女权主义论文-英文

Early Western feminist literature on the impact of Western society

Outline:

The purpose of this paper is to understand the generation of western feminism and the influence of modern feminism. The history of feminism involves the story of feminist movements and of feminist thinkers. Feminists are \"person[s] whose beliefs and behavior[s] are based on feminism.\" (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 3d ed. 1992 )) The first wave of the western feminism refers mainly to women's suffrage of movements of the 19th and early 20th. The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s fueled creative energies for many women writers. As the women's movement gained more acceptance, however, women wrote less in protest and more in affirmation. Only in the 1970s did other ethnic groups begin to find their literary voice. The writers there mostly effected by Toni Morrison and some of them won the Nobel Prize. They went through the Civil Rights Movement , the Anti-War Movement and Women's Liberation Movement and Gay Rights Activities, etc. And they gain some rights. For example, feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using \"Ms.\" to refer to both married and unmarried women. In the aspect of effect of social status, the increased entry of women into the workplace beginning in the 20th century has affected gender roles and the division of labor within households. All these samples indicates the modern feminism and nowadays social change of heterosexual relationships results from the effort of the first wave of the western feminism.

Introduction:

A. The definition of \"feminism\" in the first wave and that in modern .

B. Feminism has been an important part of modern life. It also through a rough development——a long history began in the 1800s. C. The movement of the early feminism.

Paper:

Definition

\"Feminism\" is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women.(Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Cambridge British Dictionary) Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights. Feminism is mainly focused on women's issues, but because feminism seeks gender equality, some feminists argue that men's liberation is therefore a necessary part of feminism, and that men are also harmed by sexism and gender roles. Feminists are \"person[s] whose beliefs and behavior[s] are based on feminism.\" (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 3d ed. 1992 ))

In the nineteenth century, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage,

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though some feminists were active in campaigning for women's sexual, reproductive, and economic rights at this time.[1]

Main History of First Stage

The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s fueled creative energies for many women writers. As the women's movement gained more acceptance, however, women wrote less in protest and more in affirmation——particularly black women writers, such as Toni Morrison(1931- ) and Alice Walker(1944- ), who are African American women writers, portrayed strong black women as the source of continuity, the preservers of values in black culture. Only in the 1970s did other ethnic groups begin to find their literary voice.

They went through the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement and Women's Liberation Movement and Gay Rights Activities, etc. 2003, a magazine named \"shook the tree\"(2003) (editor, MeiLi · nana armagh DanJi ), recorded 23 black women writers' literature and booming the American Women Writers. The writers there mostly effected by Toni Morrison and some of them won the Nobel Prize.

In the U.S., leaders of the feminist movement campaigned for the abolition of slavery and Temperance prior to championing women's rights. American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism (such as Stanton, Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and the National Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was president). In the United States first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1919), granting women the right to vote..

In the U.K. and U.S., it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage, though some feminists were active in campaigning for women's sexual, reproductive, and economic rights at this time(Botting, Eileen H, Houser, Sarah L).[1]

Literature Achievements in the First Stage

Jeremy Bentham: The remarkable utilitarian and classical liberal philosopher Jeremy Bentham said that it was the placing of women in a legally inferior position that made him choose the career of a reformist, at the age of eleven. Bentham spoke for a complete equality between sexes including the right to vote and to participate in the government, and opposed the strongly different sexual moral standards to women and men(Miriam Williford, Bentham on the rights of Women.Bentham)[5].In his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1781) Bentham strongly condemned the common practice in many countries to deny women's rights because of their allegedly inferior minds gave many examples of able female regents.

Mary Anne (Mary Ann, Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better

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known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871–72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of them set in provincial England and well known for their realism and psychological insight. In a book named \"Voice of a Century. Norton\"[6], she said, she used a male pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously.Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. By her male pen name we know that how difficult for a female presents her real emotion at that before the emergence of feminism.

