Feminism: The Catalyst to Achieve Human Rights and Animal Right
Fatema Binte Fazal ।। Feminism is a criteria or an ideology of socio-political movements which is designed to define and establish the political, economic, personal and social equality of every sex. Feminism thinks that society prioritizes the male point of view and women suffer from injustice in society. Feminist revolution aims to fight against gender stereotypes and to break the barriers to obtain educational, professional, and interpersonal goals for women. Likewise feminism, feminist literature allows womenfolk to speak up to claim their rights. Feminist literature works in the guise of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry and supports feminism by defining, establishing, and defending equal economic, educational, interpersonal, political and social rights for women. Feminist literature focuses on ensuring equal opportunities so that women can exercise their full potential to achieve their goals. Feminist literature is an important medium through which authors can express their frustration obtained from oppression and deprivation with recognized ideas about womanhood and femininity in patriarchal environment. The feminist revolution introduced feminist literature which started a new criterion of interest in women’s writing. Women’s deprivation, historical and academic contributions have seen the light of new consideration through feminist literature. Feminist literature centers and describes on situations that women undergo in their day-to-day lives. Feminist writers discuss ideas for the root cause of oppression, deprivation and marginalization towards women and the process to reduce the oppressive situation. Human rights and animal rights are the feathers of feminist ideology. The impact of feminist criticism has great impact on achieving the rights of all exploited humans as well as non-human animals.
Feminism is an ideology of wide range of social theories, political movements and ancient and modern philosophies. Its meaning and expression have been changed in different waves of its revolution. Being and claiming oneself as a feminist is self-defined in the light of the motives of feminist movement. Feminist revolution gave the movement voice and worked as advocate for women writers to be accepted as writer of creative thoughts as female authors took male pseudonyms in 19th century to be read, recognized and accepted by public seriously. Thus, it is noticed that even feminist writers pretend to be male ones for being accepted in that society. In the process of achieving smaller rights, the feminist revolution became broader. By the process of broader revolution, the feminist literature started to become modern. Some scholars credit Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour (1894) to start modern genre. The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft is one of the earliest writings of feminist revolution. Mary Wollstonecraft is thought by many scholars as a founder of feminism due to her work published in 1792. In where she argues that class disparity and private property are the root cause for discrimination against women and claims that women need equal opportunities as sufficient as men. The 1860s to 1940s feminist literature is considered written during the first wave of feminism. By the point of view of modern philosophy, social and political movement, feminism is generally originated in 1800s by the philosophers of enlightenment era. But there were other books before 1800s. Philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa wrote A Distinguished Speech about Women in 1529. Human rights is the composition of the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more by the definition of United Nations.
Importance of Feminist Criticism
In the earliest stage of feminist criticism, critics believe that male writers are demeaning and marginalizing female characters. In the writing of male novelists, female characters are representation as per the current oppressive norm of society. There was no belief about women’s equal right and their oppression should be vanished. Thus, the literature of first wave feminism begins with the protest of men’s ill treatment to women. First wave feminism includes writings such as Marry Ellman’s Thinking about Women (1968), Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics (1969), and Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch (1970) etc. First wave feminist literature is also a critique of William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew for Petruchio’s abuse of Katherina.
Second wave feminism introduces the term ‘Gynocriticism.’ Elaine Showalter is the first person to refer gynocriticism with her book A Literature of Their Own (1977). Gynocriticism consists of three major criteria.
There are important phases of feminism. Several prominent schools of thought in feminist criticism divided feminist revolution in four phases. Feminist revolution achieved the root cause and potential in twentieth century by through struggling for cultural roles as well as socio-political rights. First wave feminism started for achieving political rights of women. Male novelists were demeaning and marginalizing female characters. First wave feminism began in the 19th and the 20th centuries. That wave started as a result of struggle for equality and property rights for women by humanitarian groups and activist organizations in the US and the UK. First wave feminism was a fight against forced marriages and for achieving socio-political and economic equality.
Prominent feminist writers had risen in the 1960s and 1970s during the revolution of second wave feminism. That wave started for gaining cultural identity. Second wave feminism achieved important goals such as leadership in higher education, business and politics, rights of abortion, more expression, positiveness and acceptance of female sexuality etc. Gynocriticism was introduced in that phase. Gynocriticism consists of three main aspects: female writers’ participation in literature and their achievement in literary history, distinguishing between male and female writers’ treatment of female characters in their writing and vast exploration of literature by women.
Third wave feminism is regarded the academic phase of feminist revolution. It started after 1980. Feminist revolution was discussed by Marxian psychoanalysis, post structuralism, alter sexualities and post colonialism and analyzed language writing, sexuality and representation at the time of third wave.
