Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement

Abstract

The slogan "the personal is political" captures the distinctive chalknge to the publicprivate divide posed by contemporary feminists. As such, feminist activism is not necessarily congruent with civic engagement, which is predicated on the paradoxical need to both bridge and sustain the public-private divide. k e argues that rather than subverting the divide, the politics of the personal offers an alternative understunding of civic engagement that aims to reinstate individuals' dignity and agency.Among the many legacies of the so-called second wave of the American women's movement, perhaps the most distinctive and controversial is the politicization of the everyday life of ordinary women, as captured by the slogan "the personal is political." The slogan was coined in 1968 by Carol Hanisch, who was at that time a civil rights worker and a feminist activist (1970/2000).Ruth Rosen notes, "By this, she [Hanisch] meant to convey the then-shocking idea that there were political dimensions to private life, that power relations shaped life in marriage, in the kitchen, the bedroom, the nursery, and at work" (2000,196). This insight helped propel the momentum of the second wave and continues to inspire women's movements all around the world.The hallmark of contemporary feminism has been its challenge to the otherwise seemingly clear divide between the private and the public spheres.

Exploring Women’s Marathon Participation in the United States, 1980-2019

“…Anchored in the historical development of U.S. women's athletic performance in major marathon events since 1980, a period which was at least partly shaped by historical developments in the preceding decades, this research is informed by scholarship on the social justice movement for women's liberation and what historians have called the 'second wave' of feminist activism of the 1960s and 70s (Stansell, 2010). This constituted a period of feminist activism that shed light on persistent and systemic gender inequalities in everyday life, including the traditionally male-dominated sphere of sport (Lee, 2007). Second-wave feminism, with its 'language of equality, opportunity, and rights' (Cahn, 1995: 249), influenced young women in the latter half of the twentieth century to openly and actively challenge longstanding notions of sports as male preserves and fuelled a new era of increased opportunity for women's sport (Schultz, 2014).…”

“Willpower knows no obstacles”: Examining Neoliberal Postfeminist Messaging in Nike’s Transnational Advertisements for Women

“…According to Fraser (2013), the ideals of the so-called "second wave" of feminist activism in the 1960s and 1970s later came to "legitimate a structural transformation of capitalist society" through their absorption within "an emerging new form of capitalism, post-Fordist, 'disorganized, ' transnational" (p. 284-285). With its now-famous slogan "the personal is political" (Lee, 2007), second-wave feminists laid bare multiple forms of injustice: in the home, the family, workplace, and in popular culture. Their efforts were part of a systemic critique of state-organized capitalism, specifically its overly bureaucratic and technocratic approach to addressing injustice, its primary focus on class inequality, and its devaluing of unpaid labor through an androcentric conception of work and family life (Fraser, 2013, p. 288).…”

Redefining Violence against Women and Framing Issues

“…Women's movements in both countries also had similarities in their contents and composition. Both movements were influenced by the Western feminist political activism school of thought of politicization of the everyday life of women and women's movements in both countries used messages such as the "personal is political" or "private is political" in relation to this influence (T. M. L. Lee, 2007). Scholars such as Dobrowolsky (1998) looked at the rise of feminist political activism as a sort of emancipatory politics for women's rights and liberation in which their main goal was to seek representation in the public sphere.…”