Feminist Contribution to Welfare - Essay Example

Feminist contribution to welfare Name Professor Institution Course Date Introduction FEMINISM AND WELFARE The belittling and subjection of women to the rules and laws of others has existed even before Christ. Te bible portrays few victorious women. Consequently women in the world are seen as weaklings both intellectually and physically. Women have had to fight for their rights not only in Australia but the world over. Women sort equality in social political and economic aspects of life. However it did not come easy. A movement arose in the eighteenth century that addressed women’s equality to men in the spheres of education, politics and society: this was the feminist movement) (Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C, 2007) Feminism ensured that women had voting rights, education, employment and resisted domestic abuse. Australian women achieved their rights to vote in 1902 long before their European and American counter parts. Australian feminist however dispute that this was as a result of equality between men and women in Australia. Australian feminist defer due to the exclusion of women in national consciousness forging in the nineteenth century (Taylor, A, 2008). The pillars of Australian pioneering were exclusively masculine in nature hence the exclusion of women in this process. Literary works at the time such as, Damned whores and Gods Police, by Anne Summers express the marginalisation of women in Australia at the time. Women marginalisation became unavoidable for writers between the 1890s and 1950s.women in Australia Norman Mackenzie’s pioneering sociological study describes Australia as more of a man’s country compared to other industrialized democracies. Numerous literally works on women suffrage were done but few were taken seriously. The works have been reviewed and published recently. The first wave of feminism in Australia occurred between the 1880 and the First World War (Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C, 2007). The women sort to dispute the image created of women as angels of the house. They also wanted their recognition as women as opposed to social beings. They were able to achieve a certain percentage of success. However, by the 1940s the spheres that created inequality between men and women were back already. The second wave of feminism came at around 1955. During the Second World War, women had replaced men in work places and realised their abilities. Women realised they had the power to undertake jobs done by men (Laxer, G., & Soron, D, 2006). In the second wave of feminism women was concern with issues of increase in pay, divorce, abortion, rape in marriage, domestic violence, child care and social services. Women wanted to change the way they were perceived by the society. The women formed political movements and trade unions to fight for their rights. The second wave of feminism was most successful. The institution of the women’s electoral lobby was the first parliamentary impact the women made in 1972. The institution ensured women accessed equal education, free family planning methods, equal pay, abortion on demand and equal employment opportunities. The period saw the promotion of equal opportunities to women and the disbanding of discrimination. Studies on the issues of women were given increased seriousness and introduced to higher education systems. This was a successful period for feminist as they managed to implement commendable changes (Taylor, A, 2008). Domestic abuse became illegal and so did rape in marriage. Women were respected and viewed as people with equal abilities to men. Many women proved their ability through business, politics, education and even medicine. Though the family structure was put at risk, the women strived to multi task and maintain their careers and families. Domestic violence Sometimes the people we love cherish and trust the most are capable of hurting us in extreme ways. In relationships both married and unmarried couples disagree. However violence is not an acceptable technique of finding a solution. Research shows that abusive relationships not only involve physical violence but also spiritual, emotional, social, economic and spiritual abuse. For a long time women were subjected to all forms of abuse by their spouses (Taylor, A, 2008). The trait has never been eliminated completely from the society however many reforms and policies have been implemented to cub the trait. Spiritual abuse involves the hindrance of someone to have and believe in their own religious and cultural beliefs and opinions. Some men posses a controlling and superiority complex where they believe that they are always correct. They also want their spouses to share the same beliefs and values. Economic abuse occurs where ones money is controlled by their spouse. It also occurs where spouses refuse their women to work in order to keep them financially dependent on them. The women’s activities therefore depend on the generosity of the men. Social abuse occurs where the movements and interactions of a woman are controlled by the man. The spouse keeps track of the people one interacts with and even forbids interactions with certain people. Parallel to this they insult and ridicule the women in the presence of friends and other family members. Emotional violence involves emotional blackmail, threatening tones by partners and comments attacking ones intelligence and self esteem (Laxer, G., & Soron, D, 2006). Emotional blackmail is not very obvious but it carries detrimental effects on people. Physical violence is the most obvious and recognised form of domestic violence. This involves physical fights like slapping and kicking people. Destruction of property and hurting the spouses loved ones. Rape in marriage and sexual issues against ones will is also physical abuse. All this forms of abuse create instability in relationships and families. They carry physical and mental effects detrimental to a woman in all aspects. As the women fought to be regarded and perceived to be physically and equally intelligent as men, they fought to eliminate issues that they felt were unfair to them. Domestic violence was one of the ills they sort to eliminate (Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C, 2007). Since the 1980s and 1990s the feminists continually champion reforms on the law to alleviate domestic violence. The second wave of feminism recognised the inadequacy in laws preventing domestic violence. The women built their strategy against domestic violence around civil protection as opposed to criminalising domestic violence. The feminist view suggested that women suffered in marriage due to the gender bias that existed in the community. Child abuse and family neglect led to the discovery of spouse abuse. The reasons and causes for these issues were addressed and different reasons apart from gender inequality arose. Perspective on domestic violence differs due to the different views of radical and liberal feminist. However both their views have continually dominated and influenced the change in domestic violence laws. The establishment of refuges for women in abusive relationship was the earliest form of solution by feminist. The