Abstracts Womens Studies

Are sisters doing it for themselves? Feminists' concern for women, men, and other groups

by Jocelyn Chalmers

While it is clear that feminists are interested in improving outcomes for women, it is not clear what their orientation is toward men or other social issues. When activists from minority groups advocate for better conditions, it is possible that they are engaging in zero-sum competition, such that they are seeking to make gains for their own group by taking finite resources away from others - in particular, the majority group. The perception that this is the case may be especially likely for identity-based social activists such as feminists, who, in placing identity characteristics such as gender at the forefront of their activism, run the risk of appearing divisive and antagonistic towards those who do not share this characteristic (i.e., men). However, some accounts of improving intergroup relations do not emphasise competition or antagonism, and instead emphasise universalistic concern for human rights and welfare in order to protect and improve the material and moral conditions of many groups. In fact, many feminists have suggested that the movement seeks to eradicate oppression for everyone, including men. Over 8 studies, this thesis examines whether feminists are engaged in zero-sum competition with men or whether their concern also extends to men and other groups. Chapter 2 outlines the first five empirical studies in this thesis, which examine whether feminists view gender relations as a zero-sum competition with men and whether they are perceived to do so. In Study 1 (n = 404), feminists did not endorse general or gender-specific zero-sum beliefs, and perceived that the harms and benefits of feminism were positively associated for men and women. In Studies 2 (n = 352) and 3 (n = 208), feminists showed similar or higher levels of concern for issues that affect men than non-feminists did, and their concern for men's issues and concern for women's issues was positively correlated, suggesting a positive-sum (rather than zero-sum) relationship. Study 4 (n = 348) allowed participants to rate the importance of men's and women's issues that they generated themselves, and showed that feminists placed just as much importance on men's issues as non-feminists and perceived outcomes for men and women as positively related. Study 5 (n = 283) used the same procedure, this time showing that feminists placed more importance on men's issues than non-feminists. Once again, this study showed a positive association between men's and women's issue importance for feminists, and this held after controlling for various additional variables including sexism. Across these five studies, participants consistently underestimated the degree to which feminists cared about issues that affect men and the degree to which feminists viewed men's and women's issues as positively associated. Chapter 3 then outlines one study examining how feminists' support for collective action on behalf of men is related to perceptions that it benefits both men and women. In Study 6 (n = 363), I showed that feminists supported progressive (but not…