Equality feminism

Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of both genders in all domains. This includes economic and political equality, equal access within the workplace, freedom from oppressive gender stereotyping, and an androgynous worldview.

Feminist theory seeks to promote the legal status of women as equal and undifferentiated from that of men. While equality feminists largely agree that men and women have basic biological differences in anatomy and frame, they argue that on a psychological level, the capability of using of rationality or reason is equal between men and women. For equality feminists, men and women are equal in terms of their ability to reason, achieve goals, and prosper in both the work and home front.

Equality feminism was the dominant version of feminism following Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Wollstonecraft made the case that women's equality to men manifests itself in education and worker's rights and further produced a proverbial roadmap in order for future women to follow in terms of activism and feminist theorizing. Since then, active equality feminists have included Simone de Beauvoir, the Seneca Falls Convention Leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem.

While equality feminism was the dominant perspective of feminism during the 19th and 20th century, the 1980s and 1990s brought about a new focus in popular feminism on difference feminism, or the essential differences between men and women. In opposition to equality feminism, this view advocates for the celebration of the "feminine" by focusing on traditionally viewed female traits, such as empathy, nurturing, and care. While equality feminists view human nature as essentially androgynous, difference feminists claim that this viewpoint aligns the "good" with male-dominated stereotypes, thus operating within the patriarchal framework of society.

History

In both law and in theology, women were portrayed as both physically and intellectually inferior. One of the first feminist documents that set the stage for feministic movements occurred when Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. While this literature was seen as rebellious at the time, it echoed the feelings of women throughout France as women's republican clubs demanded that liberty, equality, and fraternity should be applied to both genders. While this movement gained notoriety, it was eventually extinguished by Napoleon Bonaparte's Code Napoleon that established that the husband had complete control over the family.

While much of the equality feminism movements that occurred in France were not successful, they influenced much of the movements that occurred in North America in the 1800s. Both Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren fought for woman's emancipation to be included in the constitution of 1776, to no avail. However, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Coffin Mott, along with thousands of other women, forever changed the dynamics of equality feminism with the women's convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Here, along with independence, they demanded full legal equality in all aspects of life (education, commercial opportunities, compensation, voting rights, etc.). With the influence of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, this movement expanded into Europe. In 1869, John Stuart Mill published The Subjection of Women, in which he argued that equality between the sexes would translate to more moral and intellectual advancement, which in turn would result in more human happiness for everyone. She uses this information to describe many of the gender inequalities that society has created that have resulted in this unhappiness, citing the personal example of giving up her psychology career to tend to her children. Using these literatures as a guide, feminism once again arose in the United States with the development of the National Organization for Women (NOW) formed in 1966. This organization fought for the removal of all legal and social barriers placed upon women to once again influence true equality between men and women. In 1972, women leaders such as Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem pushed the Equal Rights Amendment through Congress; however, it fell short of ratification by 1982.

Equality feminist theory

Equality feminist theory is the extension of the equality of the male and female into theoretical and philosophical fields of thought. At its core, equality feminist theory advocates for the equal standing of both men and women in terms of desires, wants, goals, and achievement. Thus, from this viewpoint, the basis of human nature outside of culture is androgynous, neutral, and equal. In this way, both men and women should have equal access to rights because they have an equal access to the capacity to reason. Similarly, The Subjection of Women (1869), John Stuart Mill advocated that society ought to be arranged according to reason and that 'accidents of birth' is irrelevant. Thus, because both men and women are governed by principles of reason, then the biological elements such as sex, gender, and race are not contributing factors to the essence of the individual. Mill notes that within a patriarchal society, "Men hold women in subjection by representing to them meekness, submissiveness resignation of all individual will into the hands of a man as an essential part of sexual attractiveness". In this way, to say that women have essential characteristics of submission by nature of their sex is an oppressive measure that contradicts the basic principle of reason that governs all human nature.

Important figures

Mary Wollstonecraft

In 1792 Wollstonecraft wrote one of the earliest works in feminist philosophy and though she does not explicitly state that men and women are equal she does call for equality in various realms of life which set the stage for future equality feminist works. In her piece A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, Wollstonecraft argues that women should have an education comparable to their position in society. She articulates her argument by claiming that since women were the primary care givers they could be able to better educate their own children and be seen as "companions" to the husband rather than wives if they were given this opportunity. Instead of being considered "property" that were exchanged through marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that women are human beings and therefore deserve equal fundamental rights as men.

Mill attacks many of the arguments that women are inferior at certain activities and therefore be forbidden from doing them by saying that women are not given the opportunities and therefore we do not know what women are capable of. He claims that males are making an authoritative statement without evidence, an argument solely based on speculation. Mill claims that by giving women this opportunity to figure out exactly what they were capable of would double the mass of mental faculties to serve humanity, and could produce a great impact on human development. Throughout her literary career, de Beauvoir helped unravel some of the "myths" associated with perceptions in gender and set forth a strong message that men and women should be treated equal with equal rights.

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan became one of the most recognized equality feminists after writing the book The Feminine Mystique, in which she discusses "the problem that has no name", female unhappiness in the 1950s and 1960s. It was through this book that Friedman was able to address many of the problems and the widespread recognition allowed her to later become president of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Throughout the piece Friedan addressed the problem that women had "wanting more than a husband, children, and a home". Friedan discusses the societal expectations of raising children and how this caused many women to not be able to do what they wanted. Many decisions that were made for women were made by men and this had worn out many women. She discusses the problem of education and that many families solely focused on education for the male children and women were instead "assigned to be married to fulfill child-bearing expectations".