refuges were sanctuaries for women who had escaped abusive marriages. The refuges also provide help to women who murdered their husbands due to abuse. The sanctuaries admitted the children of these women as well. Women were provided with shelter food and economic support to help them start other lives (Taylor, A, 2008). Radical feminist ran most of these refuges. Therefore only male children of a certain age were allowed inside. The radical feminist association to the refuges portrayed a separation of men from women and children due to the refuge rejection of men. Liberal feminist actions were evident in the legal reforms regarding domestic violence in the 1980s. Public policy, programs, civil legislation and services developed in response to the investigations on domestic violence by Australian jurisdiction. In 1988 the Queensland domestic violence taskforce convinced the country that civil domestic violence legislation was necessary (Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C, 2007). Queens’s domestic violence council was established alongside program initiatives and policies. After the election of the first labour government in the 1990, more programs came up. The women’s policy unit, a government’s agency, for example was assigned responsibility to upgrade women’s status. New initiatives stopping the violence against women based their foundations on the feminist theory. Feminist theory maintains that spousal abuse occurs as a result of male privilege. The need for a man to control and dominate the family results in violence in the case of resistance. This form of understanding domestic violence propelled solutions also based on the notion. The theoretical model of addressing domestic violence lays in radical feminist basis. However the implementation follows the liberal feminist. Community education addresses attitudes causing domestic violence. Also women are supported to abandon abusive relationships. Legal reforms are also being made to favour the requirements of a separated woman. Some of the reforms made included: 1989: Domestic violence (family protection) act. Before its implementation, feminist accused the state of trivializing domestic violence. This harboured domestic violence since the men knew that the state did not take it seriously. Serious consequences of this domestic criminal assault were demanded by feminist. This led to the 1993 national strategy on violence against women by the national committee on violence against women. The amendment displayed understanding of the seriousness of domestic violence. Also it encouraged more seriousness in response to domestic violence. In 1994 came the justice for women reform. It recognised the way in which some of the non English speaking women were marginalised. The law failed to protect them from discrimination and abuse. The reform also included disabled women, rural women and aboriginal women. The feminist lobbied for the amendment of more laws defending marginalised women and in 1999 a taskforce was appointed to investigate the matter. A study conducted in 1996 in Australia reflected badly on the implementation of the amended laws. A large percentage of women still existed in abusive marriages while others had shortly escaped one. Studies by the Australian bureau of statistics showed 111000 women were married to abusive men; many children are growing up in these families. This resulted in the Family Law Act of 1996 (Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C, 2007). The fourth section of the act consisted of non-molestation act. This offered every individual protection from all forms of violence and abuse. The orders also regulated the occupation of the family home. These orders were independent of other laws including divorce. It also offered increased security to children living under unstable conditions of violence by providing for emergency protection. There was provision for arrest in case of domestic abuse which was reinforced by the 2004 Domestic violence crime. The feminist movement achievements remain commendable. Nowadays, women have careers and economic independence. The women in the current generation enjoy the fruits of the feminist. They even have control n the number of children they get. These aspects of success are studied in high school sociology. The subject is also optional alongside history and race. Considering the efforts of the feminist to rid women of the shackles of discrimination and inequality, it seems very unfair. Feminist today continue to push for reforms that better healthcare. They also continue to remind women to maintain their self esteem and integrity. It would be a shame for women to be plunged back into the backward ways with no rights. It is evident that implementation of laws remains challenging in Australia. However these women continue to follow up on the implementation of policies. Domestic abuse still features in the social aspects of marriage. The policies in place are monitored by many feminist to ensure they are followed. The women continue to empower other women by offering scholarships for research on women studies and accessing higher education (Hollows, J, 2006). Women conduct research on medicine, sociology, arts and many other areas and draw conclusion printed in the Australia feminist studies. Despite the legalisation for women to run for political offices, it is still easier for men to get to power in comparison to women. However feminist continue to support fellow women and help them prove their abilities and leadership skills. Feminist have also fraternised with other feminists in the world and created global organisations. They also fund and morally support feminists in developing countries. Many young women in Australia today have no desire to be associated with feminism (Hollows, J, 2006). They fill that it is a radical organisation that hates men. However some women understand the importance of feminism and support it. Feminism also faces challenges of men who are anti feminism. They rottenly accuse feminists of being hypocritical. They allege that women are also perpetrators of domestic violence. Conclusion In conclusion, its Evident that feminism impacted the welfare of women, children and families positively. Without a doubt they brought change to the uneducated and abused woman. Some indigenous women in Australia remain unaware of their rights and privileges. They still remain people made to be wives and mothers. Feminist need to undertake this marginalised women as their next project. References Castles, F. G., & Pierson, C. (2007). The welfare state reader. Cambridge [u.a.: Polity Press. Childs, S., & Krook, M. L.(2010). Women, gender, and politics: A reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hollows, J.(2006). Feminism in popular culture. Oxford [u.a.: Berg. Taylor, A. (2008). Mediating Australian feminism: Re-reading the First stone media event. Oxford: Peter Lang. Laxer, G., & Soron, D. (2006). Not for sale: Decommodifying public life. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press. O'Connor, J. S., Orloff, A. S., & Shaver, S. (1999). States, markets, families: Gender, liberalism and social policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. Read More