Feminist Inspirational Article Critique - Essay Example

In the 1970s, women from various sectors of society were largely stultified and chafed due to extreme levels of male chauvinism. As a response to this realization, many women academics began to bring these issues into their intellectual work and notice of society. Smith argues that the conceptualization of sociology is a male activity by referring to its dependence on males. Smith holds the view that women’s strong support assists men to dominate society. The author says that women’s routine domestic work provides favorable conditions for men to lead society. She adds that women’s responsibility of managing male needs including food, clean clothing, and tidy workspace prevents women from getting employed. According to Smith, women’s standpoint can be directly related to their bodily connection to knowing. The writer blames men for running away from the difficulties of life while at the same time pretending to be the rulers of society. These primary analytic observations constitute the focal point of Smith’s work toward a different sociology for women.

The article reflects that Smith always tried to develop her perception from the standpoint of women and therefore her critical analysis of social practices and knowledge generation greatly converged with her political commitments. To explain women’s subordination in the 1970s, Smith connects women’s exclusion from major positions in society to knowledge that often does not fit women’s realities. She claims that the world is not made for women. By acquiring the political stance of a feminist, Smith identifies the knowledge that may work for women or the knowledge strategies that have to be revamped for the social uplift of women. According to one review, “in describing the traditional gender regime in which women keep house for men, she pointed out that besides attending to their bodily domestic needs at home, women perform analogous functions in professional and managerial settings, too” (Campbell, 2003). She believes that women’s assistance was the crucial factor behind men’s uplift in the immediate place they reside, and this factor allows men to act as if they are living in their heads. In Smith’s opinion, men can make an objectified account of the world where they may be superior to others.

In short, the article reflects the thoughts of an extreme feminist towards society and men. It seems that Smith does not give any reference to women’s inherent limitations that pull them back from the mainstream of society. In other words, the author has not conducted unbiased research into the subject matter of those problems and hence the article lacks certain elements of reality.