Women's Rights Advocacy in Historical Perspective
Introduction
•
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), an English
Philosopher known for her
strong and committed
advocacy of women’s rights,
is most commonly known
for her work
A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792)
.
•
Wollstonecraft argues in this work that
women’s
inferiority to men is not natural and the reason for
this inferiority is their lack of education.
•
According to her,
by virtue of being rational beings
both men and women should be treated at par with
each other
.
•
She wanted to make women’s lives better not only for
themselves but also for their families and more
importantly for their husbands
. However, she is most
widely considered as
an advocate of liberal feminism
who emphasized the freedom and equality of women.
Women’s Struggle for Rights in
Historical Perspective
•
Free development of the individual
is the core idea in
liberalism. But in view of existence of different strands
within liberalism different ways are prescribed to
achieve this fundamental goal.
•
Despite development of feminist ideas very early in
history it was only the publication of Mary’s
phenomenal work in 1792 that it
got systematic and
theoretical expression.
However, such ideas became
popular only with the ‘first wave of feminism’ in the
1840s and 1850s.
•
The
French Revolution in 1789 had a deep impact on
almost all aspects of social and political life.
So not
only did the
rights of the common man
become
important but
rights of the minorities, slaves and
women too became a matter of discussion.
The French Revolution and Women’s
March on Versailles
•
Although the French Revolution did not have much
impact on women’s rights
women who participated in
the Revolution did have a profound impact on
feminism and women’s rights.
•
Women’s March on Versailles, women’s political clubs
and their pamphlets,
and some of the politically
popular figures greatly influenced the perception about
the women and the way they were viewed in society.
•
Women were confined to the domestic sphere
and
were not given an opportunity to participate in the
public sphere. They were considered as less rational
and hence not capable of taking decisions in public life.
•
French Enlightenment thinker
Rousseau too shared
the similar view and believed that women had no role
in politics.
The French Revolution…(contd.)
•
By
1787 women started bringing out brochures
that
reflected and argued in favour of the
rights of women in
the fields of education, employment opportunities and
marriage rights
.
•
Consequently, the
consciousness regarding economic and
sexual rights generated during the French Revolution
was
meant to become an
important starting point
for all future
feminist struggles.
•
The
March on Versailles on October 5, 1789 was the first
major event
that marked the role of women in politics . It
was a result of the
deteriorating economic condition of
the country which led to an unexpected increase in the
bread prices and extremely low wage rates
because of
which poor, working class women faced great difficulties in
fulfilling even the basic needs of their families.
March on Versailles
•
As a result
some of the women took part in riots that
were triggered against low wages.
But despite such
riots there was no food and soon Paris began to starve.
•
In the March on Versailles,
women put bread on pikes
and marched from Paris to Versailles
. In this march
men too followed women and they
captured the king
and brought him with his family to Paris
to have a
look at the condition of people there.
•
This
turned out to be a major game-changer for
women
as it proved that they too could effectively
participate in the cause and that women were
not a
politically irrelevant class.
So it also demonstrated that
men and women could work as equals when they were
committed to bring about positive changes in society.
Post-French Revolution and Women’s
Engagement in Politics
•
By
1790,
when France had began to function under a
representative government,
women reformed their ways
of struggle and started to engage in politics in a different
way.
•
They
formed political clubs or became part of different
clubs, which were till then an arena only for men.
These
clubs now with women members came up in different
places which showed that women all over were now
getting conscious of their rights and political significance.
•
Gradually
women and men from these clubs began filing
petitions in the National Assembly advocating women’s
equal right to education and reform in martial laws.
Women also came forward to
assert their sexual rights
and went on to form dual-gender clubs
where men and
women participated equally in discussion about politics.
Influence on Mary Wollstonecraft
•
Thus, the idea that women and men must have equal legal
and political rights dates back to the French Revolution. It
also had a profound influence on the thinking of women
activists and reformers like Mary Wollstonecraft.
