Introduction
Geography as a science has adopted various approaches to studying, exploring and analyzing geographical discipline. Geography is a science with a long-term history, during which the science was developing and maturing. Every approach of studying geography has proved its right of existence despite the differences between them. Feminist geography is not an exception at this point. Being a relatively new approach to geography, feminist geography widely uses status of women as the base for its studies. It is possible to state that the essential element which is implied by feminist geography is the difference between men and women, differences in their outlook and philosophy, differences in the perception of human beings and the world around us. Of course, feminist geography represents only a part of a large post-modern approach to studying geography. However, its significance cannot be underestimated as women constitute nearly a half of the population, and their view is also essential along with the views of other geographers.
Being a separate field of geography, feminist geography has the same subjects of study, however, does include some special ones, such as the geography of gender relations, equality of genders, studies of youth and childhood and others. However, the basic concepts of feminist geography are women and the relationship arising between men and women.
The current study was designed to speak about such a concept as feminist geography along with its main characteristic features. The paper will focus on basic principles of feminism, which can be applied in feminist geography, and discuss the view that feminist geography is as much about men, as about women.
General View on Feminism and Its Basic Principles
Before speaking about feminist geography, it is necessary to explain the notion “feminism,” from which feminist geography originated. Right defendants of women and fighters for equality between men and women could be found during any historical period throughout the whole human history.
Starting with Christine de Pizan, who was the first professional writer in the 14th century, ideas of feminism have been developing and flourishing. The protests against restriction of female inheritance and participation in state affairs became constant concomitants of the development of feminist concepts. In the 18th century, the first scientific society for women appeared in a small town in the Dutch Republic to prove that women could also possess certain scientific views on various matters, and that such views could differ from those possessed by men. Scientific journals for women also appeared during this period. The first scientific work that is considered to be feminist was written in 1792 by Mary Wollstonecraft, and had a name “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” By the 19th century, an organized feminist movement appeared as women started to realize that they were treated unfairly in comparison with men. Some men also joined the movement as they recognized that women should have possessed the same rights as men. They were Charles Fourier, John Stuart Mill, and others. Nowadays, women have achieved certain success in the fight for equality. However, there are still a lot of countries, where such a concept as “equality between men and women” is not recognized; there are countries, where women are treated as slaves, who should be subordinated to men’s will. However, the main point of this study is to speak about women, who achieved their primary goal – freedom and the right to have their own opinion.
So, what is feminism? There are three basic views on feminism. First of all, feminism is a set of political, cultural, sociological, philosophical, ethical and psychological views on differences between men and women, on their relationship and differences between the status and the power with which men and women are provided. Also, feminism is a social movement protecting women’s rights, advocating equality between men and women and other issues that are important to women (family, domestic violence, etc). All of the stated above issues are analyzed by the members of the movement and are addressed from a feminist point of view. And the third view on feminism is that feminism is understood as a belief in the pressing need for certain social changes allowing women to gain more power.
Throughout the history, feminism has been adopting more and more of its principles, some of which principles are:
- advocacy,
- choice,
- diversity,
- accountability,
- power-sharing,
- equality,
- safety
All of these principles reflect the main ideas of feminism when applied in any sphere of human life, including feminist geography. For the geographic discipline, the most important laws are the principle of equality, diversity and power sharing.
