State Feminism
State feminism – a form of social policy in which the state promotes women’s emancipation and seeks to institutionalize the principles of gender equality through legislation, public policy, social guarantees, and state mechanisms for protecting women’s rights. State feminism combines feminist theory with the theory and practice of the welfare state.
Liberal feminists generally support women’s right to compete freely with men in any sphere and tend to limit state intervention as much as possible. By contrast, supporters of state intervention in matters of women’s welfare argue that women’s specific needs require special state guarantees. These may include, for example, the legal protection of access to contraception and abortion, as well as state-supported child care, which can give women greater freedom and enable them to realize their aspirations.
Representatives of radical feminism view state policy more critically, regarding it as a possible manifestation of male power over women exercised through the state. This position is supported by the fact that men have historically predominated in most state institutions, including parliament, government, the upper levels of health care, education, social protection, the legal sphere, and other areas. From this perspective, women’s task is to bring about changes in state policy under women’s control.
Supporters of socialist feminism criticize the state for expressing patriarchal and capitalist interests, for reinforcing women’s dependent position within the family, and for contributing to low rates of women’s pay (Khassanova, 2002).
References:
Khassanova, G. (2002). Women in democratic institutions in Kazakhstan. CPS International Policy Fellowship Program.
Shevchenko, Z. V. (Comp.). (2016). Derzhavnyi feminizm [State feminism]. In Slovnyk gendernykh terminiv [Dictionary of Gender Terms]. Cherkasy: Chabanenko Yu. Retrieved from https://a-z-gender.net/feminizm-gosudarstvennyj.html [in Ukrainian].
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