•
Wollstonecraft was a staunch advocate of women’s
inclusion in public life that was dominated by men.
By
drawing a
connection between the emancipation of
women and their socio-economic condition,
Wollstonecraft
brought both class and family to the
political realm.
•
Class and family, which were
two important institutions in
liberal theory, were politicized now.
With this
understanding she
distinguished herself from other
classical liberal thinkers and went on to challenge the
basic structural foundation of classical liberal tradition-
the public –private distinction.
Wollstonecraft and Patriarchy
•
Classical liberalism developed with the distinction
between economic power and political power
with
emphasis on the fact that the former can be attained
only with private property and its utilization in the
market.
•
In this way
an economic sphere was created
composed of individual property holders, who were
also considered the heads of households.
•
Thus
family and economy were considered as natural
spheres and as unchanging universal features
human
life,
each being governed by the laws operating in
their respective spheres,
rule of patriarchy in the case
of family and law of competition in the case of
economy.
Wollstonecraft and
Patriarchy…(contd.)
•
Liberals believed that
the freedom in each of these
spheres needs to be protected
and this protection
could be provided only by bringing in a
third
institution, i.e. the state.
•
According to the classical liberals, the
state plays the
role of a guarantor of rights and liberties
in these
spheres and this freedom can only be maintained
if the
private nature of both economy and family is
respected (
Ferugson, 1999).
•
Thus, classical liberalism was based on the
distinction
between the public and private sphere
and within the
liberal tradition emancipation was possible only when
this
distinction was maintained and there was a
proper balance between the two.
Wollstonecraft and
Patriarchy…(contd.)
•
Within this classical liberal tradition,
family and
economy were considered as self-regulating private
fields.
•
Therefore, aspects of these fields like
gender, class and
race were considered as the aspects of the private
sphere that resulted out of individual choices and
preferences.
Hence any
interference in the activities
within this sphere was considered illiberal.
•
Thus, the classical liberals maintained the
distinction
between the state and civil society.
However,
classical
socialism
(19
th
century utopian and scientific socialism)
challenged this understanding of self-regulation
and
argued that the private sphere cannot be considered as
fully distinct from the public sphere.
Classical Socialists
•
Classical socialists point out that the
inequalities in
family and the economy are the product of the
changing social relations based on class conflict.
•
Therefore,
class, gender and race relations are shaped
by the socio-economic interests of the dominant class
and the state helps in maintaining this condition of
‘unfreedom’ of the private sphere.
Thus, the classical
socialists’
idea of emancipation lies in transcending
this public-private distinction.
•
Wollstonecraft is considered as a bridge between
classical liberalism and classical socialism
as she
wanted create an egalitarian society and
was critical of
the dominant forms of property by not accepting the
public-private dichotomy
of the liberals and
incorporating socialist ideas
into her understanding.
Mary: A Bridge between Classical
Liberalism and Classical Socialism
•
Wollstonecraft’s ideas are considered by some scholars
as
radical in the sense that she extended this critique
and her understanding to the institution of the family.
•
In this way she is
making a departure from the liberal
principles as her liberalism is not limited to the
economic aspect
but also extended to domestic
relations.
•
However,
Wollstonecraft’s understanding goes with
the established belief that a family is headed by a
male breadwinner and wife or the woman manages
the household
and serves as a caretaker by performing
the roles of mother as well as wife. Indeed,
freedom
for the middle-class women meant fulfilling their
duties as wives and mothers.
Wollstonecraft: A Reluctant Radical
•
Wollstonecraft’s
radicalism was not in the sense
that she was against the public-private
dichotomy,
rather she was of the opinion that
women too
should participate in the public
sphere.
•
This suggests that perhaps she was
not critical of
the structural aspects of public-private
distinction
within the liberal discourse
but only
the moral and social aspects.
Wollstonecraft
firmly believed that people are the products of
their context and environment.
