Feminism: Relevance in Todays Society - Essay Example

Feminism: Relevance in Today's Society The contemporary period can be considered to possess a number of artists that can be considered of substance and grace in the corresponding field. This particular era in history was marked by the uprising of various trends in arts and the foray of women and other unlikely sections of the society into the world of art, media, corporate sector, world politics and various other fields. Today's woman is known to be a feminist and fighting an important advocacy through her works. Feminism became a strong benchmark for the society in that particular period, which can be seen through the various art forms and literature created at that time. Unlike the modern times, feminism was not reflected in policy changes as yet and was still confined to mere forms of expression. This was one of the key features of the trend called feminism as has been discussed below. This play of feminism also depicts the relationship between theory and practice as reflected in the events and perceptions in various parts of the world which forms the basic crux of the paper. Feminism: Past and Present This paper stands for the fact that feminism is as relevant today as it was when it began in the 1970s; if not more. Today, the pressure on a woman to perform and prove herself is far greater considering the fact that she is actually being given the chance to join shoulders with her male counterpart in any field. This is due to the fact that feminism is an amalgamation of the work carried out over centuries by precursors of the feminist movement which abolished the sign of male dominated tactics where imparting equal education in qualitative and quantitative terms was concerned. (Pateman, 1983) This topic is a challenging one as it focuses on a specific area in gender philosophy. The parameters to be studied are now deeply rooted in the history of our domestic, social and educational system and thus hold a large amount of interest and fascination for a student of feminist issues. Further, the time period being studied is of utmost importance where revolutionary trends in feminist approaches are concerned. In this regard, the work of feminists was the foundation stone for modern day theories in a very subtle manner. Every change happens through education and the study of changing trends in education to show the elements of emerging feminist trends of the period is a challenging and fascinating subject. (Pateman, 1983) Case Study: Education This brings to a case in history. British girls receiving secondary education in the nineteenth century rose from 20,000 in 1920 to 185,000 in 1897. Education concept at this stage favors the boys giving them the right access to complete education curriculum for their personal success as professionals while the girls were resigned to classes in drawing room which is more social rather than intellectual. This resulted to the option of home study where only a minority attends boarding schools of non academic nature of curriculum. Low middle class girls in the absence of motivation for schools attendance goes to small local day schools at about 4 to 5 years from the age of ten but with apparently low levels of achievements noted. The Act 1944 imposes parents' obligations to secure the respective education of their children which was interpreted by parents or carers as taking this responsibility of educating their children within the available local schools serving the community or taking their education outside the state system of which options are having to study at home or be sent to independent day or boarding schools which are rather expensive and as stated non academic in nature of curriculum. In 1850, the North London Collegiate School was established and was the first fee paying day schools or high schools that offered similar education as of that of the boys. In 1869, the Endowed Schools Act which was once exclusive for male was reformed to allow girls to join grammar schools. In 1872 the Girls' Public Day School Company was opened followed by the opening of girl's public schools in St. Andrew's in Scotland. Roedean followed shortly in 1885 and Wycombe Abbey in 1896. Marking the little improvements of the girls' kind of education from the late 15th century where a woman and a girl belonging to the upper class does only household chores, provisioning, taking care of the estate in the absence of men in the family and attending to ill members of the household. Embroidery and needlework are typical accomplishment of the ladies which reflects a rather domesticated, submissive and chaste virtue. (Whitehead, B., 1999). This entirely gave us a closer look as to how the roles of men and women differs with regards to the society's acceptance and determination which role a person has to play that will meet the approval of societal norms. It is a great relief then that a little improvement has been made in the 19th century. This is as relevant today as it was in that century due to the fact that education of any kind is now being offered on an equal basis to