Standpoint feminism
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Standpoint feminism emphasizes that feminist social science should be practiced from the standpoint of women, or particular groups of women (Hill Collins). A feminist or women's standpoint epistemology proposes to make women's experiences, instead of men's experiences, the point of departure (Clough).
As theorized by Nancy Hartsock in 1983, standpoint feminism is founded in Marxist ideology. Hartsock argued that a feminist standpoint could be built out of Marx’s understanding of experience and used to criticise patriarchal ideology (Hartsock 1997) Hence, a feminist standpoint is essential to examining the systemic oppressions in a society that devalues women's knowledge. Standpoint feminism makes the case that because women’s lives and roles in almost all societies are significantly different from men’s; women hold a different type of knowledge. Their location as a subordinated group allows women to see and understand the world in ways that are different from and challenging to the existing male-biased conventional wisdom (Narayan).
Standpoint feminism unites several feminist epistemologies. Standpoint feminist theorists attempt to criticise dominant conventional epistemologies in the social and natural sciences, as well as defend the coherence of feminist knowledge (Andermahr).
Building on this theory, many standpoint feminists have pointed out that because of the many differences that divide women it is impossible to claim one single or universal “women’s experience”(Narayan). Because sexism does not occur in a vacuum, it is important to view it in relation to other systems of domination and to analyze how it interacts with racism, homophobia, colonialism, and classism in a "matrix of domination"(Hill Collins).
Initially, feminist standpoint theories addressed women's standing in the sexual division of labor. Standpoint theorists such as Donna Haraway sought to show standpoint as the "notion of situated knowledge...to counter the apparent relativism of Standpoint theory" (Andermahr).
This theory is considered to have potentially radical consequences because of the focus on power and the fact that it challenges the idea of an “essential truth” (Hartsock), especially the hegemonic reality created, passed down and imposed by those in power.
Today's standpoint feminism theory perceives that it is "a relational standpoint, rather than arising inevitably from the experience of women" (Andermahr). See difference feminism. Standpoint feminists have recently argued that individuals are both oppressed in some situations and in relation to some people while at the same time are privileged in others. Their goal is to situate women and men within multiple systems of domination (Zinn/Dill) in a way that is more accurate and more able to confront oppressive power structures. One of the critiques of this stance is that such an intense focus on the many differences between women obliterates the very similarities that might bond women together. If this is that case, trying to create a broad-based feminist community or building consensus on specific policy becomes problematic.
[edit] Resources
- Andermahr, Sonya, Terry Lovel, Carol Wolkowitz. (1997) "A Concise Glossary of Feminist Theory." London and New York: Arnold.
- Clough, Patricia, Ticineto. (1994) "Feminist Thought." Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.
- Nancy Hartsock. (1983) "The Feminist Standpoint". In "Discovering Reality." Sandra Harding and Merril B. Hintikka (Eds). Holland; Boston; London: D. Riedel Publishing Company.
- Nancy Hartsock. (1997) : “Comment on Hekman’s ‘Truth and method: Feminist standpoint theory revisited’: Truth or justice?” Signs. Chicago
- Patricia Hill Collins. (2000). "Black Feminist Thought." New York: Routledge.
- Uma Narayan. (1989). “The Project of Feminist Epistemology.” In Gender/Body/Knowledge. Rutgers.
- Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill. Feminist Studies vol.22 no.2 (1996)
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