On what grounds do some feminists claim that liberal democracy fails to secure true democratic equality for women?
Definition: The most straightforward definition of feminism is a movement for social, cultural, political and economic equality of men and women. It is a campaign against gender inequalities and it strives for equal rights for women. Feminism can be also defined as the right to enough information available to every single woman so that she can make a choice to live a life which is not discriminatory and which works within the principles of social, cultural, political and economic equality and independence. The promise of liberal democracy, however, that it could free 'the individual' from the ascribed role and status of feudal societies, could not in the end withstand the claims of women to formal equality. But acquisition of the vote did not cure the gendered assumptions of liberal democracy. Feminist theorists like Carole Pateman have stressed that, behind the abstract 'individual' of modern political theory, lies a white male. On this analysis, the distinction between public and private realms - central to classic and liberal democracy - is, inextricably, a gendered distinction. Women's responsibility for the care of children and household, their unequal position in employment, their fear of male violence in public as well as private places all combine to inhibit and restrict their participation in the public business of politics. But 'the personal is political' does not only refer to the private constraints on women's public engagement. It also, crucially, refers to the private arena, to family life, as a site of power in its own right - of male power over women and children - and, therefore, a site of political concern. It was this breach in the public/private divide that made the violence which women suffer at the hands of husbands and lovers a political issue in its own right. Modern feminism, therefore, has challenged the most basic...