Liberal and Radical Feminism: Tensions Within the Tradition

Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.

• identifies difference one, e.g. their view of the state.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. liberal feminists see the state as reformable through legislation; radical feminists see the state as inherently patriarchal.1 mark
• analyses the significance, e.g. this leads liberal feminists to campaign within existing institutions while radical feminists argue those institutions must themselves be transformed.1 mark
• identifies difference two, e.g. their view of where oppression is located.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. liberal feminists focus on the public sphere (law, work, education); radical feminists focus on the private sphere (family, sexuality).1 mark
• analyses the significance, e.g. this explains why radical feminists see legal equality as insufficient, since it leaves private-sphere patriarchy unaddressed.1 mark
• links the two differences, e.g. both stem from a deeper disagreement about how deep-rooted patriarchy is.1 mark
• uses accurate terminology and at least one named thinker per strand.1 mark
• reaches a supported concluding point on which difference is more fundamental.1 mark

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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.

• General, largely descriptive account of liberal and/or radical feminism with little direct comparison or evaluation.3 marks
• Some accurate comparison of the two strands (e.g. public versus private sphere, view of the state) but argument is asserted rather than developed, with limited or generic use of thinkers.3 marks
• Sustained, balanced analysis of both strands' accounts of oppression, using accurate named evidence, with developed points on both sides of the debate.3 marks
• As Level 3, but reaching a well-supported overall judgement on the statement, explaining precisely why one account is (or is not) more convincing, rather than simply listing points for both sides.3 marks
• Credit in favour of radical feminism: Millett's argument in Sexual Politics that patriarchy is a system of power reproduced through the family and socialisation explains forms of oppression (domestic inequality, sexual violence, control over women's bodies) that persist even where women have full legal rights; radical feminism's 'the personal is political' widens the definition of politics itself, which liberal feminism's narrower focus on law and public rights arguably misses.3 marks
• Credit in favour of liberal feminism: Wollstonecraft's argument that women's apparent inferiority is the product of denied education, and Friedan's critique in The Feminine Mystique of the mid-twentieth-century suburban housewife role, both identify concrete, addressable barriers (education, employment access, legal rights) that reform has demonstrably reduced, whereas radical feminism's structural account of patriarchy can be harder to translate into achievable policy.3 marks
• Credit for a middle position: liberal feminism may better explain gains that have been made (suffrage, equal pay legislation, access to education) while radical feminism may better explain forms of inequality that persist despite those gains (the gender pay gap, domestic and sexual violence, unequal domestic labour).3 marks
• No credit for treating 'convincing' as simply 'more radical' or 'more moderate' without engaging with what each account actually explains or fails to explain.3 marks

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