Radical Feminism And Marxist Feminism Essay.

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Radical Feminism

In present world achieving all-round development with gender equality is a big challenge. Every country targets for gender equality without any discrimination on any basis. It is important because about 50% of a country’s population includes women, so development of any country without the progress of women is not possible. Equal opportunities along with favorable conditions to progress will lead to their development which will finally contribute in the development of a nation. But still thousands of women are victims of many forms of violence that included sexual harassment, women trafficking, marriage at small ages and many more. These situations are mainly visible in economically backward and developing countries where the ratio of poverty is on higher note. There are many stats that show that the death rate of women in these areas is high because of negligence towards their health. (Wikipedia, 2017)

Also the difference between the male and females studying in the school and colleges is also high describing that women are discriminated right from their birth. Thus for an all-round development every nation is trying in the area of gender equality so that both men and women can contribute in the progress of the nation. (Jindy, 1996)

Radical feminism is a thought which encourages restructuring of the norms of the society that gives the male the supreme position and discriminates women on the basis of gender. Under this process the present social rituals and thoughts are tried to be changed by proper awareness and trials without much political pressure. This includes works for the betterment of the women in all the areas from their growth to providing them proper opportunities to develop to finally protecting them from violence like rape and sexual harassment. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. (Steams, 1998) 

As per the views of radical feminist’s belief society is a patriarchy in which the men are given the authority to suppress the women as they are given the superior position in all the decision making situations. Thus through these patriarchy thoughts the women are constantly suppressed and misused. Through the process of radical feminism these patriarchy norms are tried to be abolished so the discrimination with the women is stopped. The way to stop this oppression on the women is just by a firm revolution that can be a wakeup call for the society that for the overall development of the society progress of women along with men and also at an equal pace is a basic requirement. Basically radical feminists fight to stop the oppression of the women across the world while there are some views that describes that along with radical feminism there are some other social oppression that are equally harmful to the society like oppression based on race of the person, his social class, attractiveness, orientation of the basis of sexuality and also one’s ability. (Saloom, 2006)

Basically patriarchal theory doesn’t mean that all men suppress the women and obtain benefits of different kind. Rather it means the process of oppression by dominance, where one party tries to exploit the other party for their personal selfishness. Radical feminists have a view that men control the women through various process and rituals of the society for their benefits and thus exploits the later through various ways. So radical feminists encourage the elimination of dominance of one party over the other so that the whole society gets an equal opportunity to develop that will ultimately lead to the progress of a nation. (Sylvester, 1994)

The Radical Feminism Movement

The birth of the Radical Feminism Movement is in the United States which was conducted as a component of the female’s movement of liberation. It was mainly conducted by being influenced with the civil rights movement, that had gained movement in the late 1960s, and many women throughout the country that have faced gender discrimination joined this movement for their rights and justice. The main foundation pioneers of this movement include Shulamith Firestone, Kathie Sarachild, Ti-Grace Atkinson, Carol Hanisch and Judith Brown. Thus from all this movement one thing is quite clear that Radical feminism had a powerful influence on the women’s movement and played a tremendous role in shaping of the women politics worldwide. In the end of 1960s, radical feminism emerged simultaneously within liberal feminist and working for the class feminist discussions, which is considered as a first movement of this type. (Tickner, 1993)

This includes works for the betterment of the women in all the areas from their growth to providing them proper opportunities to develop to finally protecting them from violence like rape and sexual harassment. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. Under this movement focus was on issues such as abortion, the amendment for equal rights, credit access and equal pay irrespective of gender. This movement didn’t have much support from working class women as no importance was given for their development and the focus was only laid on the non-working women class. But there were many who thought that it was necessary for them to stand up for the equality and stop the discrimination. So they moved out on the streets and through various rallies and proceeding encouraged many others to support the movement and fight for the justice. But as this movement achieved success in spreading awareness many black and working group women also came out in the support of this movement. This includes works for the betterment of the women in all the areas from their growth to providing them proper opportunities to develop to finally protecting them from violence like rape and sexual harassment. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. (Donovan, 2012)

Marxist Feminism is a concept that focuses on the investigation and explanation of the ways in which the women are oppressed through various systems of capitalism and private property. According to this concept the liberation of the women can be achieved only by the method of radical restructuring of the current economy that is capitalist, in which women are not given equal status in any form. (Biswal, 2009)