Mary’s Critique of Rousseau on
Education
•
Both Wollstonecraft and Rousseau
were the two
philosophers of Enlightenment who
stressed the role of
education in shaping the lives of individuals.
•
Wollstonecraft was an advocate of women’s education
and believed that emancipation of women is possible
only when they are not discriminated in providing
education.
This was in contrast to Rousseau’s idea on
education which is discriminatory.
•
Rousseau argued that education plays an important role
in creating a ‘natural man’
who remains unaffected by the
modern society.
•
According to Rousseau the natural goodness of man can
come out only through
a prescriptive form of education.
He ventures into this field
by describing the life journey of
an imaginary man Emile.
Mary’s Critique of Rousseau on
Education (contd.)
•
Rousseau describes how education shaped his life at every
stage of development thus prescribing what kind of
education should be provided at each stage.
•
According to Rousseau,
when Emile reaches adulthood or
becomes a man, he would need a companion.
Hence, the
last part of the book deals with the education of women.
•
In Rousseau’s view
both men and women have different
virtues with men having the virtue of rationality and
women the virtue of sexuality
that could be maintained
through chastity, gentleness and obedience.
•
Therefore,
if the virtues of men and women differ their
education should also be different.
He was of the opinion
that
women’s biology does not allow them to do men’s
work.
Mary’s Critique of Rousseau on
Education (contd.)
•
The
duties of men and women have a common end, but
the duties themselves are different
and consequently
also the tastes that direct them.
•
Rousseau argues that the role and natural responsibility of
women is
care-giving,
therefore
their education should
aim at enhancing their caring abilities.
They should be
trained to accept the constraints and dictates of society.
•
Rousseau believes that we
should not try to develop the
qualities of men in women.
In doing so women would
lose their significance and this would deprive them of
their true qualities.
•
Rousseau believes that
a woman’s identity is only in
relation to man
and therefore her education should be
such that she accepts the
male authority
within the family
as this would also ensure that their chastity is protected.
Mary’s Critique of Rousseau on
Education (contd.)
•
A woman’s education, according to Rousseau, is
important so that
she could agree with her husband
and her children find her intelligent.
In his view this is
all that is needed and nothing more than this.
•
Thus the whole education of women ought to be
relative to men.
It is
directed to please them, to be
useful to them, to make themselves loved and be
honoured by them.
•
So as per Rousseau’ view
woman’s education should
help her in discharging multiple roles
such as
educating males when they are young, being caring for
them when they are grown up along with tasks such as
counseling and consoling them so as to make life
agreeable and sweet for them.
Mary’s Critique of Rousseau on
Education (contd.)
•
Most of Rousseau’s arguments are
rejected by
Wollstonecraft.
Though she
accepted that women are
natural care-givers, she rejects Rousseau’s claim that
women lack the rational capacity that men possess.
•
Wollstonecraft argues that
the idea of a perfect wife
propounded by Rousseau has brought discrimination
and neglect for women
and the main reason for this
neglect and discrimination is their
lack of education
.
•
Therefore, she
advocates equal education for both
men and women.
Instead of women’s education being
relative to men it should be at par with men.
•
Wollstonecraft strongly argues that women have an
equal right to education and
only an educated woman
can be empowered enough to perform their duties
well.
Concluding Observations
•
Though liberal feminism is based on the basic ideas of
liberalism, it has also
challenged its practice in terms
of limiting the rights to men and not extending it to
women and other minorities.
•
The idea of
equality of opportunity, and rights of the
women in the public sphere became the defining
features of liberal feminism.
•
The
first wave of feminism
was marked by the
demands for equal political rights for women in terms
of suffrage rights, and economic rights in terms of
property rights. Focus was also on equal education
rights for women as it was strongly being argued that
women are equally capable as men in terms of
rationality and any activity in the public sphere.
Concluding Observations (contd.)