both males and females, yet with the advent of feminism, one can find quotas in countries like India where special subsidies and seats are reserved for the education of a girl child. Case Study: Domestic Violence The following are the findings by Women's Aid: 29% of murders in Northern Ireland involved domestic situations (PSNI) Statistics). A national survey in the Republic of Ireland found that 59% of women surveyed know a woman whose partner used violence against her.) In 90% of cases of domestic violence children are in the same room or the next room. 66% of residents in emergency refuges are children. In 40% - 60% of cases of domestic violence child abuse is also occurring The NCH study found 75% of mothers said their children had witnessed domestic violence, 33% had seen their mothers beaten up, 10% had witnessed sexual violence Children's responses to witnessing domestic violence vary according to a multitude of factors, including age, race, class, sex, stage of development, role in the family, relationship with parent(s), and the availability of sources of support outside the immediate family situation. Children of all ages most often take some form of passive or active support to protect their mothers when witnessing domestic violence. Children of all ages phone the police for assistance and a number of research studies suggest that women often attribute their eventual escape to the emotional and practical support provided by their children Children sometimes feel guilty if they do not come to the aid of their mother. This 'guilt' is often accompanied by self blame and feelings that they have in some way 'caused' their father to be violent Children may also feel angry towards their mother for not protecting herself or the children, as well as blaming her for causing the violence. Others may be so concerned about their mother's distress that they keep private their own grief . Source: http://www.womens-aid.org.uk/statistics.php There have been numerous sources for obtaining this data: A record of all incidents of domestic violence dealt with by the RUC during the period 1 January 2001 to 31st March 2001; A record of all domestic violence cases encountered by a sample of 15 senior social workers and 25 health visitors during a 4 week period in March/April 2001. Both samples were spread throughout the Province; Feedback from 165 health professionals (GPs, senior social workers and health visitors) throughout the Province on the number of cases of domestic violence that they had encountered in the past year; Existing data from NIWAF (Women's Aid) on the number of advice calls handled by the organisation during the year 1999/2000 and the number of calls to their helpline during the same time period. Source: Children in Northern Ireland (http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/domesticviolence.pdf) The analysis that has followed this data has shown that a minimum of 11,000 children in Northern Ireland are victims of regular domestic abuse. This excludes the cases of those people who have not had any kind of interaction with statutory services due to non information. (Calder et al, 2005) In this regard, there might be disparities in the report as well as certain mismatches owing to the fact that the British Crime Survey shows that 50% of all crimes go unreported - this includes reports of domestic violence. Therefore, the key problem area in this case is underreporting. (George, 1995) This shows that the relevance of feminism has increased manifold in troubled times with an eye on conflict ridden areas. Case Study: Gender Portrayals within art Art has been a focal point for a variety of cultures since the history of time. It is an expression of how a race or a group of people perceive themselves in relation with the world around them. In this context, an important premise remains the fact that art is born from within and from influences that come from the outside. This paper is based on the concept of gender and the issues that have had an immense influence on the way gender in modern art is perceived and portrayed. (Pateman, 1983) To begin with, one needs to differentiate between modern, post modern and contemporary in order to understand the journey charted by gender portrayal in art over the ages. The modern portrayals of art depend to a great extent on the stereotypical depictions of features within art, while post modern depends on the vertical rather than the horizontal, which is a case of portraying a traditional feature in a new light. Mary Kelly is one of the most important American artist of the present generation whose works are dedicated to the goals and aims of presenting her feminist's principles. She was born in 1941 at Fort Dodge in Iowa. She had educational training from the different institutions. She got her BA from the College of Saint Teresa in Winona in Minnesota from 1959 to 1963. After her undergraduate course in Arts, she studied her Masters in Arts in the European Region (Felsen, 2008). There are different works that are considered as significant in her career. One is the exhibit presented in the