Feminist Consciousness: Lerner, Patriarchy, and Women’s Rights
Gerda Lerner and Feminist Consciousness
Gerda Lerner defines feminist consciousness as: “the awareness of women that they belong to a subordinate group; that they have suffered wrongs as a group; that their condition of subordination is not natural, but is societally determined; that they must join with other women to remedy these wrongs; and finally, that they must and can provide an alternate vision of societal organization in which women as well as men will enjoy determination” (The Creation of Feminist Consciousness, 1993: 14). Discuss in relation to the authors studied in this course.
Lerner was one of the founders of the field of women’s history and a pioneer in women’s studies. Gerda Lerner posited that male dominance over women is not natural or biological, but the product of historical development. She defined feminist consciousness as awareness and action in women’s resistance to patriarchal ideas. In her text “The Creation of Feminist Consciousness” (1993), she discussed the concepts of:
- Inequality
- Freedom of women’s rights
- Education
- Religion
- Independence
Lerner explains that patriarchy affected the development of human thought and history, questioning why women had been marginalized in history.
Aristotle’s Views on Women
- Aristotle stated that some males are born to be ruled and others to rule over others.
- He believed subordination is linked to power, asserting that males, being more powerful than women, should rule over them.
- Aristotle defined women as mutilated males.
- He believed that women’s inferiority was biologically determined.
Patriarchy and its Influence
- Patriarchal concepts were built into mental constructs in such a way as to remain largely invisible.
- Patriarchy is defined as a system of organizing society. Western civilization incorporated a set of unstated assumptions about gender.
- Patriarchy has an impact on the development of history, thoughts, and culture.
Assumptions of Patriarchy
- Males are seen as the norm and powerful.
- Females are seen as deviant, unfinished, and emotionally dependent.
- Women are subordinated socially, not by nature.
- Women had no way of claiming their rights because they were naturally seen as inferior, and there were no intellectual women trying to defend themselves from patriarchy.
In history, males are often seen as superior to females because of the values of this system.
Patriarchal System Deprived Women Of:
- Being part of society
- Contributing to the public sphere
- Growing knowledge
- Reaching equality with men
This cultural subordination of women had a terrible impact on women and their struggle for emancipation.
Author’s Ideas
- She shows how women were being treated as inferior.
- She explains why it took so long for women to identify as an oppressed group:
– Systematic educational disadvantage
– Values of society
– Choose between wifehood/motherhood or education
– Female talents were denied, and they could not define their own identity
She concludes that many women with talents could not develop them because the patriarchal system did not allow them to. Lack of education has influenced women’s self-perception and their ability to conceptualize their own situation, leading them to not be conscious of their situation and find it normal. The denial of the existence of women’s history has provoked that women have been obliged to prove not only to others but also to themselves that they are full humans. Intellectual development of women as a group was deformed and altered because women were focused on going against patriarchal assumptions about the inferiority of women and not in trying to emancipate. They were deprived of being part of society (for example, polity) because they were believed to be incomplete. Without any knowledge and education, women could not grow and build their own identity. This inferiority drove women to create their own social networks in order to share their own knowledge and exchange ideas. Every thinking woman had to argue with what the author calls the great man in their head. They were overwhelmed by the sense of their own inferiority.
- THE BEGINNING OF FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS IS EDUCATION