21 st century feminism : theoretical framework and/or social movement
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21 st century feminism : theoretical framework and/or social movement. Gaby Weiner October 2014 Helsinki University. Timeline of feminism (approx. in UK). 1st wave: mid 1800s to early 1900s 2nd wave: 1960s-1980s 3rd wave: 1990s 4th wave: 2000s plus - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
21st century feminism: theoretical framework
and/or social movementGaby WeinerOctober 2014
Helsinki University
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• 1st wave: mid 1800s to early 1900s
• 2nd wave: 1960s-1980s
• 3rd wave: 1990s
• 4th wave: 2000s plus
Always delicate balance between theorisation and activism
Timeline of feminism (approx. in UK)
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• To what extent 21st century Academia is compatible with political activism
• Have feminist academics lost sight of their aspiration to challenge and reduce inequalities between men and women within and outside education – or has neoliberalism done that for them?
Questions
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Again and again over the last few years, I turned to modern feminism to answer questions....but found that what had once been the one most exciting, incendiary and effective revolution of all time had somehow shrunk down into a couple of increasingly small arguments, carried out among a couple of dozen feminist academics, in books that only feminist academics would read (Moran, 2011, 12)
Has academic feminism failed?
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How to be a woman (2011)
Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution (2014)
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Feminism is not a set of rules. It is not about taking
rights away from men, as if there were a finite
amount of liberty to be had if we have the guts to
grasp it for everyone. Feminism is a social
revolution, and a sexual revolution, and feminism is in
no way content with a missionary position. It is about
work, and about love, and about how one depends
very much on the other. Feminism is about asking
question, and carrying on answering them even when
the questions get uncomfortable (Penny, 2014, 16).
New feminism
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• Success of feminist academics (in education, social sciences, humanities)
• Emergence of academic field of gender (and education)
• Gap between feminist academics and practitioners
• Corporatisation of higher education• Continued inequalities & disparities between
girls & boys, men & women,• Need for politics of gender and feminist action
Argument
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Gender and Education Journal
Rethinking Contemporary FeministPolitics (2010)
Fawcett Society
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Women’s Aid
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F-word website
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Amnesty International
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Feminist actions
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Feminism actions
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LWiELabour Women in
Education
Feminist Political Organisations
Gender and Education Association
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Questions (2)
• Is there such a thing as feminist praxis or pedagogy?• What role has (feminist) research in feminist action?• Which (feminist) theories best aid transformations of
practice and action?• To what extent can (feminist) leadership models be
effective and/or transformative?• How can networking and social media be best
utilised in the interests of feminist activism?
Where does academic feminism fit into activism?
Feminist theorists e.g. Chris Weedon, Judith Butler, Karen Barad, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Donna Haraway, Julia Kristeva
