Influences Of Feminism On Political Science

Influences Of Feminism On Political ScienceThis essay will evaluate the influences of feminism on political science. Feminists have given us a different out have a bun in the ovening on what we define as political science. In simple ground government activity is about power. However the ways and spheres with in which this power is exercised and the actors who have authority to use it can be debated. By challenging conventional images of what is political, womens rightists have broadened the definition of politics.The question above will be answered in this essay by firstly presenting at the historical roots of feminism. I will thusly move on to describe the term feminism and how this movement has developed over the years. In the second half of the essay I will look at how feminists view the state. Finally I will carry out a case study to reinforce the contributions make by feminism to the domain of political analysis.Although feminist aspirations have been expressed in soci eties dating back to china, they were not underpinned by a political theory until the publication of Mary Wollstonecrafts a refutation of the rights of women (Heywood, 200261). In terms of Europe, the first set of women who highlighted issues regarding their sex did this for religion and within religious frameworks (Walters, 20056). Following this in the early 19th century campaigns were nonionized for improving education, increasing opportunities to work outside home, legal rights for married women and the concept of giving women the right to vote was initiated (Walters, 2005 41). As a result of the demand for voter turnout rights for women, the suffragettes movement came into being. In 1918, women over the age of 30 were given the vote and in March 1928, under a conservative government, they finally won it on represent terms with men (Walters, 2005 85).In simple terms feminism can be defined as an ideology committed to promoting the social subroutine of women and, in most cas es, dedicated to the goal of gender equality (Heywood, 2002 423). set-backly the idea that there is gender and inequality in terms of sex, secondly the feature that this aged system should not be allowed to dominate forms the base of feminism (Heywood, 2002 61). Feminism essentially can be divided into three sub sections. First vibrate, second wave and third wave. It can be observed that with time feminism has become more radical as demands have increased. The first wave feminism, which is also k straightawayn as escaped feminism, was initiated by the suffragettes movement. Mary Wollstonecraft laid the fixations for first wave liberal feminism with the help of her book a vindication of the rights of women (Pettiford, 2005 159). In A vindication of rights of women, she used liberal arguments to make the case for equal rights and opportunities for women (Pettiford, 2005 159). freehanded feminism focuses on the reasons behind women being classified unessential to men. They do n ot question the epistemological assumptions for these differences and mainly focus on the given content. Liberal feminist believe that by empowering women legally they can excite their status in society. These include a number of issues for example the problems faced by refugee women and sex trafficking (Smith, 2007 188). The second and third wave feminism is critical of liberal feminism.Second wave feminism came about after the Second World War in a number of countries. By 1947 the UN had established a kick that served the purpose of looking at the status of women in society. In 1949 by issuing the declaration of human rights, the UN ack promptlyledged that both men and women have equal rights in terms of marriage and divorce (Walters, 2005 97). With the help of the womens liberation movement, the demands of more radical feminists were presented to the world. The aim was to stretch the concept of politics and stop it from being whole restricted to its arena definition. The famou s slogan the personal is political came around (Heywood, 2002 12). Politics was not just now about the state or government now it was seen as an everyday experience. This means that it is present in relationships between families, work colleagues and almost any association one individual might have with another. root feminists demand a sexual revolution through which they argue we can remove the patriarchal state that currently exists (Heywood, 200212).The third wave of feminism raises some fundamental questions about their discipline. These include looking at the methodologies that are used in political science.By challenging the state as being the only arena for power and politics, feminists have produced a range of arguments through which politics can be defined or analyzed. To begin with by uncovering the idea of patriarchal state, the feminist have made a huge contribution to make us view how are legal and state institutes are controlled by men and also how conventionally pol itics has been viewed as male stream (Hay, 2002 71). Feminist perspectives can be divided into five broad categories The neutral state, patriarchal state, capitalist state, women-friendly welfare state and finally the post structural state.Liberal feminist have made contributions to the idea of a neutral state. They influenced policy making. humans debates surrounding equal pay, quotas and citizenships are now being seen under the light of equality and universality. These will enable women to step into institutes that have a male majority. Liberal feminists have armed us with a numerous of essential ideas regarding justice that are still being used in feminist