From Equality to Autonomy: Feminist Politics and Psychoanalytic Development

Abstract

Feminism, as a political movement, has produced a complementary interest in the study of women at every stage. From the 1960s to the 1990s a strtking shift seems to have taken place from the feminist demand of equality in practice and in theories of knowledge to that of autonomy. A corresponding shift seems to have taken place in the psychoanalytic terrain as well. This paper explores the notion of autonomy for women, by drawingfrom both feminist and psychoanalytic sources. The paper concludes with an attempt to situate the pursuit of autonomy in the present context of identity politics.