Feminist Geography
Having spoken about feminism, in general, it is necessary to define such a term as feminist geography, which appeared after feminism has reached a rather high point of its development. Feminist geography is one of the approaches used in studying geography, which widely employs basic principles, theories, methods and practices of feminism to study natural environment, social development of people, migration, and geographic differences in relationships between genders and gender equality, welfare geography, studies on family, children, and youth. Feminist geography has a long-term history. “From the pivotal second-wave feminist understanding that “the personal is political” to the postmodern decentering of a singular notion of gendered experience feminist theory draws on understandings of embodied experience to fundamentally challenge bedrocks of Western social and political thought” [11]. Before feminist geography could become a separate field of geographic discipline significant research by feminist geographers had been conducted. The result of such research has been underlined by the authors of the book “Migration and Gender in the Developed World” Paul Boyle and Keith Halfacree: “Feminist research over the past two decades has clearly demonstrated the significance of gender to the study and interpretation of social class stratification and social class mobility” [1]. Feminist geographers using the basic principles of feminism have conducted multiple studies on the impact of gender relations on geographic research. Thus, it is possible to state that feminist geography is not just about women. Despite the name it possesses “feminist,” this approach to geography does not segregate women from men, it studies the relationship between the genders regarding geographic differences, and it gives different from most male scholar’s opinions view on geography, presuming that women can have their own opinion on the subject. “Feminist geography, anchored in the body, moves across scale, linking the personal and quotidian to urban cultural landscapes, deforestation, ethnic-nationalist struggles, and global political economies” [11]. As it can be seen from the list of the problems that are being examined in feminist geography, feminist geographers do not concentrate their attention only on women’s problems and concerns, touching the issues of the whole world, including the male part of it. Gillian Rose in her book “Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge” brings up the argument that women’s views have been left out from the geographic discipline due to men’s ways and their relationship to power, through which geographical disciplines are composed. Rose examines feminism for certain strategies of strength and opposition to men, recognizing that the main goal of feminism is struggling for the identity of women along with the acceptance of diversity among men and women, differences in races and classes and differences in sexuality [12]. Indeed, such principle of feminism as the principle of diversity is the most widely used in feminist geography. Feminist principle of diversity presumes respect and acceptance of “individual and collective differences of women, including those based on age, race, culture, ability, sexuality, geography, religion, politics, class, education and image, among others” [15]. Feminist geographers do not strive for superiority but emphasize the importance of such a concept that all people are different but should be treated equally irrespective of sex. Generally speaking, “geography, the discipline that analyzes the environment, and planning, the profession that molds environment, share a characteristic with other disciplines and professions that affect the landscape: they are predominantly male” [5]. Thus, feminist geographers are trying to change this pattern and import their views into geographic disciplines. Feminist geographers have conducted solid research works on the topic of gender and spatial performance of sexuality, on the geography of masculinity (which again proves that feminist geography concentrates not only on studying women) and geography of races, on the geography of health illness. Contributions of feminist geographers “exclusively “belong” to feminist geography; instead, they represent work that cross-cuts feminist geography and more recently formed geographical literature that closely
Thus, it is possible to state that feminist geography is not just about women. Despite the name it possesses “feminist,” this approach to geography does not segregate women from men, it studies the relationship between the genders regarding geographic differences, and it gives different from most male scholar’s opinions view on geography, presuming that women can have their own opinion on the subject. “Feminist geography, anchored in the body, moves across scale, linking the personal and quotidian to urban cultural landscapes, deforestation, ethnic-nationalist struggles, and global political economies” [11]. As it can be seen from the list of the problems that are being examined in feminist geography, feminist geographers do not concentrate their attention only on women’s problems and concerns, touching the issues of the whole world, including the male part of it. Gillian Rose in her book “Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge” brings up the argument that women’s views have been left out from the geographic discipline due to men’s ways and their relationship to power, through which geographical disciplines are composed. Rose examines feminism for certain strategies of strength and opposition to men, recognizing that the main goal of feminism is struggling for the identity of women along with the acceptance of diversity among men and women, differences in races and classes and differences in sexuality [12]. Indeed, such principle of feminism as the principle of diversity is the most widely used in feminist geography. Feminist principle of diversity presumes respect and acceptance of “individual and collective differences of women, including those based on age, race, culture, ability, sexuality, geography, religion, politics, class, education and image, among others” [15]. Feminist geographers do not strive for superiority but emphasize the importance of such a concept that all people are different but should be treated equally irrespective of sex. Generally speaking, “geography, the discipline that analyzes the environment, and planning, the profession that molds environment, share a characteristic with other disciplines and professions that affect the landscape: they are predominantly male” [5]. Thus, feminist geographers are trying to change this pattern and import their views into geographic disciplines. Feminist geographers have conducted solid research works on the topic of gender and spatial performance of sexuality, on the geography of masculinity (which again proves that feminist geography concentrates not only on studying women) and geography of races, on the geography of health illness. Contributions of feminist geographers “exclusively “belong” to feminist geography; instead, they represent work that cross-cuts feminist geography and more recently formed geographical literature that closely engages queer theory, critical race studies, and the social construction of (dis)ability” [11]. It is important to note that feminist geographer brought up new perspectives to geography by exploring its new fields, including: “economic and labor geography; political geography; urban geography; cultural geography; environmental geography; geographies of migration and geographic information science” [11]. Like any other field of geographical science and science in general feminist geography has also been affected by the process of globalization, which brought up new subjects of study into feminist geography. Globalization altered the scope of studies of feminist geographers, leading them to international or transnational level. Also, “close attention to the politics of knowledge production and epistemology in feminist theory has inspired careful explorations of the methodology by feminist geographers” [11].
