Liberal Feminism

In the chapter titled Liberal Feminism in our book, I found many things that were very interesting. First of all, I sort of got the feeling that Liberal Feminism is like the mother of all feminism. It was basically how feminism started and the beginning of all the types of feminism that go on today. I found that the root of liberal feminism lies in the industrial revolution of the US. This is because, during this period, more and more men were moving their families into the cities and leaving the home during the day to go work on the assembly lines and do all the new jobs that were afforded by the industrial revolution/assembly line. This led to the fact that the men were now making the money for the family on their own and the women were at home taking care of house chores and the children. Basically, the women weren't making any actual money. This led to the increase in thought that that is what the women were supposed to be doing, which led to the thought from women that they deserved to go out and make money too!


In the book, it says that liberal feminism isn't against patriarch-ism but is more for a change in society that gives women more rights and economic equality. I feel like this should be the focal point of all women. Why? Well because I feel like the more women that can become equal to men on an economic basis, the more women will have the power to say, yes we are equal to men. And not only that, but it will encourage more women to go out and make just as much money as men and increase the probability of women staying with jobs and not getting frustrated with men that make more than they do at the same type of job. Here is where I disagree with the critics of liberal feminism. They say that all liberal feminists do is compare a woman to a man. Well in a society where men are the focal point, where men make the most money, and where men are even sometimes viewed as superior, why wouldn't women be striving to be equal with that? Do you think that men will ever want to bring themselves (and I'm sorry to put it this way, but based on the assumptions of this class and society) down to the level of what females now consider themselves?? I don't think so. And so, women must compare themselves to what society views as the higher gender/sex. Another critique is that the movement was for white middle class american women. I get the feeling like that is an older stereotype and really no longer applies, as is evident in the essay that Amidia wrote.