Feminism has been such a broad theoretical paradigm that it is addressing and implying a wide range of issues that were ever unnoticed or taken for granted and with the variety of versions. To understand what feminism is not is sometimes easier than to know what it is as it has given a lens to look at certain strata of people who are victimized, biased, oppressed by some form of power and deliberately discriminated from mainstreaming. Feminism has given a voice and stamina to speak on behalf of themselves to the women, poor people, people with different disabilities and marginalized classes who suffered a lot in the hand of patriarchy, capitalism, and other so called central superior figures and institutions.
The versions of feminism varied as the time passes on and with the boost of awareness among the women and their advocates. Ranging from the traditional liberal feminism to the the most post modern version of feminism, the core issue remain the same though their way of defining the problem primarily on patriarchy and the methods of solution are different. I found the CBC documentary detail and very useful to get the broad and practical knowledge about what feminism is and how it is going on in Canada. Women are coming to the front by challenging those boundaries erected by the 'dead white old man' with liberty enterprise (Robbins S.P et al 2012).
My concern is to see the feminism and its role to reveal the reality around poverty which is said to be the severe among the women. Mullaly (2007) has cited several differences of women's experiences that have significant role to run the society but the Canadian welfare state has failed to address (p.161). Women are among the poorest groups in Canada who head more than 80 percent of single-parent families but unfortunately they are the same women who receive lower income and are victimized in a different way by the patriarchy. Feminist are really concerned to such facts and advocate for different campaign to address the problem. They present theories and practices that challenge male dominance and privilege and critique patriarchal power relations.
Different campaigns are being held across Canada to fight against the biased patriarchal norms and practices that is pushing women to the vicious circle of poverty which the CBC video talks a lot about. It is really hard for the single-mother to run the family on her own and the poor uneducated women living in rural area have more challenges including the domestic violence that rarely comes in to the media and the mind of educated feminist in the city. Women are in multiple victimization: poverty, patriarchy, racism, sexism, heterosexism injustice, discrimination all are working against the prosperity, freedom, and the happiness of women. And the feminism has to be able to address all those obstacles that the women are waring with by intersecting with racism, classism, sexism and other isms and criticisms (Robbins p.111).
Subas
References:
Mullaly, R. (2007). The new structural social work (3rd Ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford
University Press.
Robbins, S.P. et. al (2012). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work. New Jersey: Pearson.
The f word: Who wants to be a feminist? (2011). Retrived November 15, 2011, from
www.cbc.ca.
"Women are among the poorest groups in Canada who head more than 80 percent of single-parent families"- reading percentages like that makes the inequality between men and women even more visible. My mom is a single mother and has raised me and my brother on her own for more than ten years now. I am so thankful that she attained a good education and encountered job opportunities that enabled us to live without the fear of poverty. But not all single mother families are as lucky as I am.
ReplyDelete- Morgan
I like how you incorporated the picture showing a sign that says "poverty has a women's face" in your blog, because it clearly shows that women are largely affected by poverty. Good post.
ReplyDelete-Medina