Feminist views of family Flashcards
Marxist feminists views
-Challenged traditional gender roles at home examining the unpaid labour of women and the expectations of society on women to look after their husbands
Radical feminists views
-Critical of marriage- see it as an unequal institution that was patriarchal in nature and where men used financial and physical power to control women
Liberal feminism
-Changes to social policies that have impacted on the role of women in the family
-Encouraging employment (Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act etc)
-Control over reproductive rights (Family Planning Act)
-Marital rights (Divorce reform)
Marxist feminism
-Impacts of unpaid labour in the home (Dual burden, triple shift)
-Expectations of women providing support of workers (‘slaves of wage slaves’)
-Women’s exploitation in the labour market- ‘reserve army of labour’
Radical feminism
-Men’s use of coercive power over women- domestic violence (physical, psychological, sexual, financial)
-Male dominance in decision making
-Social expectations on women to be the ‘housewife and mother’
-Gender socialisation of girls into stereotypical roles
Post-structual and Postmodern feminism
-Different experiences of women and the kinship networks they form with in- laws and their friends
Neo-liberal feminism
-Expectations upon females in society to have it all
-Increased pressure in work
-Increased pressure on family life
-Increased expectations of personal life, including appearance etc
Evaluations of feminism
-Undermine the choice of some women to adopt to traditional values
-Intersectionality of women’s experiences- focus too much on white M/C ignoring the differences of women of colour, disability, sexuality and lower social classes
Conventional family as an act of control- Oakley
-Societal expectations of getting married and having children
-Male was the primary wage-earner and the female the primary care-giver
-Social pressures to conform repressed women’s career ambitions and alternative forms of relationships and personal lifestyles
Changes to conventional family- Oakley
-Rise of cohabitation and other alternatives to the conventional family began in 1980s
-Women’s involvement in paid employment saw delay of marriage and childbirth. However this also resulted in women having a dual burden of paid employment and domestic labour
-Meant the conventional family was seen by some to have become an archaic stereotype
Feminist methodology- Oakley
-Adopted a more empathetic approach to interviewing
-Unstructured interviews where she developed a rapport with subjects and helped them address problems and issues through offering guidance
Importance of Oakley’s research
-Highlighted changing patterns in family life and noted the movement away from traditional ideas of gender roles in family
-Gave a voice to women and examined the ways in which social control impacts on their experiences
-Examined reasons for changing social attitudes and challenged long-held assumptions about family life
Evaluations of Oakley
-Methodology makes Oakley’s research highlight subjective and based upon the interpretations of her sample
-Chester argued the functions of the conventional family had changed but the structure remained intact
-May be more dual earner families but the Neo-conventional family was still the most typical form of family
