Feminism

AT ITS CORE, feminism is an ideology based on equality. Feminist ideology demands that women be granted legal, political, and social rights that have been denied throughout history. While feminist scholars have identified a number of different types of feminism, individuals who are consciously feminist tend to be either liberal or radical. Both liberal and radical feminists believe that patriarchy is the cause of inequality, but they disagree on how to deal with the problems caused by inequities. Liberal feminists are committed to using the existing political system to implement reforms, while radical feminists are willing to eliminate the existing system if it interferes with their goals. Unconscious feminists are those who accept the goals of feminism without identifying with feminist ideology.

Feminists believe that the patriarchal system divided males and females into the public and the private worlds. The public world of men invested them with the power to make decisions for themselves and for others. Women were relegated to the private world in which they had no power.

In 1675, William Blackstone solidified English common law in Commentaries on the Laws of England. Blackstone's work codified the concept of coverture, which controlled the lives of women in England and America for centuries. Femme sole provided a legal basis for limited [Page 159]rights for single women. Femme covert, on the other hand, stipulated that a married woman was “covered” by her husband, with no separate legal identity. Property that a woman owned before marriage or that she inherited afterward belonged to her husband, and he could do with it as he wished. Guardianship of children was also in the hands of fathers, who could will the guardianship of children away from their mothers. Women could not sue or be sued. They could not testify in court or serve on juries. They could not have bank accounts.

In many jurisdictions, a man had the right to “punish” his wife by beating her with a board as long as the size of the board was no thicker than his thumb. Hence, the “rule of thumb.” Divorce laws were unheard of, and women were forced to remain married to drunken, abusive, or absent husbands. Women had no control of their own bodies. They were legally bound to be receptive to their husband's sexual appetites. Knowledge of birth control was sketchy and generally illegal. Many women gave birth year after year until their bodies simply gave out. The bodies of female slaves were considered “property,” and female slaves were often raped. Slave children could be taken from their mothers and sold, never to be seen again.

Poor women and slaves received little or no education, and the education of middleand upper-class women was often limited to basic skills and so-called feminine arts. Without education and job skills, single women were often dependent on male relatives for their very livelihood. Even after women began to be educated, many professions such as law and medicine were closed to them. Without the right to vote, women had no political voice, so there was little they could do to change the patriarchal system that controlled their lives.

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