debates (Marsh, 2006 119-120).Radical feminist have given us ideas that help in unmasking the patriarchal nature of the state. This in turn has helped in uncovering how the state has a set off to play for gender inequalities within sundry(a) settings (Marsh, 2006 122).Marxist and socialist feminist contribution was to conce ptualize the state as a social relation and to tensity the importance of understanding capitalist relations when theorizing the state (Marsh, 2006 123). It emphasised the idea of the work women do for their family without demanding a wage and established a fresh vista to liberal and radical feminist perspectives on the state (Marsh, 2006 123).The women-friendly welfare state feminist approach contributed to feminist debates on the state by highlighting the single-valued function of context in feminist state theory. It provided tools for analysing by challenge speculative widely accepted theories and judgments about womens link to the welfare state which was built on Anglo-American theory and research. Furthermore by looking at gender and state in terms of theory it gave us a softer approach of analysis to the set of womens agency (Marsh, 2006 124-125).Post structural approaches have contributed significantly to feminist debates about the state by highlighting the differentiated nature of the state and by questioning the unity of state responses (Marsh, 2006 125).The classical definition of politics provided to us by the author Robert Dahl which is that power exists when A is able to make B do something that B wouldnt normally have chosen to do (Heywood, 2002 11). This makes power a key concept of political science. If we then look at feminism, it is not weighed down to deduce from the definitions of the movement provided in the first part of this essay that feminists do and then focus and criticise the use of power.It can be argued that ideas such as rational choice theory and feminism have produced a whole new language with a range of lexis for the analysis of political science. The question of what is politics? and whether or not it is a science or not can be looked in a whole new light. The key three terms that have been developed for this debate are ontology, epistemology and methodology. Ontology refers to what is out there in the world to know. Epistemology helps us to trace how we know about these ontological issues that exist. Finally methodology is a term used to describe the means employed to search for ontology and epistemology. Feminism has been described as going through three epistemological phases rationalist (positivist), anti rationalist and post rationalist (interpretive). By rejecting conventional borders of political science and bringing up the issue of public/private dichotomy, feminists have indeed provided essential tools to dissect and analyse political issues and discipline (Stoker, 2002 113-115).In order to summarize and emphasise the contribution of feminist theory I will now analyse a case study. Currently the world is plagued by wars in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Along with this the current recession has left many unemployed and it is guard to say the world is going through a rather dark time. Due to word restriction I have decided to only look at the war on Iraq and analyze it from a fem inist point of view.The key issue I will be looking at is how the kernel of protection and security has taken a new dimension when we analyze the war on Iraq from a feminist perspective. To begin with decision to enter Iraq was made by representatives of a patriarchal structure which included ideas such as revenge, strength and bravery. These ideas would contradict feminine ideas like compromise. War on Iraq followed after kinfolk 11 attacks on the twin towers in New York. It also resulted because the Bush administration claimed that Saddams regime were in possession of weapons of mass destruction. However these weapons were never found and civilians as well as military personnel are dying on a regular basis in these parts of the world. If we then look at this in the broader sense, the soldiers who die in these wars leave behind families. This increases the responsibility on women as they have to usually become the breadwinners of the family (Owens, 2008 270). This not only chall enges the fable of protection but also allows us to see how feminists historically contributed to allow women to become responsible for the welfare for their families. For example if we were to accept the idea of women being consign to households, who would provide basics necessities of life to these families. Along with this if a women has taken up a role of the head of the house then why should she not be allowed to make decisions on higher institutional levels. Feminists define security broadly and encompass ideas such as violence, physical, economic and ecological security (Owen, 2008 270). The national security of states, defined in masculine terms lays emphasis on military strength, can overlook the physical and economic security of individuals (Owen, 2008 270).This essay has reflected on the various influences that feminism has had on political science. By questioning the relationship between public/private, feminists have contributed in revealing the complexities of the po litical world. The case study I used above can show us how if we were to filter conflicts from a feminist perspective, we can take account of humanitarian crises that lie ahead. Finally by showing that power is a universal and everyday practice, feminism has allowed us to see that politics indeed exists in our society and in political institutes such as the state.