•
Liberal feminism focused on the idea that the
individual’s position in the social sphere is not natural
or biologically determined, rather they have their
roots in the processes of social learning.
•
Therefore,
they focused in revising this learning
process and raise consciousness among women
regarding the fact that they are not just meant for
domestic work and should try to come out of the
traditional role divisions between men and women.
•
So Wollstonecraft has
not given just a moral account
but a systematic social criticism.
The political and
social environment do not allow women to develop the
basic human faculty of reason.
Concluding Observations (contd.)
•
Regaining the lost dignity of women and
make them part of the human species
could
be possible only
when women participate in
all walks of life-social, political and cultural.
The
self-development of women would be
possible only through right education
and any
reform of this sort would be ineffective in a
context that denies freedom.
Mary Wollstonecraft, an English philosopher known for her advocacy of women's rights, particularly in her work "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," challenged the notion of women's inferiority and lack of education. Her ideas laid the foundation for liberal feminism and influenced feminist movements during the French Revolution. Women's participation in events like the Women's March on Versailles highlighted the struggles faced by women in society, leading to discussions on economic, educational, and political rights for women.
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Presentation Transcript
Introduction Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), an English Philosopher known for her strong and committed advocacy of women s rights, is most commonly known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Wollstonecraft argues in this work that women s inferiority to men is not natural and the reason for this inferiority is their lack of education. According to her, by virtue of being rational beings both men and women should be treated at par with each other. She wanted to make women s lives better not only for themselves but also for their families and more importantly for their husbands. However, she is most widely considered as an advocate of liberal feminism who emphasized the freedom and equality of women.
Womens Struggle for Rights in Historical Perspective Free development of the individual is the core idea in liberalism. But in view of existence of different strands within liberalism different ways are prescribed to achieve this fundamental goal. Despite development of feminist ideas very early in history it was only the publication of Mary s phenomenal work in 1792 that it got systematic and theoretical expression. However, such ideas became popular only with the first wave of feminism in the 1840s and 1850s. The French Revolution in 1789 had a deep impact on almost all aspects of social and political life. So not only did the rights of the common man become important but rights of the minorities, slaves and women too became a matter of discussion.
The French Revolution and Womens March on Versailles Although the French Revolution did not have much impact on women s rights women who participated in the Revolution did have a profound impact on feminism and women s rights. Women s March on Versailles, women s political clubs and their pamphlets, and some of the politically popular figures greatly influenced the perception about the women and the way they were viewed in society. Women were confined to the domestic sphere and were not given an opportunity to participate in the public sphere. They were considered as less rational and hence not capable of taking decisions in public life. French Enlightenment thinker Rousseau too shared the similar view and believed that women had no role in politics.
The French Revolution(contd.) By 1787 women started bringing out brochures that reflected and argued in favour of the rights of women in the fields of education, employment opportunities and marriage rights. Consequently, the consciousness regarding economic and sexual rights generated during the French Revolution was meant to become an important starting point for all future feminist struggles. The March on Versailles on October 5, 1789 was the first major event that marked the role of women in politics . It was a result of the deteriorating economic condition of the country which led to an unexpected increase in the bread prices and extremely low wage rates because of which poor, working class women faced great difficulties in fulfilling even the basic needs of their families.
March on Versailles As a result some of the women took part in riots that were triggered against low wages. But despite such riots there was no food and soon Paris began to starve. In the March on Versailles, women put bread on pikes and marched from Paris to Versailles. In this march men too followed women and they captured the king and brought him with his family to Paris to have a look at the condition of people there. This turned out to be a major game-changer for women as it proved that they too could effectively participate in the cause and that women were not a politically irrelevant class. So it also demonstrated that men and women could work as equals when they were committed to bring about positive changes in society.
