The Dominance of Western Feminism throughout the Globe
Western Feminism v.s. Transnational Feminism
Why is that the education we learn is very Western dominant? Well, I don’t want to detail the history of colonialism, imperialism, and the enlightenment age that are all factors into Western dominance throughout the world. But that was a question I was inquisitive about, especially in Gender and Sexuality studies (GSS).
As a Vietnamese international student who is a major in GSS, it was interesting to learn about American feminism. Still, I couldn’t fully relate to some extent of the hardship and oppression women faced here as I am not American and did not grow up here. In one of my advanced gender theory classes, I learned about Chinese feminism, which was very similar to my own country's views. I thought that it’d be interesting to discuss and share my knowledge of Chinese feminism. I really want to highlight how I have internalized many ideas of Western feminism that have influenced my views on other country’s version of feminism.
In “Making Sense in Chinese “Feminism”/ Women’s Studies,” Yenna Wu explores the difference between Chinese feminism and Western feminism. Wu explains how Western feminism is viewed as the default and the mainstream of feminism throughout their work. Thus, it causes a conflict for Chinese feminism (and other global, transnational feminism) because Western feminists automatically think Chinese women’s issues are the same as Western women’s problems. An example of this is how Western feminism assumed men oppressed Chinese women. However, that is not true because Chinese women “enjoyed virtually the same legal rights as men.” Thus, the Western feminist group’s concern of female oppression was irrelevant for Chinese women. Wu looks at China’s political, historical, and cultural context to further understand the Chinese women’s perspective on women’s issues and their reaction to Western feminism. Overall, Wu’s main argument is how Western academic feminism should re-examine their views and assumptions on other types of feminism and put aside their sense of superiority.
A common discussion within Western feminism is reproductive policies placed on women’s bodies. Western feminists are concerned with China’s One-Child policy; however, that is not the Chinese feminists' case. Chinese women’s studies scholars generally accept the one-child policy as necessary for population control and China’s overall development. This is interesting because when I heard about this issue, I thought it was wrong for the Communist party to politicize women’s bodies. Later on, reading this piece proved to me how my viewpoint on certain women’s issues had been heavily influenced by Western feminism. Furthermore, in different parts of China, such as the urban and rural areas, each has a different outlook on life and the concept of child-bearing. In more modernized and developed cities in China, women are more independent and free from family-centered posture; therefore, they care about their fulfillment and happiness. At the same time, women living in rural areas are more on a family-centered stance. Consequently, they want to have more children (preferably sons) to conform to villagers’ conventional views. It seems that Chinese feminists and women’s studies scholars view more on the intersectionality of class struggles than gender oppression.
Wu’s work has definitely got my attention and show me how much Western feminism has, and the framework has influenced my views. I absolutely enjoyed this particular reading because I could get a sense and understand Vietnamese feminism as they have a similar commonality. I find it interesting how this piece critiques the way. Western feminists view Chinese feminism. Wu’s work highlights how Western feminism can be very damaging for non-Western countries as it undermines their problems and struggles. So far, I’ve taken 4 courses on GSS in my time at USC, and only two of them briefly went over global/transnational feminism.
So how do we break away from this dominant Western feminism narrative? Most of our education is very much Western-centric, so what steps do we need to change? To what extent has transnational feminism impacted women’s studies in Western countries? How can we be more inclusive of other transnational feminism in our women’s studies class to break away from this narrative?