Thus, it is possible to state that feminist geography is not just about women. Despite the name it possesses “feminist,” this approach to geography does not segregate women from men, it studies the relationship between the genders regarding geographic differences, and it gives different from most male scholar’s opinions view on geography, presuming that women can have their own opinion on the subject. “Feminist geography, anchored in the body, moves across scale, linking the personal and quotidian to urban cultural landscapes, deforestation, ethnic-nationalist struggles, and global political economies” [11]. As it can be seen from the list of the problems that are being examined in feminist geography, feminist geographers do not concentrate their attention only on women’s problems and concerns, touching the issues of the whole world, including the male part of it. Gillian Rose in her book “Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge” brings up the argument that women’s views have been left out from the geographic discipline due to men’s ways and their relationship to power, through which geographical disciplines are composed. Rose examines feminism for certain strategies of strength and opposition to men, recognizing that the main goal of feminism is struggling for the identity of women along with the acceptance of diversity among men and women, differences in races and classes and differences in sexuality [12]. Indeed, such principle of feminism as the principle of diversity is the most widely used in feminist geography. Feminist principle of diversity presumes respect and acceptance of “individual and collective differences of women, including those based on age, race, culture, ability, sexuality, geography, religion, politics, class, education and image, among others” [15]. Feminist geographers do not strive for superiority but emphasize the importance of such a concept that all people are different but should be treated equally irrespective of sex. Generally speaking, “geography, the discipline that analyzes the environment, and planning, the profession that molds environment, share a characteristic with other disciplines and professions that affect the landscape: they are predominantly male” [5]. Thus, feminist geographers are trying to change this pattern and import their views into geographic disciplines. Feminist geographers have conducted solid research works on the topic of gender and spatial performance of sexuality, on the geography of masculinity (which again proves that feminist geography concentrates not only on studying women) and geography of races, on the geography of health illness. Contributions of feminist geographers “exclusively “belong” to feminist geography; instead, they represent work that cross-cuts feminist geography and more recently formed geographical literature that closely engage queer theory, critical race studies, and the social construction of (dis)ability” [11]. It is important to note that feminist geographer brought up new perspectives to geography by exploring its new fields, including: “economic and labor geography; political geography; urban geography; cultural geography; environmental geography; geographies of migration and geographic information science” [11]. Like any other field of geographical science and science in general feminist geography has also been affected by the process of globalization, which brought up new subjects of study into feminist geography. Globalization altered the scope of studies of feminist geographers, leading them to international or transnational level. Also, “close attention to the politics of knowledge production and epistemology in feminist theory has inspired careful explorations of the methodology by feminist geographers” [11].