Rosamund Felsen Gallery which can be considered as a recent work. Kelly is known to present underlying messages in her work specifically pointing out to her topics of inclination such as cultural principles specifically pertaining to femininity. Art and Mass Media by Betty Ann Brown is a volume that chronicles the rise of western culture in context of its influence on art. This has been studied from the perspective of various art forms, ancient, medieval and modern so as to demonstrate how cultures are capable of affecting art forms and rendering finer detail to the structure in terms of gender portrayal as well as sexuality in art. (Brown, 2005; P 2 - 4). The volume has conceptualised the way art has been seen and used since 1985 with the advent of mass media and especially the Internet. This conceptualisation has reached a phase where the influx of ideas related with the use of technology and mass media has grown to such heights where it accommodates a whole new dimension of art in terms of gender portrayals. (Pateman, 1983) Case Study: Perceptions of Women in the Media The media has taken over entire countries and has helped in connecting various parts of the world through the sheer power of shaping perceptions through opinions and communication. Broadcasting is that form of expression that emanates from the momentum granted to the field of mass media from real life events. TV broadcasting journalism is an entertaining and wide medium used for the visual persuasion of ideas backing current events and their consequences. On a more technical note, the broadcasting industry can be described as one consisting of radio and television stations apart from networks engaged in the creation of content or acquisition of the right to broadcast taped television and radio programs. [Bureau of Labour Statistics] More people have come to trust the media than their governments, especially in developing countries, according to a ten-country opinion poll for the BBC, Reuters, and The Media Center. Media is trusted by an average of 61 percent compared to 52 percent for governments across the countries polled. But the US bucked the trend - with government ahead of media on trust (67% - 59%) along with Britain (51% - 47%). [Globe Scan] Women's shares of TV news director positions: 1972.....00.5% 1976.....02.3% 1982.....07.6% 1987.....14.5% 1992.....16.5% 1996.....24.1% And Still Rising (Source: Vernon Stone, Missouri) Apart from bringing glamour and a certain amount of light heartedness to the whole routine of broadcasting, women have a powerful role to play when it comes to dominating an audience's attention in terms of mass media. Apart from bringing a certain amount of sensitivity to the most general and banal of issues being reported or discussed, a woman broadcaster, more than anything else, 'strikes that note'. Feminist communications theories have gained a whole new angle since the explosion of the fairer sex on the scene of broadcasting, where thinking about women has expanded beyond the categories that once marked the emergence of these theories. For starters, the issue of identity has taken on a whole new dimension wherein the notion of identity of has been questioned in great detail in communication studies. The synthesis of the theories surrounding the changes in feminist media hypothesis points to three major debates, outlined by Andrea L Press in Mass Media and Society, as follows: Feminism, difference and identity. Feminism and the public sphere. New technology and the body: feminism at the postmodernist margins. [James Curran et al, 2005] A noteworthy point can be made here with respect to the naming of minorities in the broadcasting industry where one inevitably ends up with a series of body genres for, by and about women. These issues turn out to be problematic ones as genres. Here, the traditionally dichotomous nature of the relationship between the 'natural' and the 'technological' is challenged only to reveal the underlying elements that link these two seemingly elusive categories. This trend has the potentiality to transform the study of technology which is so central to this field. (Heywood, 1992) Case Study: Islamic Countries Revolutions have marked major changes on our timescapes for centuries now, merging very effectively into the concept of modernity in the process - thus propagating the belief that modernism is from revolution, and vice versa. Color, race, creed and caste lose all value when a revolution gains momentum. In context of the case before us, it has been observed that religion has surrendered to the tide of such movements. The religion in question is Islam. (Heywood, 1992) The Islam world has, over a vast period of time, provided a myriad of colors in its various representations and colonial history. Whether it was ruled by empires essentially Arab like those of the Ottoman, Arab, Iranian, or other Western superpowers, Islam has seemed to have made the most of these influences. But a more critical review is required to demonstrate whether this is entirely true in the face of Islam's stringent value system and lofty ideals, which