Book Review: Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics

 

Author: Judith Lorber, Ph.D

Reviewed by:  Doan Thi Ngoc

Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics is one of the most compelling books by Dr. Judith Lorber. She is an international researcher on gender issues and Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the Graduate Center, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Professor Lorber is the author or co-author of nine earlier books:

• Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change
• Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics
• Paradoxes of Gender 
• Women Physicians: Careers, Status and Power
• Numerous Articles on Gender and on Women as Health- Care Workers and Patients
• Gender and the Social Construction of Illness and Gendered Bodies: Feminist Perspectives (co-author)
• Gender and Women’s Studies (handbook - co-editor)
• Revisioning Gender (handbook - co-editor) 
• The Social Construction of Gender (handbook - co-editor)

In addition, she is the Founding Editor of Gender & Society, an official Sociologist publication for Women in Society.

Her latest book on gender inequality offers readers the history of three waves of feminism (the first wave in the early 1940s, the second-wave in 1949, and the third wave  in the 1990s). It includes some fundamental ideas of continuities, discontinuity, convergences, and changes of contemporary feminist theories and politics, contributions, and limitations of feminist theory and feminist politics in gender research and gender inequality.

More specifically, the book is clearly divided into three parts. Part I: Gender reform feminisms are comprised of Liberal Feminism, Marxist Feminism, Socialist Feminism, and Transnational Feminism. These were the most significant feminism theories and politics in the 1970s stressing gender inequality within the structure of gendered social order. The argument of Gender reform feminism is that women should have values equal to that of men and should freely develop and live according to their potential and their ability. Women have their own choices to make, formulate their own decisions relating to their lives, have the same access to economic resources, and share family responsibilities with men, along with being empowered and confident on their path of advancement. Equal participation of both women and men in all spheres of life is what women desire. Therefore, to achieve gender equality society must eliminate unequal gendered structure or reform gendered social order through describing, construing and explaining causes as well as consequences in which women are oppressed. These would include low-wage jobs and degrading work, the fragmented responsibilities of housework, child care, care for the frail elderly or ill members of the family and lacking an equal opportunity to access education, health care, and political power.

Part II: Gender resistance feminism includes Radical Feminism, Lesbian Feminism, Psychoanalysis and Cultural Feminism, and Standpoint Feminism. As the author cites, gender resistance feminisms claim patriarchal dominance, which is too strong and too deeply embedded into men’s flesh and blood or their consciousness and sub-consciousness. As a result, it is extremely difficult to make changes or implement gender in a neutral way. According to the author, disadvantaged women employ several political methods to resist the gendered social order through consciousness-raising groups and lesbian separation. However, this has little impact on changes. Women in these groups have been left out, abandoned, even considered as being "abnormal”. They have been separated from the mainstream of social development due to patriarchal ideology that has been deeply rooted and continuously developed, nurtured and reinforced for many centuries, through the mass media, cultural products, education, the workplace, at schools, and in every family environment. Gender resistance feminism argues that due to such pervasiveness of the gendered social order and patriarchal ideologies, they have been geared for campaigns against sexual abuse, rape, violence, incest, pornography, and commercial sex. The resistance to change appears more likely to be effective, as always, by implicitly and explicitly confronting powerful forces; the fighting spirit for women’s liberation and gender equality has never cooled down.

Part III: Gender rebellion feminisms consist of social construction feminism, multiracial/multiethnic feminism, feministic studies of men, postmodern feminism and queer theory, and third- wave feminism. Gender rebellion feminisms attack gender order by undermining the boundaries between men and women, male and female, heterosexual and homosexual. These schools argue that in a complex social system of inequality that women can suppress women, men can suppress men, along with other factors interlocking with ethnic, multiracial identity, and politics. To achieve political potential and assure equal participation from each group in society, gender rebellion feminism needs to have a clear explanation as to what exactly has to be done in society - social agencies, institutions, family, offices, government, art, science, and religion.

In summary, Professor Judith Lorber’s book provides readers a variety of feministic theories from the past to the present which are updated and informative. With its neatly clear layout, great detail, and an introduction to each part and each chapter, the book helps readers understand the subject matter very easily. More importantly, readers can access a set of feministic theoretical perspectives and gender theories within one book. This book indeed provides not only information but also the author’s perspective on feministic and gender theories in a field of research that has changed over a historical period. Depending on the historical phase, countries, political models, cultural features, and the level of global development, different solutions are being used in the process of promoting gender equality.  Thereby readers realize that education creates differences in positions and roles for women and men in family and society, rather than the result of biological differences between men and women, so we can completely change the perspective of stereotypes.

Finally, we highly recommend that readers search for and read this book "Gender inequality: feminist theory and politics" because it is a very useful source of reference, it contributes toward raising awareness, critical thinking, and the ability to apply gender perspectives to research and interpret issues that are set out in the current context of industrialization and globalization. As Jane Prather from California State University at Northridge said "The pedagogy is outstanding! I find that students (and me) can easily make comparisons and contrasts between the different theoretical approaches by referring to the outline at the beginning of each chapter with the bullets describing sources, politics, and contributions. The suggested readings at the end of the chapter are also highly useful for students working on projects or papers."

http://gas.hoasen.edu.vn/en/gas-page/gender-inequality-feminist-theories-and-politics