Simon de Beauvoir’s best-seller and controversial book The Second Sex (1949) is regarded as a pioneering work in feminist philosophy. It is also recognized as the initial inspiration for second wave feminism. Beauvoir doesn’t support the philosophies and views of Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler and Friedrich Engels. Engels describes the great historical defeat of the female sex in his The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884). His ideology isn’t supported by Beauvoir and she argues that the defeat of the female sex is the outcome of the invention of bronze and the development of private property. Beauvoir abolishes the myth of the ‘eternal feminine’ and The Second Sex becomes a classic of feminist literature. That book raised consciousness of feminist revolution by expressing that liberation for women is liberation for men too.
The Relationship between Feminist Critique and Children’s Literature
There is a genre in literature named feminist children’s literature. Feminist children’s literature is the division of children’s literature through a feminist perspective. Children’s literature and women’s literature have much similar components and ideologies. Both kind of literature discuss about weaker or inferior individuals of society. Thus, feminist ideologies are usually expressed in children’s literature. Women’s psychology and feelings are regarded as illogical and trifling in the patriarchal world. Children’s psychology is also a victim of deprivation. It should be mentioned that society wants a child to be grown up following the predecessors based on her/his gender. If a person is misogynistic, s/he learned it from the very beginning of her/his learning process by family or society. In this process, a child is pressurized to accept the unethical norms of society ignoring her/ his psychology. bell hooks mentions her belief in her book named Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics that children’s books are the ideal place to teach them about feminist ideologies. She argues that children’s literature is one of the most crucial places to promote feminist ideologies and in that process, children can absorb the woman and human rights and unlearn the unethical norms of society towards women and queer people.
Arrival of Black Feminism
Another genre of feminism is Black feminism which is also known as Afro-feminism. Black feminism is primarily originated outside USA. It is a division of feminism which deals with women of colour. Black feminism is a prominent component of post colonial literature. bell hooks calls Black feminism as a fight against imperialist, white supremacist and capitalist patriarchy. As the Black feminism is the outcome of capitalism and patriarchy, women of colour experience racism and sexism independently. Thus, women of colour suffer from two types of oppression. They are double oppressed compared to white women. Kimberle Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a prominent scholar of critical race theory, introduced and developed the term ‘intersectionality’ in 1989. Intersectionality describes that being Black and being female are two individual identities. These identities and their interaction outcomes should be considered independently. By intersecting these identities independently, the oppression of women of colour can be shown in deeper aspect compared to other women.
Black feminism is the result of slavery. Slavery creates the difference between Black women and other women in the world. Slave humanity was regarded as Black humanity by US laws about Black lives. Black women are oppressed inside and outside of slavery because of racism and patriarchy. The fight against two types of oppression created Black feminism to ensure voice of women of colour. Dark women are considered as ‘chattel’ by the ethics of Slavery and US laws. Intersectionality is the most prominent ideology to describe the oppression of Black women and Black men in the light of feminism and it organized the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Black feminism was introduced strongly in the 1960s. Then the civil rights movement excluded women from the position of leadership and the feminist movement primarily focused on the issues of middle class white women. In between 1970s to 1980s, Black feminists’ revolution introduced and strengthened Black nationalism, queer liberation, and second wave feminism. Anita Hill controversy brought Black feminism into a noticeable revolution in the 1990s. The ideology of Black feminism touched a broader people in the 2010s by the influence and publicity of social media. Black feminism broadened the fight against white supremacy and struggled more and wider range of spheres of life than white women. During the early 21st century, those feminists ignored the issues of intersectionality, were criticized and tagged as ‘white feminists.’
Black Feminist Literature
bell hooks wrote a book entitled Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism (1981) examining the effect of racism and sexism on Black women. hooks mentions that slavery created sexism and racism and pushed Black women to have the lowest status which earned miserable and worst conditions for them in American society. She argued that American white society created stereotype that white woman is the pure goddess virgin and Black woman is the alluring prostitute by the custom of slavery. Thus, they justified the devaluation of Dark women femininity and sexual abuse to them. Black men were subject to racism and oppression, but sexual exploitation added more deprivation and dehumanization to Black women. bell hooks also criticized Black nationalism. The Black nationalist ideology is connected with great restlessness toward whites, but it cannot ensure the right of Black women. She argues that feminist revolution is broadly white middle and upper class matter and it cannot meet up the demand of reducing of racism and class discrimination. That feature of feminism created a low number of Black women who attended in the feminist movement in 1970s. Ain’t I a Woman is a groundbreaking book in the study of feminist ideology for describing and mentioning the interrelation in between the history of slavery and oppression of Black women in USA and its effect in today’s USA. bell hooks’ book discusses the intersection between race of gender and how it oppresses Black women. Her books are very common to be used in gender studies, post colonialism studies, and Black studies.
Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko published in 1688 and it is regarded as the oldest English novel by many historians. Many critics analyzed this book from cultural, feminist and post colonialist perspectives. The culture was severely misogynistic in Aphra Behn’s time. Aphra Behn was seen as a principal and primary figure of feminism as she was one of the earliest female writers who chose her occupation as a writer to make her livelihood. In Oroonoko, the female protagonist, Imoinda, is represented as a brave and heroic female. Behn portrays Imoinda as Oroonoko’s ‘Heroic Imoinda.’ Imoinda is a Black female suffering from slavery but not completely passive and not under the complete dominance of patriarchy which makes her different from other women who cannot protest. Imoinda refuses the king’s lustful advances but is practicing royal veil. It is a great courageous decision at that time as Imoinda sets an example that woman has the right to choose her partner and to say ‘no’ when she feels being threatened or exploited. There is another example of Imoinda’s courageousness. She fights using bows and arrows while other slave women stand silently and observe their husbands’ action. Aphra Behn sets and introduces an example for the women to fight with strength and courage for achieving their equal rights. She is one of the earliest feminist writer who express her own ideas and earn livelihood by being a literary authority.
Types of Feminism
Liberal feminism is also called mainstream feminism. Liberal feminism wants to achieve equality through political and legal reformation. It is considered the oldest of three big schools of feminist thought. Liberal feminism was called as bourgeois feminism. In liberal feminism, the condition of working-class or proletarian women were absent. Prominent and pioneer feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Judith Sargent Murray and Frances Wright pleaded for women’s complete political involvement. As a result, women were finally permitted the right to vote in 1920 in the United States.
Marxist feminism is a division of feminist ideology which gather its primary essence from Marxism. Marxist feminists argues that empowerment and equality cannot be achieved within the structure and political weather of capitalism as it is linked to private property. Marxist or socialist feminism is introduced in 1960s and 1970s which focuses on interrelation of patriarchy and capitalism. Marxist feminism differentiates itself from other types of feminist ideology by discussing structurally and systematically of the economic system of societies. Marxism doesn’t accept ‘woman’ as a special term, it mentions that the disparity among classes create discrimination. Likewise, Marxist feminism discusses about removal of capitalism and it includes the condition of working-class and poverty-stricken women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the pioneers of Marxist feminism during the first wave feminist movement. Her Women and Economics (1898) introduced the most exemplary feminist critical exploration of women’s labour in the nineteenth century.
Radical feminism fights against male supremacy which violates women’s right privately and politically. The view of radical feminism shows that in patriarchy, men dominate and objectify women. Radical feminism opposes sexual objectification of women, sexual abuse and violence against women and challenges the concept of gender roles. In The Dialectic of Sex (1970) Shulamith Firestone mentions that genital differences between human beings should no longer matter culturally. Radical feminists argue that the initial cause of women’s oppression is the difference in types of genitalia and in patriarchal gender roles, while liberal feminists think it is legal system and Marxist feminists argue it is class conflict. Radical feminists also mention that women’s role in reproduction should be recognized with importance any deprivation should not be allowed for the gap in workplace during pregnancy. They also argue that oppression of women is the most primary form of violence in the history of humankind.
Criticism of Marxist Feminism
Radical feminists criticizes the Marxist feminism. Marxist feminism describes that the structure of capitalism is patriarchal. Women are oppressed by the existence of private property in Marxism. Marxist Feminists mention that women are cheap labour and being housewives, they provide free and non-funded domestic service to support men. Radical feminists argue that Marxism ignore biological differences between two sexes. They also mention that patriarchal society existed before capitalism and communist societies also have it.
In Achieving Queer Rights
The feminist movement is demolishing the belief and custom that sex and gender are responsible for a human’s role in society. Feminist revolution is active to stop gender-based violence and exploitation derived from the belief of gender role. Feminist movement and LGBTQIA+ movement meets here. The gender violence towards women and towards non-binary and queer people is occurred from the same reason. Patriarchal gender role is all about the differences of sex and gender. Thus, feminists and queer people should fight against the root cause of patriarchy connectedly. The histories of feminism and LGBT movement have been mixed in the western world since the 1960s. Both movements were radical and based upon the sexual revolution. The revolutions influenced each other as these have been come out from the concept of patriarchy.