Thus, it is possible to state that feminist geography is not just about women. Despite the name it possesses “feminist,” this approach to geography does not segregate women from men, it studies the relationship between the genders regarding geographic differences, and it gives different from most male scholar’s opinions view on geography, presuming that women can have their own opinion on the subject. “Feminist geography, anchored in the body, moves across scale, linking the personal and quotidian to urban cultural landscapes, deforestation, ethnic-nationalist struggles, and global political economies” [11]. As it can be seen from the list of the problems that are being examined in feminist geography, feminist geographers do not concentrate their attention only on women’s problems and concerns, touching the issues of the whole world, including the male part of it. Gillian Rose in her book “Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge” brings up the argument that women’s views have been left out from the geographic discipline due to men’s ways and their relationship to power, through which geographical disciplines are composed. Rose examines feminism for certain strategies of strength and opposition to men, recognizing that the main goal of feminism is struggling for the identity of women along with the acceptance of diversity among men and women, differences in races and classes and differences in sexuality [12]. Indeed, such principle of feminism as the principle of diversity is the most widely used in feminist geography. Feminist principle of diversity presumes respect and acceptance of “individual and collective differences of women, including those based on age, race, culture, ability, sexuality, geography, religion, politics, class, education and image, among others” [15]. Feminist geographers do not strive for superiority but emphasize the importance of such a concept that all people are different but should be treated equally irrespective of sex. Generally speaking, “geography, the discipline that analyzes the environment, and planning, the profession that molds environment, share a characteristic with other disciplines and professions that affect the landscape: they are predominantly male” [5]. Thus, feminist geographers are trying to change this pattern and import their views into geographic disciplines. Feminist geographers have conducted solid research works on the topic of gender and spatial performance of sexuality, on the geography of masculinity (which again proves that feminist geography concentrates not only on studying women) and geography of races, on the geography of health illness. Contributions of feminist geographers “exclusively “belong” to feminist geography; instead, they represent work that cross-cuts feminist geography and more recently formed geographical literature that closely engage queer theory, critical race studies, and the social construction of (dis)ability” [11]. It is important to note that feminist geographer brought up new perspectives to geography by exploring its new fields, including: “economic and labor geography; political geography; urban geography; cultural geography; environmental geography; geographies of migration and geographic information science” [11]. Like any other field of geographical science and science in general feminist geography has also been affected by the process of globalization, which brought up new subjects of study into feminist geography. Globalization altered the scope of studies of feminist geographers, leading them to international or transnational level. Also, “close attention to the politics of knowledge production and epistemology in feminist theory has inspired careful explorations of the methodology by feminist geographers” [11].
Feminist geographers’ primary concern is social construction of space and place and the way in which gender is linked to those concepts. The relation between space, place, and gender is discussed in the book by Doreen Massey, who analyses the social structure of space and place differently viewed by male and female representatives of geographic discipline. Indeed, place and space structure along with the social mobility are the key concepts, discussed in feminist geography. For example, feminist geography has a different view on urban planning as compared to usual geography. For this reason, feminist geographers are exploring the patterns on which the structure of cities is based. Another key concept of feminist geography is social mobility. Feminist geography is extensively concerned with the fact that “upward social mobility is less common for women” [1] due to family responsibilities and child care. Thus, feminist geographers are searching for new ways to grant women an ability to be more socially mobilized, to possess better-paid jobs and be more economically active. It seems as if feminist geographers are more concerned with local scale issues, however, it is not so. A significant amount of works written by feminist geographers has been devoted to such global issues, as the migration of people and women in particular. Special attention was devoted to the migration of women from poor countries (Third World countries) to highly developed ones to be involved in performing domestic labor and be a part of the sex industry.
Conclusion
Having spoken about basic principles of feminism applied in feminist geography and peculiar features of this approach to geography, it is necessary to conclude. Being relatively new, feminist geography has shown itself as a serious study which has the right to exist in future. Feminist geographers are concerned not only with the perception of women in the world but also with the relationship between men and women, with their views on space and place and geographic discipline. Multiple types of research have been conducted by feminist geographers to prove that this approach is as competent as the approach used by the majority of male geographers. Feminist geography uses such basic principles of feminist, like equality, diversity, power-sharing, and others.
Indeed, feminist geographers do not fight for the superiority of their views, but for their right to exist. It widely explores the relationship of femininity and masculinity. Thus, it does not exclude men out of its subjects of study. That’s why the statement that feminist geography is about men as much as about women is entirely justified, as it studies geography about both genders.
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