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Liberal Feminist Role In Reforming The American Education System

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There are several different types of feminism’s with varying ideologies, however almost all feminists are in agreement that gender is socially constructed based on biological attributes. Liberal feminism is an ideology that strives to make women’s legal and political rights equal to men’s through their actions. Although some of the most common issues liberal feminist face include abortion rights, sexual harassment, and job opportunities, the education system in Western society is one of the largest issues affecting women. Liberal feminists contend that women are denied equal access to education because they are discriminated based on their sex, therefore reforming the American education system is vital to granting women equal learning opportunities. Three of the most significant themes regarding the education system in America from a liberal feminist perspective include; differential treatment in the classroom, gendered courses of study in college, and occupational segregation in teaching careers. …show more content…

This discrimination starts almost immediately as girls enter coed public schools and persists through the remainder of their education. A liberal feminist would contend that the gender roles and bias in Western society are at fault for the discrimination and unequal treatment of girls in the classroom. The idea that males and females learn differently due to their gender differences further reinstates the impact of socialization. Elizabeth Fennema suggested that; “…the Autonomous Learning Behaviors model, which suggest[s] that because of societal influences (of which teachers and classrooms were main components) and personal belief systems (lowered confidence, attributional style, belief in usefulness), females do not participate in learning activities that enable them to become independent learners of mathematics” (Fennema

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Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, by Michael S. Roth, offers several perspectives from some of the most influential American educators of all-time. Roth, who is partial to a liberal education due to his background and profession, still manages to offer a nonpartisan view into the mindsets of the United States of America’s most prominent educators. These prominent educators are from different backgrounds, races, and sexes; therefore, they prove that liberal education is something that affects everyone. In his book, Roth focuses on the viewpoints of Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass: two opposing, influential members of the Civil War era.

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John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. The novel is based about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The Great Depression and the dust bowl took place in the 1930’s. Jim Casy has a significant role in The Grapes of Wrath because he is a Christ figure, he is the Joad’s family friend, and he sacrifices himself.

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Throughout the book “Defense of Liberal Education” by Fareed Zakaria in his argues about Economic and College Education. They are arguments that he has made based on Education in the United State and what would be the reason that people such as parents, Politicians, and educators have to work and being able to protect the liberal Art Educations. The issues that he mentions is School emphasis of marketable skills. Fareed Zakarian argues that there is no more demand skill than having the ability to be able to have communicating. Having the chance to learn all of the development and being able to support by the “Liberal Education”.

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Liberal Feminists would argue that men are capable of performing instrumental and expressive roles and would aim to break down the barriers which prevent greater equality. Liberal Feminism is closest to a consensus theory because it recognises that there are conflicts between the genders but doesn’t see this as inevitable, only as a result of outdated attitudes. Evaluation of Liberal Feminism Some people would suggest that the Liberal Feminist view

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Liberal feminism, focuses on social and legal reforms to create equality for women (PowerPoint). Additionally, it emphasizes gender socialization as the source of gender differences, in which socialization can help bring more egalitarian gender relations (Andersen, p. 360). However, society tends to support patriarchy keeping women out of power positions (PowerPoint). Liberal Feminism was born out of the Enlightenment. This era was a time in which liberal ideas challenged the power of the elites and assumed the future would be ran by the people (Andersen, p. 362).

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They suggest that men are socialised into exploitative roles. Radical Feminists suggest that the male dominated oppression and exploitation of women is built into all aspects of the way that society is organized. For example, the family is viewed to be the main institution in which patriarchy is rooted. Liberal Feminists focus on simply men and women being treated as equals and having the same rights. They are optimistic that this will happen and believe that there has already been a steady improvement in the position of women (Sociology Central,

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Educating women was the primary focus for many modern feminists, explaining that if women were educated the opportunities

