5. Feminism and The Family Flashcards
LIBERAL FEMINISTS:
They argue…
Women’s oppression is being gradually overcome
We are moving towards greater equality but that full equality depends on further changes in attitudes and socialisation of the sexes
LIBERAL FEMINISTS:
In terms of family their views are similar to March of Progress.
What do Liberal Feminists recognise?
March of progress and the creation of the “new man”
LIBERAL FEMINISTS:
Evaluation - other feminists
Criticise liberals for failing to challenge the underlying cause of women’s oppression saying the law isn’t enough to gain equality - we need radical change
LIBERAL FEMINISTS:
Evaluation - Marxists and Radicals
We need social structure change - abolish capitalism and revolt
men and women need to live separately
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
The main cause of women’s oppression is capitalism -
Women produce the labour force
Women socialise the next generation and service the current one for free through unpaid domestic labour, which maintains the health and efficiency of the current workforce
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
Women absorb anger
Living to soak up their husbands stress that comes from work - takers of shit
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
Women are a ‘reserve army’ of cheap labour
When not needed they return to domesticity
During WW2 women were used
It benefits capitalism by low paid low skilled and often part time reserve army that can be turned into times of economic boom and redundancy
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
Evaluation
Criticised on failing to explain the exploitation of women in pre-industrial times and in non-capitalist countries, they’re oppressed everywhere
It’s an old fashioned view
RADICAL FEMINISTS:
All societies have been founded by patriarchy,
What is the key division between the sexes?
Men are the enemy and the source of female oppression
The family is a key institution of patriarchy
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
What is the only way to end oppression?
To abolish the root causes the patriarchal system - the family
Turn to “political lesbianism”
MARXIST FEMINISTS:
Evaluation - Somerville
Radicals fail to recognise that women’s position has improved considerably and claims that separatism is unlikely to work
DIFFERENCE FEMINISTS:
Argue we can’t derealised about women’s experiences as if they’re all from conventional Nuclear Families.
What would black feminists say?
That white feminists neglect black women’s experiences of radical oppression like racism
