![]() ![]() Motherism is feminism and indicates that non-Western feminists have always been willing to use their socially situated knowledge to advance their interests. While seemingly conservative, motherism is a radical notion in the world of Europatriarchal ideas, knowledge production and advocacy, as it is a view of the world defined by African women for themselves and, with that woman-centeredness, it is certainly feminist. ![]() 3 Motherist movements inspire women to act based on their maternal identities, essentially characterised by nurturing and caring for others. Motherism, as defined by Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, is concerned with achieving equilibrium in society through cooperation, partnership and tolerance. But African feminism is in no way monolithic. 2ĭiminished, erased and chastened by Europatriarchal worldviews, African feminists offer ideas to the long quest for gender equality with an Africa-centred black feminist sensibility. Sandra Harding refers to “socially situated knowledge” as a means to develop ways of looking at the world with women’s lives and preoccupations at the centre and with womanhood consequently as the norm. Since de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and the two waves of feminism and intersectionality that followed, Western feminism is no longer considered to be fully descriptive of the normative experience of all women. 1 Not placing herself at the centre, she remains “the other” even to herself. In contrast, women come to understand the world in its immanence, as they see the world as it already exists and they are one of the things existing in it, with no power to control it. She described three positions that, as a result of social constructions of gender, a woman will assume to avoid complete self-actualisation: to subsume herself as the Narcissist in her reflection, as the Woman in Love in her beloved, or as the Mystic in God.ĭe Beauvoir describes men as understanding their relationship to society as one of transcendence: inventing, creating and shaping the world around them. In her 1949 The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir noted how women, through learned, practised and inherited attitudes, do not place themselves at the centre of their worldview. It's wonderful that you can earn lots of money, but for obvious economic reasons, very few people can.Gender, like ethnicity and race, is a chance factor that affects how we view the world, how the world views us, and how we view ourselves. ![]() Isn't there a Scottish proverb something like "The rank is but the guinea stamp, the man's the good?" If someone doesn't earn much money, or even none at all, it doesn't make them less valuable as a person or make them less happy than someone much richer (I speak from experience, being a single parent and having only found a new, fairly low-paid job 6 months ago after the last company I worked for folded in October 2011). It must save the economy billions of pounds. I also don't think the renumeration provided for jobs necessarily reflects their actual societal value women fill the overwhelming majority of low-paid but essential positions (cleaners, carers, shop assistants and so on) and many so-called SAHMs are carers etc with no pay at all for this. I like my belongings very much and I've worked hard to earn the money to buy them but there's no effort involved in handing cash over - it's just a transaction. I have lots of things that I've bought, but I wouldn't really say I was proud of them or that they eflect on me (I'm a human being, not a human having :) ). If we had to go back to watching every penny (we aren't exactly earning huge amounts but we're fairly comfortable atm) I would find it difficult but it wouldn't be the end of the world as long as we were all healthy. I have had very lean times where I have worried about every penny I spent and yet I was still very grateful for the health of my family and the pleasure we got from the free things in life. He has no desire to be a sahp but may end up being one at least for a while if he hasn't found a different job by the time this company goes bust. I suppose that's easier because I work ft too but i do wish he earned more so I could be a sahm or even cut down to pt work. If he lost his job (as he is likely to in the next couple of months due to the imminent bankruptcy of the company he works for) I would definitely tell him it is ok and we will find a way to work it out while he looks for another job. We have separate accounts and share expenses so we each have a similar amount of 'spare' cash. ![]()
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