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In every course of time and across the world, throughout many different cultures and people, there have been several different movements for justice and equality. This push for to attain these freedoms have all been shown by a large array of different ethnicities, races, genders and groups. Some of these people, despite their efforts, are still being oppsessed today, and can be compared to the African-Americans during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. One example of this that is a particularly sensitive subject is the rights of women, which usually refers to whether or not women have equality with the rights of men. The Liberal Feminist Movement was first initially fueled by the black Civil Rights movement, and is directly in correlation

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Throughout history, women generally had limited opportunities for higher education. Schooling for women in America has gone through tremendous transformations. In the years leading up to the late nineteenth century, women were expected to be trained in social aspects rather than academics so college would be out the question. The importance of feminine educational neglect, discrimination toward women, and the investments of higher education among women in the United States will be the focus of this research. In order to build a strong educational system, along with the idea of equal opportunity, rectifying gender righteousness in America is to overcome social norms that discriminate against young women.

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Liberal feminism is a theoretical perspective which focuses create equal rights for women and men through law reform, eliminate discriminatory policies and practices that can harm women. This theory states that the emancipation of women is a result of the promotion of gender equality, the goal is to boost the rights of women in order to perform and be involved in the same things as

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But serious obstacles remain”, such as “Poverty, geographical isolation, minority status, disability, early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence, and traditional attitudes about the status and role of women”. These obstacles can often lead to women dropping out of school, lacking information due to not going or even not wanting to participate in school activities. “57 million children worldwide, including 31 million girls, are out of school and two thirds of illiterate adults are women”. Women and girls have to suffer from disadvantages and exclusions in schools and school activities. “More and more colleges and universities around the United States are giving preferential treatment to boys in the admissions

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For the feminists, all they think, smell, or see, is “how can this condition of inequality faced by women be addressed?” (Little & McGivern, 2013, p.31). Feminist sees the role of school, as the last hope for the women to level the playing field between them and men. A centre and opportunity for women empowerment. That is why she, “want to understand the mechanisms and the roots of gender inequality in education,” (Little & McGivern, 2013, p.499).

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Tying into the African American Civil Rights Movement, many other previously disadvantaged demographics such as women began to push for social equality as well, leading to the rise of right liberalism within American society. For example, tired of being treated as “little more than pretty helpers who typed memos and fetched coffee,” women such as Kate Millett began to raise awareness about “sexual politics” (Henretta, 925). These efforts eventually culminated in the passing of Title IX in 1972, which changed the identity of American higher education; prior to Title IX, women’s opportunities in higher education were very limited, but now, “formerly all-male bastions such as Yale, Princeton, and the U.S. military academies admitted women undergraduates

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Thus liberal feminists were aware of the fact that education and communication in the hands of few leads to the control of many, which again leads to subjugation and hierarchical relation (particularly with respect to women). ‘The intent of liberal feminism in education is to remove barriers that prevent girls reaching their full potential, whether such barriers are located in the school, the individual psyche or discriminatory labor practices (Aker, 1994). Liberal feminists work under broadly three themes with respect to education and these are: ‘equal opportunities’, ‘socialization and sex stereotype’, and sex discrimination (Aker, 1994). Liberal Feminism approaches equal opportunities in terms of ‘equal means the same’ (Byrne cited in Acker, 1994) and argued that ‘separate educational provisions for girls has usually meant inferior facilities and restricted features. Thus they demanded for the co-educational schools, where both sexes get equal opportunities to develop their

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Feminist pedagogy is an educational philosophy that seeks to create “equal access, participation, and engagement” for all students through the active opposition of racism, sexism, homophobia, and social status prejudice as barriers to classroom equality and success (p.) It seeks to dismantle the power hierarchies present in society that reinforcement these prejudices and strives to empower students to become agents of social change. Rooted in the women’s movement of the 1960s, feminist scholars study the various ways in which women and girls have been historically disadvantaged by traditional patriarchal classroom structures. As such, feminist educators argue that in order to create a classroom environment that benefits women and girls, classrooms

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