my perception is anecdotal and might not be true! Sheesh!

When I came of age in the late seventies there was a fair bit of discussion and instruction in school about a general feminist perspective. I'm not sure how common that is in North America but I wonder if better instruction might help reduce the kind of strange dreck we see on this forum practically daily.

See the "Hey Ladies, I'm really good looking.." question adjacent to this one to see how well this has caught on among men. But I would have thought this would be crucially important to educated women.

Phil #3 - you have a point I hear where you are coming from but only 2/14 of the answers here were slightly out of touch. And generally I get fair answers most of the time in Women Studies - consistently about 1/7 are "off".

Answer 1

There are many forms of feminism, not just one, each with its own goals and means of achieving goals. Feminism is a braod blanket term. To quote wikipedia (although I hate it) it has a great opening paragraph:

Feminism is a collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies largely motivated by or concerned with the liberation of women from subordination to men. In simple terms, feminism is a belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes, and a movement organized around the conviction that biological sex should not be the pre-determinant factor shaping a person's social identity or socio-political or economic rights. A large portion of feminists are especially concerned with what they perceive to be the social, political and economic inequality between the sexes which favours men at women's expense; some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as "man" and "woman", are socially constructed. Under continuing pressure to conform to masculine norms, feminists disagree over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and gender-based identities should be questioned and critiqued.

So the women you know and have talked to may just know the braod term feminism and not the many theories of feminism. There are also movements that work towards the normal feminism, with the belief being that women should stick to the roles of wives and mothers.

Or, another way, is that these women know what has been done and feel they are already achieved what most historical feminists wanted.

But please clairfy your question a little more. Is there a problem with the way the feminist movements movement is being taught? Not when it is taught, however, it usually isn't taught. It is left upto sterotypes, overly broad, or radical groups.

I consider myself to be a feminist. I still see many inequalities based on gender, race, age, disabilty. I consider this type of feminism to be the best, working so all are equal, not just based on gender.

Answer 2

You know, this is a fairly interesting question. I'm assuming, based on your avatar, that you're a guy; or at least male-identified; so I'm hoping you're prepared for the amount of crap you'll possibly be receiving from this question.

One thing about a lot of today's people's undertanding of feminism is this: just 'cause you're a woman doesn't mean you automatically understand feminism. A lot of women don't identify as a feminist because for whatever reason, the words "feminist" and "feminism" have been associated with being militant and men-hating. While there are feminists who are militant and man-hating, the majority of feminists (I myself included) are not. All it takes to be a feminist is to believe that women deserve equal rights to everyone else, and that women have potential as leaders just like everyone else.

Another thing that I think impacts people's understanding of feminism and it's history is complacency. In the last hundred or so years, women's rights have come a long way. From gaining the right to vote, to Title IX, to Roe vs Wade, we've come a long way in terms of fighting for rights that should've been our's in the first place. But with these advances come complacency. Yes, there are more opportunities for women in the workplace, in civic issues...etc, but there's still more work to be done. Women still get paid 80 cents on the dollar when compared to men who hold the same position at work; and it's still a fight to have abortion rights stay legal.

Things are definitely better than they were, but there's still work to be done and a lot of people don't see that because there's little push in school to really sa that women have historically gotten less but that times have changed and now we deserve more.

Answer 3

I think maybe 1% of women actually know anything about women's studies or feminist theory. I guess the educated women who still know nothing about it are women who didn't take any women's studies or social science classes in university.

I do believe there is a problem with feminist awareness, in both men and women. I see men on this forum complaining about things that are perceived as anti-male, when in fact they are either anti-female at the core or simply a product of patriarchal ideas - no one has ever claimed that patriarchy doesn't hurt men, too. But people, because of their lack of education in certain things, don't critically examine things, and blame everything on the feminist movement. Feminism has become an almost dirty word to a lot of people, which further alienates them from its teachings.

The question is, what can we do? I think Women's Studies should be taught in high schools, so all the people who don't go to university for whatever reason, or people who don't take social sciences in university, can learn about it. Feminism is for everybody, and should therefore be more accessible.

Answer 4

I am not overly familiar with feminism as a movement historically and whatnot, but the basic definition is that women equal to men. I don't think that women should have more of an education on feminism than men; how much does the average man know about feminism? I think unless you study alot on your own, are involved with the movement, or have taken courses on it, you probably won't know much other than women are equal to men...
From your question, you seem assume that we should know. I don't think that's fair. Most of us know that we are equal without having to be a feminist, and without having formal education to tell us so.

