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The author identifies feminism as a product of Modernism, which in turn she sees as having its roots in the Enlightenment. She notes that Postmodernism rejects the universalities assumed by Modernism, and concludes that in the Postmodern age feminists will accept the fact that while women around the world share certain common interests, their aspirations will necessarily vary in accordance with ethnic, cultural and regional environments.
Key Words: Feminism; Patriarchy; The Enlightenment; Modernism: Postmodernism; Universalism; Ethnic, Cultural and regional diversity.
The task of fashioning a postmodernist feminism seems an impossible one when taken at face value. This is particularly so when one recognizes the fact that postmodernism and feminism appear to have conflicting objectives.
The task of fashioning a postmodernist feminism seems an impossible one when taken at face value. This is particularly so when one recognizes the fact that postmodernism and feminism appear to have conflicting objectives.
The postmodernist argument has issued a number of challenges: to the idea that we can continue to think, write and speak of culture as representing a continuous progress; to the idea that humanity is proceeding towards a telos of 'emancipation' and 'self-realization'; and to the idea that we can invoke a universal subjectivity in speaking about the human condition.2 Yet these are the hallmark concepts of modernism. Postmodernism is thus a critique of modernity, and of the Enlightenment from which modernism derives. For example, it has been thought that human beings are possessed of a stable, coherent, rational self, and that rationality applied in the pursuit of science and knowledge will deliver truth.3 Postmodernism disputes the notions of self, knowledge and truth. Also, it distances itself from the Enlightenment, which sought to enthrone reason in place of religiosity, superstition, mythology, and mysticism.
By contrast, the goals of the Enlightenment seem in line with some of the main objectives of feminism, among which is the promotion of a state of affairs in which women can expect no less from society than men in the way of material and moral support. Feminists are of the view that this aim can be achieved by rejecting the traditional roles imposed on women by religion and custom. Yet, despite the common goals of feminism and of modernity, I see areas where...