By ABDULLAH NOOR
In the current society even men declare themselves as women and want to be treated as ones. I will first discuss the different strains of feminism, and then I will move towards the liberal, radical, cultural and postmodern feminism and how they comply with the given statement, by claiming that differences in need and demands may lead to ‘distinct perspectives’ of seeing women. We will see what protection law should be given when every feminist has different demands. However, we cannot attack the whole theory due to these different feminist having different demands. And the whole theory cannot be attacked due to these differences only. And anyways, ‘black women, lesbian women, poor women’ all of them have the word ‘women’ in it which give them unity in at least some way. And if you want to understand the basic of the theory generally in one sentence, it can be said that it is a theory which is concerned with the harms and disadvantages suffered by women due to the ‘patriarchy’ and domination of male in the society overall, and it intends to end this patriarchy, and bring some kind of equality between male and females.
Basically, FLT is concerned about the societal position of women, and how they suffer due to the inequality and discrimination faced by them. When law defines ‘masculinity and femininity’, it reinforces gender division and hierarchy. However, the generalization of women is itself attacked by the lack of concrete definition; using sociopolitical and ideological movements to create a theory to achieve so called ‘equality’ which is itself perceived differently in culture, legal, political and economic, is not a good idea. But this argument can be countered by saying that all the waves of feminism wanted the same thing i.e ‘end of Patriarchy, but advocated for them differently. Women have always been considered as a subordinate to men, whether they were poor or black or anything. The ‘rule by father’ which was developed in the hunter gatherer situation (where fathers went out, risked their lives to bring food for the family, and women only managed the domestic life), is still used by men to oppress women by using violence against them, and this is an important reason why women are considered as subordinates to men. The private division of labor and social activities by law further validates this idea, as men are preferred in most fields. So when all ‘women’ protest and speak against patriarchy, it dissolves the claim that, ‘there is no such thing as women’ and moreover, all types of women want to just deconstruct and reconstruct the society’s hierarchical structures which places men higher than women in almost all aspects. They want to be at least equal in this structure, and this demand is common among almost all feminists.
However, differences are seen when steps are taken on regional, local, national and global levels. Feminists face tensions within themselves also, as different periods of history show a constant change of demands. The first wave was a demand of equality, but the second wave wanted an ‘equal but different’ approach, according to Lacey 1994.
Firstly, liberal feminists wanted a neutral, objective and impartial law as they said that women had same intellect as men (Wollstonecraft), they said that the rule of law should be upheld and all people should be equal before law regardless of sex, gender, race or ethnicity.
Treating women exactly same as men is also not possible to a great extent. There are a lot of things which have to be taken into consideration, there are biological differences, such as men are taller and stronger, but only women can be pregnant, and women have longer life expectancies, but these differences resulted in the subordination of women only, as resulted in inequalities such as, talking about the last century, women couldn’t work, couldn’t vote, and couldn’t even own properties. They are more likely to be raped, paid less for the same amount of work as males, and are often working in a male dominated system. But it can be said that some of these problems require unequal treatment than men, for example women need special care which men don’t need, such as time off from work during pregnancy, and faster promotions than men. What is required is to set up norms and standards according to ‘human needs’ and not for the needs of a specific gender.
Second is the cultural feminism, which refers to the ‘equal but different’ approach. It doesn’t concern our question, it gives a simple ‘male’ and ‘female’ perspective, as Carol Gilligan gave two moral codes of the two genders, by saying that women possess caring and responsible ethic of care, and males have ethic of justice that is impersonal. It has two problems, first that it has reinforced stereotypes, and secondly its idea of essentialism which reinforces gender difference.
Third, Radical feminists as Catherine MacKinnon, say that differences between men and women are socially constructed in such a way that suits men, and oppress women. She compared feminism to Marxism and said that sexuality of a woman is taken by social construction of ideal identity of women, which is mainly created by dominant males. She treated sexuality of women just like Marx treated work. She writes, ‘pornography sexualizes rape, battery, sexual harassment, prostitution and child abuse; it therefore promotes, authorizes and legitimates them… it is neither harmless fantasy nor a corrupt and confused misrepresentation of an otherwise natural and healthy sexual situation. It institutionalizes the sexuality of male supremacy, fusing the erotization of dominance and submission with the social construction of male and female’. So this theory opposes the claims of distinction, as for example, both poor woman and black woman are prone to harassment equally. Woman is defined by her sexuality rather than the external factors which are given in the question. And based on this sexuality laws are made which endorse male dominancy. Legalization of pornography indeed confirms this stance, as by this women are objectified, their sexuality is taken as a product, and these products are often degrading to women, in other words sexual domination of men is legalized through this.
But this thing leads us to another fact which has to be taken into consideration is that the actresses in these videos are females, who have most likely joined this field with their will and are earning money through it, it leads us to the conflict of interests between different types of women from different countries, which I will discuss later in this essay.
According to a lot of people, MacKinnon’s theory is flawed as it shows women as passive victims positioned by patriarchal structure and it changes the feminine aspect, as it encourages the equality or empowerment of women upon a single standard rather than acknowledging their objective differences.
Arguments of black and ethnic minority feminists can be used to support the statement in question. they argue that feminists are blind to diversity. Mariana Velverde highlighted a conflict of interest between ‘women who picks coffee beans for fifty cents a day in Brazil and white American feminist who sips coffee as she writes about women in general’. This statement directly confirms the statement in question, but it focuses on treating women differently as a need rather than hindering FLT in general. It is said that, ‘poor black women don’t want what ‘women in general’ does’. This difference can also be seen in the famous on going case of Amber Heard V Johnny Depp, in which amber is counter suing Depp for $100 million. It can be seen through this case that how a popular woman from a developed country demands $100 for her defamation, whereas the women of Afghanistan are struggling to make it to schools and colleges after the takeover by current Taliban regime. No girl from Afghanistan can have such a case like feminist from a developed country, they just have basic requirements such as right to education which is a basic human right, which is being denied to them on the basis of their gender. If we keep going through that region, either on the Arab side, or on the Indian and Pakistani side, a lot of different issues will emerge, and which will be very basic rights, so they need different solution and different struggle than a feminist of a developed country. The solution of this takes us to the next phase of feminism which is postmodern feminism.
Postmodern feminists say that it is useless to find a universal standard of justice for all women, as it not only undesirable but also a form of neo colonialism. So according to it, it doesn’t matter even if there is ‘nothing such as women in general’. It advocates for different solutions for different problems of women at even local levels. So they somehow approve the first part of statement and weaken the FLT.
As a conclusion, it can be said that despite having different perspectives, the FLT is still intact. A single solution is not required because needs of women are different globally. It is not necessary for ‘women in general’ to exist. All types of ‘women’ have to be treated according to their needs, and to do it, a general framework is not required.