Answer 5

Not very well. Most K-12 history books only talk about white men's achievements, which has erroneously led many women (and men) to believe that women didn't do anything.

Most women (and men) have never heard of Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Susan B. Anthony, for example. Heck, most younger women (and men) don't even know who Betty Friedan or Gloria Steinem are.

Nevermind the less famous ladies.

Seems that most women are totally unaware that our grandmothers could not vote as young women or own their own property or go to college to become a lawyer or doctor or engineer or architect or whatever else they wanted to be.

Until the 1940s, childbirth was the number one killer of women.

My mom told me that one of her high school teachers (in the early 1950s) actually told her not to get such high grades because otherwise the boys wouldn't like her and she would never get married.

Harvard Law School, founded in 1817, first admitted women in 1953. That was about the time my mother started attending college, which had to be explained to other family members as that she was looking for a college educated husband and not that she herself wanted a higher education.

Younger women (and men) just don't seem to have even a remote clue as to the obstacles (some legal, some societal) that women have faced just a generation or two ago. And, how we got from that point to this point (where girls can choose whatever education and career that they want).

Answer 6

We aren't all the same. I don't think that way with my girlfriend. Anyway, don't you see more black men who treat their white girlfriends badly than we do. I hardly ever see any black women with white men. I just saw on the local news that a man strangled his wife because he was jealous and he was black. There are so many stories on a national level about a black man killing his wife or abusing than it being the other way around. So we should probably be talking about why white women shouldn't be dating black men. However, just because of a few cases doesn't make black men dangerous. I think if you can give black men a break than you can do the same for white men. Anyway, if you got out of the past you wouldn't have anything to support it with.

Answer 7

Most modern women do not actually have a good understanding of the purpose behind feminism, I know I am going to be slammed by other women for this but SOME women are now using feminism as a weapon and it was meant to be a tool to help women be equal to men.

I do think that SOME women should re-acquaint themselves with the purpose of feminism but I also think men should not use the word and theory of feminism as if it were a weapon either and should be educated as well as women in the movement.

Answer 8

You know Geoffrey, your answers here on YA tend to make me believe you are more or less a feminist or at least attempting to be fair to women.
Surely you can see from the answers you have been given that some self-proclaimed feminists are judging you badly simply for being male and daring to ask a question dealing with feminism.
Most feminists are either 1) young or; 2) forgot what feminism was originally, if they ever knew. Today's feminism is hung up on punishing today's men for perceived wrongs of 40 or more years ago, as is evidenced by some of the answers to this question as well as treatment of men in response to other questions.
Feminism is today more about punishing men, special rights along with denial of responsibility, superiority and inequality before the law.
That movement that we call feminism began in the 1840s and it was intimately intertwined with several other movements, all of which were good.
The core movement was not feminism, but abolitionism - the crusade to end the vile and universal practice of people owning other people.
Then add cruelty to animals. Directly from the movements on both sides of the Atlantic to outlaw cruelty to animals came efforts to outlaw and stop cruelty to children.
Another movement that arose in the 1800s and which was closely tied to abolition and feminism was temperance. The natural interests of all these diverse attempts at improving mankind - abolition, feminism, compassion for animals, concern for children, and temperance in consumption of alcohol - were considered so natural that Susan B. Anthony was first famous as an abolitionist, Frederick Douglass spoke about equal rights for women before blacks were freed of slavery.
I wonder how many who claim to be feminists are aware that Susan B. Anthony believed that abortion was both a crime and a sin and focused on suffrage while today's feminists are holding her out as an example of modern-day feminism, that hold such principles as abortion-on-demand as a right for women. She was also at least slightly racist.
Without going into too much detail, the differences between original feminism and feminism of today is as different as Borneo and Antarctica.

Answer 9

Honestly, I didn't know about feminine history until I started taking the classes in college. In grammar school, they only go over small parts of prominent women in history, and these women are completely forgotten in high school. I do urge everyone to take atleast one course on women's studies in college. It will open their eyes to centuries of social obligations and issues that women have endured. But, I do agree with you, even super educated women don't recall or weren't educated about feminism.

Answer 10

I agree with you. Most women haven't a clue. When you delve into the history you also find some very frightening things.

Is the problem education, or much deeper?

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