21 st century feminism : theoretical framework and/or social movement

21st century feminism: theoretical framework

and/or social movementGaby WeinerOctober 2014

Helsinki University

2

• 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)

3

• 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

4

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?

5

How to be a woman (2011)

Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution (2014)

6

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

7

• 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

8

Gender and Education Journal

Rethinking Contemporary FeministPolitics (2010)

Fawcett Society

9

Women’s Aid

10

F-word website

11

Amnesty International

12

Feminist actions

13

Feminism actions

14

LWiELabour Women in

Education

Feminist Political Organisations

Gender and Education Association

16

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

Contact details

Gaby Weineremail

gaby.weiner@btinternet.comwebsite

www.gabyweiner.co.uk