Week 3: Ferree and Desai

1. Naples & Desai: On page 4 in Naples’ essay, she discussed the contradictions evident in the transnational feminist movement. Naples noted that the majority of women’s groups are primarily white, middle class, well-educated women. These women often take leading roles in shaping the feminist movement. Also, non-governmental organizations receive more attention and western support than grassroots organizations. This paragraph reminded me of two tests I read for another class, by Evelyn Higginbotham and Elizabeth Spelman. Higginbotham and Spelman focused on the conflation of gender, race and class in conjunction with the ways in which the majority of the feminist movement has failed to consider that conflation. For example, the stereotypical definitions of “white ladies” versus “black women” were dependent upon one another. While white “ladies” were seen as pure and virtuous, black “women” were seen as hypersexual and immoral. A pure and virtuous black woman, was by definition, out of the question. To allow one race/gender/class group to set goals for the whole of the women’s movement seems counterintuitive. If one of the goals of feminism is to end women’s oppression altogether, the different histories of women of different races and classes must be taken into account.

Ferree & Tripp: In Ferree and Tripp, a paragraph on page 13 stood out most to me. Ferree summarized one of the reasons why Americans developed an aversion to the word “feminism.” Ferree noted that women’s liberation and feminism were tied with communism, in that communist countries would cite women’s liberation as a sign of social egalitarianism. Of course, this was simply propaganda, because where women may have been “liberated” they were most likely subject to other forms of oppression (or starvation, as the case may have been). In the West (America), feminism was then seen as “godless, antifamily and a threat to civilization.” This passage may seem minor, but as a historian, I wondered why the majority of Americans have an aversion to feminism. I could not think of a legitimate historical reason, however, within the context of the Cold War, it makes much more sense. During a time when Americans feared anything that appeared even remotely communist, it would make sense that feminism would get thrown under the bus, so to speak, as well.
Ferree continued to note that feminism is used in the “war on terror” rhetoric, in the same fashion as the communists used feminism during the Cold War. Feminism, as the rhetoric stated, is “one of the [Western democracies] greatest accomplishments” and a symbol of secular modernity and equal rights. However, Ferree also noted that women in western cultures are still oppressed and this rhetoric may take away from future feminist activism. In modern, Western culture, women still do not have full governing rights over their bodies (i.e.- abortion, birth control, etc.). In fact, men pass many of the laws that govern things such as abortion and birth control. In this regard, women are still oppressed in Western culture.

2. Naples & Desai: On page four, it said there is no literal Arabic translation of the term “grassroots movement.” Does that matter for the movement to take affect? (Why/Why not?)
Ferree & Tripp: The text discussed a number of conferences that supported women’s issues an pressured governments to support them as well. How many groups were successful in a long term goal? How do we measure their success?