Marie Yoshida

REL 507 Buddhism and Women

Chapter 1: 10-26

Liberal feminism, which was influenced by liberals, emerged in the 18th century. The main point of liberal feminism was that notions of human rights should be expanded and applied not only to men but also to women. Early liberal feminists thought that well-educated women did not need to be economically self-sufficient or politically active in order to be autonomous (p.14) although education was important. In the 19th century, following Wollstonecraft's concepts, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor argued the need for women's suffrage. Mill assumed that women would prefer to stay in the private sphere, even if women were given the same opportunity of education and legal rights as men. Taylor, on the other hand, claimed that women should work and contested the general belief that women would rather stay at home than obtain a career. Though Mill and Taylor had different opinions, both agreed with the equality of the sexes in participating in society.

In the U.S, an antislavery movement began in the 19th century, and suffrage for women was often pushed aside or minimized even though there were some actions like the Seneca Falls Convention in which Stanton and Mott claimed the women's franchise. However, this convention was criticized because the scope of women's suffrage limited to a white, middle-class, educated woman.

In the mid-1960s, a new movement for feminism was launched: radical feminism. While liberal feminism tried to apply the ideology of human rights equally to women, radical feminism tried to establish and gain women's personal rights in a worldwide male-dominated society. The National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), and the Women's Equity Action League were established in order to support women legally and socially.