FEMINISM

Impact of feminism on British Society

Impact of feminism on British Society

Introduction.

Transnational interactions concerning ideals and norms generate external pressures on nations to conform and strengthen internal political actors advocating the enactment of national policies that implement those norms. Nations that feel compelled , through treaties , participation in international conferences or other transnational interactions, to seek acceptance in or join with a larger global community will “race to the top” in enacting policies that conform to emerging norms of gender equality . Globalization has therefore had an impact on national policies related to gender equity , although the impact has been far from consistent and uniform.

The dual emergence and interrelationship of transnational feminist activism and supranational political systems has had significance for national policy making related to gender and gender equality in those nations which have joined international systems. The development of feminist policy communities and efforts at achieving international and regional integration and agreements has accelerated this trend. This analysis will explore the emerging impact of informal globalization pressures through non governmental organizations (NGO's) that advocate gender equality.

Feminists have utilized three types of institutions in order to generate international norms for gender equity and pressure nation states to adopt them. In ascending order of level of significance in terms of direct authority and potential impact , they are:

the creation of new international forms and venues such as UK's women's conferences. Feminists from countries that have been unresponsive to demands for change have particular incentives to participate actively in such forums.

the “capture” or attempted “capture” of the machinery of the United Nations both for institutional sponsorship of gender equity norms and for the drafting and “marketing” of binding treaties.

Persuading transnational institutions with more direct legal and political power over nation states, most prominently the European Union, (EU) to promulgate gender equity directives, or, (via the European Court of Justice - ECJ) to issue judicial rulings requiring member states to conform to EU gender equity norms.

Literature Review

In 1980, feminist research was relatively new and experimental, as were attempts to develop innovative and critical perspectives on traditional social scientific approaches. Indeed, neither the terms feminist nor gender were in the lexicon of social science and educational research (David, 2005). Feminist activism was developed as a response to social movements and their demands for changes in the social and economic situation of women in families (David, 2003). These developments occurred globally but with specific local circumstances. For instance, Curthoys (2000) wrote of the ways these movements began in Australia, which paralleled developments in the UK (David, 2003, pp. 33-4). Hitherto academic social research tended to be rather distant from arguments about social and political change with few attempts to incorporate social change into academic theorising. Relatively, new forms of conceptualisations that were part of wider methodological shifts and understandings of the wider political and policy contexts were thus developed.

In the 1960s and 1970s, political and social movements for sexual equality and social justice began to emerge in Britain, other countries of Europe ...