are known to purport into every aspect of an individual's life. This point seeks to explore the aspect of influences on the representation of Islam, from a critical point of view. Over the past decade, there has been a notable effort on the part of a majority of Islamic movement specialists in context of bridging the gap between the study of Islamic activism and social science theories of collective action. This depicts that the relevance of feminism is slowly beginning to creep into the Islamic world where women's oppression has been a widely accepted trend. Therefore, feminism is even more relevant here in times where freedom is just beginning to gain expression with the advent of ideals like democracy and women's liberation. (A.R Norton, 2000. p. 3 - 7) Despite the fact that this new approach to Islamic activism de-emphasizes ideology and belief as causal variables, it has been noticed that the role of ideas is not completely rejected or underrated. Instead, the focus has been on the study of patterns surrounding the process in which ideas are socially created, arranged, and disseminated as far as feminist values are concerned. In other words, the emphasis is on the process of constructing discourse, and the resulting ideational packages. In the parlance of social movement theory, movements must "frame" their arguments to persuade audiences and elicit support and participation. (Heywood,1992) Where the influence of the various worlds is concerned, the one constant is the fact that there have been instances where Islamists construct frames that meld religious and non-religious themes to reach broader audiences. Appeals to nationalism, tribal symbolism, and even human rights have been intertwined with religion in ideational packages. The eclectic nature of such frames demonstrates the strategic dimension of framing: content is frequently selected according to its potential persuasive effect rather than solely on the basis of ideology, with a subconscious return on the part of leaders to "reIslamisation". (Asef Bayat, 2005. p. 891-918) In conclusion, as a result of the finding that framing is not everything in social movement theory; it should be realized that deprivation and frustration cannot fully explain the rise of Islamism since misery does not lead necessarily to mobilization. Mobilization of resources, decision-making and framing should also be taken into account. In this context, Islam has become a factor of revolution as well as its target, with many men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan feeling the debilitating effects of the religious state, in their daily lives, work and public sphere. With this part of world seeing itself as "historical victims" in terms of women, there is scope for higher improvement. (Heywood, 1992) References Pateman, C. 1983. Feminism and democracy. G. Duncan(ed) Heywood, Andrews. 1992. Feminism in Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. Whitehead, B. 1999. Women's education in early modern Europe: A history 1500 - 1800. Routledge (UK). James Curran J, Michael Gurevitch M. 2005. Mass Media and Society. Hodder Arnold Publication. Marlene Sanders M, Maricia Rock M. 1994. Waiting for Prime Time: The Women of Television News Vernon Stone - Women Break Glass Ceiling in TV News; URL: http://www.missouri.edu/jourvs/gtvminw.html Accessed on: 28th August, 2006 National Organisation for Women Foundation. Affirmative Action in the Broadcasting Industry ; URL: http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/affirmative.html Accessed on: 28th August, 2006 Globe Scan. Media wore trusted than government. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/02_05_06mediatrust.pdf Accessed on: 28th August, 2006 Television History - the first 75 years. URL: http://www.tvhistory.tv/ Accessed on: 28th August, 2006 Bureau of Labour Statistics. Broadcasting. URL: http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs017.htm Access on: 28th August, 2006 NBA.com. NBA TV Talent: Denise Albert. URL: http://www.nba.com/nba_tv/denise_albert_bio.html Accessed on: 27th August, 2006 Asef, Bayat. 2005. Islamism and Social Movement theory. Third World Quarterly, Vol 26. Augustus Richard Norton. Jan, 2000. Making War, Making Peace: The Middle East Entangles America. Current History; Philadelphia Jan 2000, Vol 103, no. 669. Felsen, R. 2008. Mary Kelly Exhibition on Rosamund Felsen Gallery [online]. Santa Monica, California: Rosamund Felsen Gallery. Available From: http://www.rosamundfelsen.com/kelly/index.html Brown, Betty A. 2005. Art and Mass Media. Second Edition. Routledge. Calder, M Harold, G & Howarth, E. (2005) Children Living With Domestic Violence George, M. 1995. Children Domestic Violence. Violent Reaction Community Care Women's Aid. URL: http://www.womens-aid.org.uk/statistics.php (Accessed during March 2007) Children in Northern Ireland: Domestic Violence and Professional Awareness. URL: http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/domesticviolence.pdf (Accessed during March, 2007) Curran, James; Michael Gurevitch J.C; (2005) Mass Media and Society, 2005.MG. Read More