Discussion about the limitations of liberal feminism with particular reference to the construction of gender and across class, race, ethnicity and religious belief

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Feminist ideas and feminist politics have emerged because of the fact that in nearly all societies which divide the sexes into differing cultural, economic or political spheres, women are less valued than men (Robert Shoemaker and Mary Vincent 1998, 36-8). The current study will focus not on the historical aspect of feminism but the theoretical one, by discussing Tong's claim that: `One way to react to the limitations of liberal feminism is to dismiss it as a bourgeois white movement. Discuss the limitations of liberal feminism with particular reference to the construction of gender and across class, race, ethnicity and religious belief ' (1989, 37). Of course, it is not possible to discuss all feminist thinkers, movements and organizations, which is why I have decided to concentrate only on particular ones: Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor, John Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Elizabeth Holtzman, Eleanor Smeal, Alison Jagger, Jane Roland Martin, Zillah Eisenstein and Jean Bethke Elshtain.
1. Introduction, where the issues are defined
2. Main discussion, subdivided thus:
(i) the concept, characteristics and history of liberal feminism (ii) the limitations and criticisms of liberal feminism (iii) forms of feminism other than liberal feminism (which has been attacked for concerning itself too exclusively with white and bourgeois women); these include Marxist, socialist and radical feminism, black feminism, and lesbian feminism. 3. Conclusion, in which I examine the construction of gender in terms of class, race, ethnicity and religious belief.

Introduction.
Liberal feminism: History, characteristics and definition.
What are the limitations and criticisms of liberal feminism?
The feminist theories which try to go beyond the liberal one.
Does multicultural and global feminism have the potential to represent all women?
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

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[...] ‘Feminism, Marxism, method and the state: an agenda for theory' in Humm, Magie Feminisms: A reader. London: Harvester, Wheatesheaf, pp.116-120 - Moraga, Cherrie and Anzaldúa, Gloria This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women. Watertown: Persephone Press - Rich, Adrienne. ‘Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence' in Humm, Magie Feminisms: A reader. London: Harvester, Wheatesheaf, pp.176-179 - Spargue, Joey Feminist methodologies for critical researches: Bridgin differences. Oxford: Altamir press - Scott, Joan. ‘Gender: a useful category of historical analysis' in Shoemaker, Robert and Vincent, Mary [...]

[...] The unhappy marriage of Marxism and Feminism': Towards a more progressive Union' in Humm, Magie Feminisms: A reader. London: Harvester, Wheatesheaf, pp.99-110 - Haslanger, Sally. ‘Gender and social construction: Who? What? When? Where? How?' in Hackett, Elizabeth and Haslanger Sally Theorizing feminism: a reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.16- 22 - Hobson, Barbara et all Contested concepts in gender and social politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar - Ignasse, Gerard and Welzer-Lang, Daniel Genres et sexualités. Paris: L'Harmattan - Jackson, Stevi and Jones, Jackie. [...]

[...] black feminism, and lesbian feminism Conclusion, in which I examine the construction of gender in terms of class, race, ethnicity and religious belief. I. Liberal feminism: history, characteristics and definition Liberal feminist theory has enjoyed a long history. It was originally promulgated in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries by such thinkers as Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor, John Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Elizabeth Holtzman and Eleanor Smeal (Nancy Tuana and Rosemarie Tong 1984, Chris, Corrin 1999, 5-9). [...]

[...] However, despite this commitment to the value of diversity as a core principle, and the concomitant insistence that all cultural groups be treated with respect and as equals, multicultural and global feminism attracted much criticism during the 1980s and 1990s. In particular, there was a feeling that to assert on the one hand that women should speak with one voice, and to assert the value of diversity on the other, was ultimately self- contradictory (Helen Crowley and Susan Himmelweit 1995, 56-78). [...]

[...] The new women's movement: feminism and political power in Europe and the USA. London: Sage Publications - Daly, Mary. ‘Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism' in Humm, Magie Feminisms: A reader. London: Harvester, Wheatesheaf, pp.165-169 - Davis, Angela. ‘Women, race and class' in Humm, Magie Feminisms: A reader. London: Harvester, Wheatesheaf, pp.128-132µ - Delphy, Christine. ‘Rethinking sex and gender” in Jackson, Stevi and Scott, Sue Gender: a sociological reader. London: Routledge, pp.51-59 - Eisenstein, Hester Contemporary feminist thought. Boston: GK Hall§Co.Boston - Fougeyrollas-Schwebel, Dominique Feminismes: recompositions et mutation. [...]

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