By the great work of two great personalities, i.e. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in their work namely The Communist Manifesto and A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. These works were the foundation steps of the development of the relation between capitalism and oppression. The way of description done by Marx which is popularly known as materialism of the history and it recognizes the ways in which the economy and its structure have a considerable influence on the people and their day to day life. This includes works for the betterment of the women in all the areas from their growth to providing them proper opportunities to develop to finally protecting them from violence like rape and sexual harassment. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. Historical and its materialism is mainly based on the ways by which the base of the structure of the society that can be influenced by the economic and technical aspects. (WIKIGENDER, 2009)

Marxist Feminism

Marx opposed the method of society that works for the betterment of the one who is in power also at the stake of the exploitation of the lower class. Marx was against this structure because the superior can achieve the heights of the success only when they get full support and dedication from the lower class. So instead of their exploitation he should protect them because they are the only reasons that he has achieved such heights of success. There are many views that explain that women are suppressed because biologically they are born weaker than men. (Griffiths Martin, 2009)

But this argument is wrong because women are suppressed not because of biological factor but because of social factor. This social factor includes discrimination by the men for their selfish motives that includes sexual desires and other demands. For constant satisfaction of these demands the men doesn’t allow the women to progress and develop. (Wikipedia, 2017)This includes works for the betterment of the women in all the areas from their growth to providing them proper opportunities to develop to finally protecting them from violence like rape and sexual harassment. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. (Vermani, 2007)

In the system of capitalist economy there are two types of labor and these two concepts are described by the Marxist feminists which are popularly known as Margaret Benston and Peggy Morton. First concept is all about being productive. Under this concept the labors are paid remuneration on the basis of their contribution in the sales of goods and providing of the services. This remuneration is paid by the producers to the labors that have contributed in earning of the profits for the firm. (Tickner, 1992)The second concept is based on the concept of reproductive. This concept is associated with works that one does for their self and behind which there is no involvement of the desire to earn any kind of wage or other remuneration. Both these concepts of wages are equally important but every people have their personal perception on these concepts based on their identities and clarity. Women are assigned the second concept that mainly includes works such as cooking, cleaning; maintain the family and growing children. No remuneration or consideration is obtained in this concept and thus no appreciation is received by the women for their work which is equally important to the first concept that is conducted by the men. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. Historical and its materialism is mainly based on the ways by which the base of the structure of the society that can be influenced by the economic and technical aspects. Thus women support the men by finishing their domestic and thus men are therefore able to completely focus on their work and earn higher remuneration. So women deserve equal importance alongside men as their contribution is also noteworthy. Thus this exclusion of the women from the productive labor category, i.e. is the first concept leads to the dominance of men over women as they have the monetary advantage over the women. (Baylis, 2008)

Conclusion: 

From all the above explanation and details one can conclude that gender equality is a basic motto of any nation that wants to achieve overall development of the country. Thus for an equal development of society steps should be taken to stop radical feminism and thus provide equal opportunities to both male and female. (Women, 2014)Historical and its materialism is mainly based on the ways by which the base of the structure of the society that can be influenced by the economic and technical aspects. Proper steps should be taken for achieving the targets of Racial Feminism and Marxist Feminism. Both these concepts work for the equality of the women and thus stop the discrimination and oppression done on them by the society. The importance of the feminism can be seen based on the changes that is happening and contribution they are making to the economic growth of the country as a whole and helping the nation on an overall level and helping the nation to develop without any limitation of gender. This is necessary because for any developing country contribution of women in the economic and other sectors will lead to the overall development of the nation. (Wikipedia, 2017)

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Biswal, T., 2009. International Relations. Macmillan Publications, pp. 394-406.

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Jindy, J., 1996. Wording Women: A Feminist International Politics. Wording Women: A Feminist International Politics, Routledge Publication, pp. 1-1.

Saloom, R., 2006. A Feminist Inquiry Into International Law and International Relations. In: A Feminist Inquiry Into International Law and International Relations. s.l.:Roger Williams University Law Review, pp. 1-1.

Steams, J., 1998. Gender and International Relations: An Introduction. Gender and International Relations: An Introduction, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp. 1-1.

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Tickner, J. A., 1993. Gender in International Relations. Columbia University Press, pp. 1-1.

Vermani, R., 2007. Contemporary International Relations. Gitanjali Publishing House, pp. 282-291.

WIKIGENDER, 2009. Feminist International Relations Theory. [Online] Available at: https://www.wikigender.org/wiki/feminist-international-relations-theory/

Wikipedia, 2017. Feminism (international relations). [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_%28international_relations%29

Wikipedia, 2017. Women in development. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_development

Women, U., 2014. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2014/10/world-survey-2014. [Online] Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2014/10/world-survey-2014