Post-French Revolution and Womens Engagement in Politics By 1790, when France had began to function under a representative government, women reformed their ways of struggle and started to engage in politics in a different way. They formed political clubs or became part of different clubs, which were till then an arena only for men. These clubs now with women members came up in different places which showed that women all over were now getting conscious of their rights and political significance. Gradually women and men from these clubs began filing petitions in the National Assembly advocating women s equal right to education and reform in martial laws. Women also came forward to assert their sexual rights and went on to form dual-gender clubs where men and women participated equally in discussion about politics.
Influence on Mary Wollstonecraft Thus, the idea that women and men must have equal legal and political rights dates back to the French Revolution. It also had a profound influence on the thinking of women activists and reformers like Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft was a staunch advocate of women s inclusion in public life that was dominated by men. By drawing a connection between the emancipation of women and their socio-economic condition, Wollstonecraft brought both class and family to the political realm. Class and family, which were two important institutions in liberal theory, were politicized now. With this understanding she distinguished herself from other classical liberal thinkers and went on to challenge the basic structural foundation of classical liberal tradition- the public private distinction.
Wollstonecraft and Patriarchy Classical liberalism developed with the distinction between economic power and political power with emphasis on the fact that the former can be attained only with private property and its utilization in the market. In this way an economic sphere was created composed of individual property holders, who were also considered the heads of households. Thus family and economy were considered as natural spheres and as unchanging universal features human life, each being governed by the laws operating in their respective spheres, rule of patriarchy in the case of family and law of competition in the case of economy.
Wollstonecraft and Patriarchy (contd.) Liberals believed that the freedom in each of these spheres needs to be protected and this protection could be provided only by bringing in a third institution, i.e. the state. According to the classical liberals, the state plays the role of a guarantor of rights and liberties in these spheres and this freedom can only be maintained if the private nature of both economy and family is respected (Ferugson, 1999). Thus, classical liberalism was based on the distinction between the public and private sphere and within the liberal tradition emancipation was possible only when this distinction was maintained and there was a proper balance between the two.
Wollstonecraft and Patriarchy (contd.) Within this classical liberal tradition, family and economy were considered as self-regulating private fields. Therefore, aspects of these fields like gender, class and race were considered as the aspects of the private sphere that resulted out of individual choices and preferences. Hence any interference in the activities within this sphere was considered illiberal. Thus, the classical liberals maintained the distinction between the state and civil society. However, classical socialism (19thcentury utopian and scientific socialism) challenged this understanding of self-regulation and argued that the private sphere cannot be considered as fully distinct from the public sphere.
Classical Socialists Classical socialists point out that the inequalities in family and the economy are the product of the changing social relations based on class conflict. Therefore, class, gender and race relations are shaped by the socio-economic interests of the dominant class and the state helps in maintaining this condition of unfreedom of the private sphere. Thus, the classical socialists idea of emancipation lies in transcending this public-private distinction. Wollstonecraft is considered as a bridge between classical liberalism and classical socialism as she wanted create an egalitarian society and was critical of the dominant forms of property by not accepting the public-private dichotomy of the liberals and incorporating socialist ideas into her understanding.
Mary: A Bridge between Classical Liberalism and Classical Socialism Wollstonecraft s ideas are considered by some scholars as radical in the sense that she extended this critique and her understanding to the institution of the family. In this way she is making a departure from the liberal principles as her liberalism is not limited to the economic aspect but also extended to domestic relations. However, Wollstonecraft s understanding goes with the established belief that a family is headed by a male breadwinner and wife or the woman manages the household and serves as a caretaker by performing the roles of mother as well as wife. Indeed, freedom for the middle-class women meant fulfilling their duties as wives and mothers.
Wollstonecraft: A Reluctant Radical Wollstonecraft s radicalism was not in the sense that she was against the public-private dichotomy, rather she was of the opinion that women too should participate in the public sphere. This suggests that perhaps she was not critical of the structural aspects of public-private distinction within the liberal discourse but only the moral and social aspects. Wollstonecraft firmly believed that people are the products of their context and environment.