In Dubious Conceptions, Kristin Luker discusses the effect of feminism on teenage women's choices to bear children, both in and out of wedlock. She says that the economic prospects for poor men are slim, hence poor women have a low chance of finding a husband who will be able to provide reliable financial support due to the rise of unemployment from more workers on the market, from just men to women and men.[7]

Although research suggests that, to an extent, both women and men perceive feminism to be in conflict with romance, studies of undergraduates and older adults have shown that feminism has positive impacts on relationship health for women and sexual satisfaction for men, and found no support for negative stereotypes of feminists.[8]

The Effect of the First Stage of the Western Feminism

Main Achievements in Political Significance

On 10 October 1903 the WSPU was founded at the Pankhurst family home in Manchester by six women.The WSPU had split from the non-militant National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, disappointed at the lack of success its tactics of persuading politicians through meetings had found(Mary Davis, Sylvia Pankhurst (Pluto Press, 1999)).[2] The founders decided to form a women-only organisation, which would campaign for social reforms, largely in conjunction with the Independent Labour Party.

In 1948 the UN issued its Universal Declaration of Human Rights which protects \"the equal rights of men and women\

Since 1975 the UN has held a series of world conferences on women's issues, starting with the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City, heralding the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985).

These have brought women together from all over the world and provided considerable opportunities for advancing women's rights, but also illustrated the deep divisions in attempting to apply principles universally(Catagay, N., Grown, C. and Santiago, A. 1986.\"The Nairobi Women's Conference: Toward a Global Feminism\"),[4] in successive conferences in Copenhagen (1980) and Nairobi (1985).

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Social changes

The feminist movement effected change in Western society, including women's suffrage, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and \"no fault\" divorce, the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion), and the right to own property.[9][10] It has also led to broad employment for women at more equitable wages, and access to university education. Language Changes

Feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using \"Ms.\" to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term \"herstory\" instead of \"history\". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as \"humanity\" instead of \"mankind\or \"he or she\" in place of \"he\" where the gender is unknown.

Gender-neutral language is a description of language usages which are aimed at minimizing assumptions regarding the biological sex of human referents. The advocacy of gender-neutral language reflects, at least, two different agendas: one aims to clarify the inclusion of both sexes or genders (gender-inclusive language); the other proposes that gender, as a category, is rarely worth marking in language (gender-neutral language). Gender-neutral language is sometimes described as non-sexist language by advocates and politically-correct language by opponents.[11]

Conclusion

Through those history and discussion were told above we can draw the conclusion that though the most significant achievement of the first wave of the feminism is western women's suffrage, other influence should not be ignored. It seems be dominated by the increasing clam our for political reform and votes for women. Books, articles, speeches, pictures and papers from the period however, show a diverse range of theme's being discussed in the public discourse. Male or female, we are both mankind and we are certainly equal.

References：

[1] Botting, Eileen H, Houser, Sarah L., '\"Drawing the Line of Equality\": Hannah Mather Crocker on Women's Rights' in American Political Science Review (2006), 265-278 [2] Mary Davis, Sylvia Pankhurst (Pluto Press, 1999)

[3] Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women

[4] Catagay, N., Grown, C. and Santiago, A. 1986. \"The Nairobi Women's Conference: Toward a Global Feminism\" Feminist Studies, 12, 2:401–412

[5] Miriam Williford, Bentham on the rights of Women, Journal of the History of Ideas, 1975

[6] Karl, Frederick R. George Eliot: Voice of a Century. Norton, 1995. pp. 237–38

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[7] Luker, Kristin, Dubious Conceptions: The Politics of the Teenage Pregnancy Crisis. Harvard University Press (1996)

[8] Laurie A. Rudman & Julie E. Phelan, \"The Interpersonal Power of Feminism: Is Feminism Good for Romantic Relationships?\" Sex Roles, Vol. 57, No. 11-12, December 2007. [9] Messer-Davidow, Ellen, Disciplining feminism: from social activism to academic discourse (Duke University Press, 2002), ISBN 9780822328437

[10] Butler, Judith, 'Feminism in Any Other Name', differences vol. 6, numbers 2-3, pp. 44-45

[11] \"Gender Neutral Language.\" University of Saskatchewan http://www.usask.ca/policies/2_03.htm. Accessed March 25, 2007

Policies,2001. 5