Feminist Views Of Family

Question 1

What are the key points of feminism and the family

Answer 1

• different gender socialisation within the family is believed by most feminists to be the cause of social differences between males and females. Boys are taught to be aggressive and competitive and whereas girls are encouraged to be domestic and obedient
• gender roles within the family mean that women have less freedom than men because they tend to earn less and spend more time on domestic labour
• men tend to control important decisions because they have financial power
• many men control women through the exercise or threat of domestic violence. Radical feminists view men as potential rapists

Question 2

What are the strengths of feminism as a theory of family

Answer 2

• it has acted as a corrective to the very positive views of family life proposed by functionalists
• feminism has pointed out that much sociology of the family has a malestream bias because it views things from a male perspective
• it has had a huge impact on the freedoms that ordinary women except even if they don’t consider themselves feminists
• feminists have triggered research into areas of daily family life such as motherhood, food, housework and emotional life that were previously not seen as significant

Question 3

What are the weaknesses of feminism as a theory of family

Answer 3

• Hakim and others have suggested that women are not as entirely oppressed as feminists claim and that many women do like domestic life.
• it fails to recognise that men may be just as constrained by socialisation into masculine roles as women are by feminine roles
• some feminist writing has been very extreme and hostile to men and assumes eg: not all men are potential rapists
• feminism is not a United theory so therefore it’s difficult to get realise from the various points of view

Question 4

Statistics of domestic violence

Answer 4

• 6 women are killed every hour by men around the world, own family members or partners
• in uk a woman is killed by man every 3 days
• 7.3% of women have reported DA, While 5% of men have reported it

Question 5

Sociologists that deal with feminisms theory on family

Answer 5

• Dobash and Dobash in 1979 and 2007 cited examples of wives being slapped, pushed, beaten, raped or killed by husbands as they see they have a challenge of authority
• Walby and Allen (2000) found that women were more likely to be victims of multiple abuse and sexual violence
• Dar (2003) points out that it’s difficult to count separate DV incidents because abuse can be continuous