Marys Critique of Rousseau on Education Both Wollstonecraft and Rousseau were the two philosophers of Enlightenment who stressed the role of education in shaping the lives of individuals. Wollstonecraft was an advocate of women s education and believed that emancipation of women is possible only when they are not discriminated in providing education. This was in contrast to Rousseau s idea on education which is discriminatory. Rousseau argued that education plays an important role in creating a natural man who remains unaffected by the modern society. According to Rousseau the natural goodness of man can come out only through a prescriptive form of education. He ventures into this field by describing the life journey of an imaginary man Emile.
Marys Critique of Rousseau on Education (contd.) Rousseau describes how education shaped his life at every stage of development thus prescribing what kind of education should be provided at each stage. According to Rousseau, when Emile reaches adulthood or becomes a man, he would need a companion. Hence, the last part of the book deals with the education of women. In Rousseau s view both men and women have different virtues with men having the virtue of rationality and women the virtue of sexuality that could be maintained through chastity, gentleness and obedience. Therefore, if the virtues of men and women differ their education should also be different. He was of the opinion that women s biology does not allow them to do men s work.
Marys Critique of Rousseau on Education (contd.) The duties of men and women have a common end, but the duties themselves are different and consequently also the tastes that direct them. Rousseau argues that the role and natural responsibility of women is care-giving, therefore their education should aim at enhancing their caring abilities. They should be trained to accept the constraints and dictates of society. Rousseau believes that we should not try to develop the qualities of men in women. In doing so women would lose their significance and this would deprive them of their true qualities. Rousseau believes that a woman s identity is only in relation to man and therefore her education should be such that she accepts the male authority within the family as this would also ensure that their chastity is protected.
Marys Critique of Rousseau on Education (contd.) A woman s education, according to Rousseau, is important so that she could agree with her husband and her children find her intelligent. In his view this is all that is needed and nothing more than this. Thus the whole education of women ought to be relative to men. It is directed to please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and be honoured by them. So as per Rousseau view woman s education should help her in discharging multiple roles such as educating males when they are young, being caring for them when they are grown up along with tasks such as counseling and consoling them so as to make life agreeable and sweet for them.
Marys Critique of Rousseau on Education (contd.) Most of Rousseau s arguments are rejected by Wollstonecraft. Though she accepted that women are natural care-givers, she rejects Rousseau s claim that women lack the rational capacity that men possess. Wollstonecraft argues that the idea of a perfect wife propounded by Rousseau has brought discrimination and neglect for women and the main reason for this neglect and discrimination is their lack of education. Therefore, she advocates equal education for both men and women. Instead of women s education being relative to men it should be at par with men. Wollstonecraft strongly argues that women have an equal right to education and only an educated woman can be empowered enough to perform their duties well.
Concluding Observations Though liberal feminism is based on the basic ideas of liberalism, it has also challenged its practice in terms of limiting the rights to men and not extending it to women and other minorities. The idea of equality of opportunity, and rights of the women in the public sphere became the defining features of liberal feminism. The first wave of feminism was marked by the demands for equal political rights for women in terms of suffrage rights, and economic rights in terms of property rights. Focus was also on equal education rights for women as it was strongly being argued that women are equally capable as men in terms of rationality and any activity in the public sphere.
Concluding Observations (contd.) Liberal feminism focused on the idea that the individual s position in the social sphere is not natural or biologically determined, rather they have their roots in the processes of social learning. Therefore, they focused in revising this learning process and raise consciousness among women regarding the fact that they are not just meant for domestic work and should try to come out of the traditional role divisions between men and women. So Wollstonecraft has not given just a moral account but a systematic social criticism. The political and social environment do not allow women to develop the basic human faculty of reason.
Concluding Observations (contd.) Regaining the lost dignity of women and make them part of the human species could be possible only when women participate in all walks of life-social, political and cultural. The self-development of women would be possible only through right education and any reform of this sort would be ineffective in a context that denies freedom.