Queer feminists proved that they can challenge and demolish the patriarchal world. They are changing the social norms by art, politics or literature fighting against great adversity and misconceptions. Audre Lorde fought against racism, sexism and homophobia through her poetry and advocacy and dedicated her life to ensure human rights for all. Lorde is well known mostly for her works named From a Land Where Other People Live and The Black Unicorn. Lorde is a prominent feminist and mentioned in her literature that I am not free while any women is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. Alice Walker is another prominent feminist litterateur. Walker is well known for her novel named The Color Purple. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for that novel being the very first African-American woman. She mostly focused the lives of Black women in her writings. Leslie Feinberg was a transgender writer and social activist. Stone Butch Blues is both a fiction and a historical novel written by her about life experience as a lesbian in 1970s in the United States. She was an anti-racist white, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian as well as revolutionary communist who consolidated feminism in both her words and works. Ellen DeGeneres is a popular TV personality and comedian who embodied feminism and LGBTQ activism through her Ellen DeGeneres Show. Jack Halberstam is a renowned Professor and author at the University of Southern California. Halberstam is a Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Gender Studies as well as Comparative Literature and Director of The Center for Feminist Research at USC. In her writing, Halberstam focuses on female masculinity and the characteristics of a tomboy.
In Feminism is Queer, Mimi Marinucci discusses the connection between feminist and queer ideology. There is a significant conceptual similarity between second wave feminism and lesbian and gay studies. Queer theory offers an interconnection between understanding LGBT rights and the feminist ideology. When feminism meets queer ideology, the two share common political concerns. Third wave feminist revolution is a hybrid movement. It is organized and influenced by togetherness of second wave feminism, Black feminism, transnational feminism, Global South feminism and queer feminism. The hybridity of third wave feminism is created by the experience of exploitation of racial minorities, sexual minorities as well as women in reality and in the legal system.
Beginning of Animal Rights Concept
Animal Rights issue is not a modern one. The old Hindu and Buddhist scriptures plead vegetarian diet for ethical reasons. Australian philosopher Peter Singer published a book entitled Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals in 1975. The book worked as the catalyst for modern animal rights initiative. US writer, feminist and animal rights advocate Carol J. Adams says that animal rights is a feminist matter. She describes that there is an innate link between the exploitation of women and the oppression of non-human animals. She argued that animals are exploited by the custom of women’s lesser status. She also describes that the animal industry is established upon the exploitation of female reproductive system. Both male and female animals are killed and exploited for the need of meat, dairy and egg production. The male calves are used in dairy farm for only breeding purposes. Usually, male calves are killed in between two years of their birth. In the arena of veal crates, young male and female calves are used. They are kept in small plastic huts and prevented from running or even walking within a small area to keep away their muscles from developing. That’s how, white meat is produced in veal crates. On the other hand, female cows and hens are exploited by the nature of their potential motherhood. They are impregnated repeatedly and forcefully for the production of milk, eggs and meat.
Non-human animals are objectified like women. Humans objectify animals such as mice, monkeys, rabbits, pigs, guinea pigs and others in a violent nature under the guise of ‘scientific experiment’ in many Industries. Shira Hertzano, the spokeswoman for the group named “Anonymous for Animal Rights” says, “The woman is measured by the value the man gets out of her, the animal is measured according to the value humans get out of it.”
Ecofeminism is a philosophical and political movement which defines the interrelatedness of feminism and environmentalism. The interrelationship mentions parallels between the oppression of women and destruction of environment. These two kinds of oppression comes from male dominated society. Francois d’Eaubonne first introduced the term ‘Ecofeminism’ in her book entitled Feminism or Death in 1974.
Final Considerations
The overall article discusses and argues the feminist approach to create the international human rights law to achieve and promote human rights. The feminist movement is not only achieving the women’s rights, but also gaining freedom for all exploited humans, non-human animals non-human and Mother Nature. From being the voice for women to saving the earth needs feminist criticism. All these exploitation, injustice and violence come from the patriarchal norm. Patriarchy results in pay gap based on gender, rape culture as well as gender gap. Patriarchy asks for privileges claiming that masculinity is superior to all and he’s gained the feature by birth. Male dominance and male centeredness are the characteristics of patriarchal culture. Only dismantling the patriarchal culture can demolish the objectification of others than male society. Though the half of the population of the world are women, gender gap isn’t uprooted yet. The evolutionary system may be the primary factor to invent the patriarchal culture. The economic system, distribution of property, usable products as well as food habit of humankind should be under review to regard all creatures as complete individuals.
References
Feminism. Wikipedia, 2023. Web. 9 Apr. 2023.
Burkett, Elinor, and Laura Brunell. Feminism. Britannica, 2023. Web. 7 Apr. 2023.
hooks, bell. Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism. South End Press, 1981.
Kushnarenko, Nastia. LGBT and Feminism: Why Does Gender Equality Bother Conservatives? Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung, 2019. Web. 25 Dec. 2019.
Marinucci, Mimi. Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory. Southeast Asia, 2011.
Bridgeman, Laura. Animal Rights: Definition, Issues, and Examples. The Humane League, 2021. Web. 4 Feb. 2021.
