Feminism that I usually teach in class is a paradigm, a comprehensive understanding of gender-based justice that can be a foundation for thoughts, movements and policies. I classify feminism into three spectrums, namely as a social movement, an analytical tool, and a science, and they are complementary to each other.
It is almost impossible to find feminist thinkers who are not involved in a feminist organization, as well as if there are feminist movement activists who do not understand the basics of feminist theory as a science or analysis tool. On this occasion, I will only discuss one spectrum, namely feminism as a science, while the rest will be discussed in the next article.
Introduction to understanding feminism
Is feminism always about women? At the beginning of its appearance, yes. Feminism was used as the name for a social movement promoting women's rights in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her friend, Susan B. Anthony. They were the first duo recorded in history to organize women's social movements in the 19th century that fought for the abolition of slavery in the United States and women's right to vote. This movement was later referred to as first wave feminism.
In the following century, the struggle for the women's movement breathed in the ideology of socialism promoted by European feminists such as Clara Zetkins, Rosa Luxemburg and Emma Goldman. The spirit of feminism and liberation against slavery and colonialism then spread to Asian and African countries which were under colonization by several European countries in the early 20th century.
Thoughts on women's rights were influenced by the emergence of Enlightenment thinking about individuals, the state, and the human rights of citizens. In the same century, Indonesia was still a kingdom-sultanate and the awareness of a nation had not yet been formed. After the 1900s, the idea of a nation and freedom from colonialism emerged, which later came to the minds of the founders of the Indonesian nation.
Is a feminist figure R.A. Kartini, in her letters, entitled Habis Gelap Terbitlah Light, which provides the initial foundation for the imagination of the Indonesian nation's independence. The book is mandatory reading and is a curation of Kartini's correspondence with Stella Zeehandelar, a socialist feminist from the Netherlands. Why is it important to mention Stella and the Netherlands in a basic understanding of feminism? Because when socialism emerged in the Dutch parliament at the end of the 17th century, liberal and socialist figures emerged who opposed the colonialism of the nation-state. So the accusation that feminism is an ideology from the West becomes irrelevant because if there is no exchange of ideas and ideas about "being free from oppression and a proper life as a human being", then Indonesia will never be born. Indonesia was born because there are exchanges and dialogues between feminists who are aware of their position as human beings and women, as well as thoughts about freedom and justice.
Feminism is included in the category of modern thought, which means that the analysis tool of feminism will concern the position of women and their position as citizens. And like every thought, feminism has a basic, inviolable assumption: women are oppressed. For this reason, analysis tools and social context are needed to suspect why and how women are oppressed. From these assumptions, a "Women's Question" will emerge which is a reference for feminists to analyze the environment and injustice and to project social movements.
Modern thought is closely related to ideological thoughts such as Liberalism, Marxism, Socialism, and others, but feminism does not try to be an antithesis or imitation with the addition of the word "woman" from pre-existing thoughts. Feminism has its own epistemology to analyze. Thus, the label for "liberal feminist" or "radical feminist" is not used as an absolute standard, let alone a separate identity. Labels are used to categorize thoughts or features of the movement so that they are easily recognized. The diversity of feminist thoughts also often contradicts one another, for example in the issue of pornography or abortion. However, these differences do not make feminism monolithic, instead complementary and rich because every woman is also diverse and has different conditions.
Initially, the word woman refers to the female gender but at a later stage we will discuss what a woman is. The second wave of feminists who focuses on individuals and examines women's question in a deeper way, namely, "what is a woman". From the results of this struggle, women are a social category due to the construction of society. The term sex / gender is widely used to describe that oppression of women has a spectrum of women as bodily and social where both are intertwined and influence each other. Therefore, the word woman in feminism slowly changes to gender, as well as knowledge institutions such as the University of Indonesia Women's Study, which was established in 1990, changed to Gender Studies.