ABSTRACT
The problem facing feminists is indeed daunting, and may even be insoluble. It is impossible to analyse the development of the women’s movement without arriving at the same conclusion reached by gender theorists, that women cannot change their situation without a fundamental change in men’s. Although, from the perspective of existing systems, women’s situation resembles that of other out-groups and the dilemmas of feminism can be compared with those experienced by other social movements, this is only half the picture. Women are not just one of many out-groups in these systems but stand outside them too, and society, economy and polity are not just dominated by men but are the product of the male gender role and values. Any feminism which fails to recognise these facts and tries to integrate women and their interests into the structures and ideologies devised by men will be trapped in the scissors of conflicting gender aspirations and identities. Women in general, the supposed beneficiaries, will end up where they started from.
