Feminist Backlash--New Enemy of Women in the 90S: Keynote Address at Women in Welfare Education Conference 1993‪.‬

Yes, I believe there has been a backlash against feminism! Feminists have been blamed for many of the social ills now afflicting industrial societies, because of their push for changes to women's social roles. This has become particularly virulent with the ascendancy of the New Right, and neo-conservative ideology. I agree with Hester Eistenstein (1991) when she says, this is really, however, a case of 'shooting the messenger'. Feminists have not 'caused' the social upheavals. Rather, feminism, by placing women at the centre of social analysis has revealed women's subordinate and oppressed place in society, and challenged their social roles. In the face of the increasing social insecurity and pessimism of people, feminists can easily become defensive in response to this backlash. This puts us, however, in a position to be undermined, marginalised, possibly defeated. I would like to argue, rather, that feminists can develop a counter-offensive to this attack. In the context of this conference, I believe that we, as women educators, are in a prime position to contribute to this. These are the points that I would like to deal with briefly in this address. The current backlash against feminism is not a new phenomenon for women. In the latter part of the 19th Century, some women attempted to throw off the oppressive mantle of Victorianism by demanding, for example, the right to education, and again at the turn of the century first-wave feminists struggled for the right to vote. In both periods, ideological constructs, similar to what is happening now, emerged to both suppress these actions, and legitimate their opposite form. In the past 25 years, there have been major social and economic changes in the world's societies, including the emergence of the second wave of feminism. The reasons for these changes are complex and must be located in major historical shifts, nationally and internationally. With the increasing economic 'depression' affecting industrial nations, and the associated 'social problems' afflicting their citizens, there has been an ascendancy in conservative ideologies as a response to this 'crisis'. The public language of this view is of reaction and restoration. Neo-conservatism is founded in the traditional conservative mould of the 'ideal society' whose essence is the free market. Neo-conservatism demands the transformation of the economic field to the free market order. This transformation also requires a concomitant transformation of the socio-political order, most especially a return to the nuclear family with all of its traditional values. It is here particularly that feminism is set up as the 'enemy' of women.