feminist views on inequality Flashcards
why do feminists believe we have inequality?
inequality is maintained through social control where women are dominated and controlled in all aspects of their lives.
what do feminists argue social control is?
women are controlled and dominated by men in the public and private sphere.
what is the private sphere?
at home women are vulnerable to male violence and are controlled by their unpaid domestic labour eg childcare.
what is the public sphere?
women are controlled in the public sphere as they don’t have access to institutions such as law/politics and are more vulnerable to sexual harassment in the workplace.
summarise the biological theory of male dominance.
claims women are the weaker sex and their reproductive functions make them unfit for life outside the private sphere and are more suitable to care for children.
5 ways gender inequality is maintained?
women are vulnerable to poverty
women earn less in employment
women objectified in the media through the male gaze
process of law making tends to be male dominated
women who oppose the patriarchy are seen as antifamily.
criticisms of biological theories around feminism?
differences between men and women are culturally shaped from birth so women are taught to be inactive and physically pasive.
less value placed on traditionally feminine characteristics such as being caring.
social inequality is a factual reality and can’t be explained by biology as countries like finland have much more equality.
how do social structures maintain gender inequality?
men and women are socialised into gender roles from birth and women are discouraged from developing strong/positive self images and encouraged to subordinate to men.
what is interesting about educational achievement and the pay gap?
despite girls outperforming boys in education, women continue to lose status and by the age of 40 the gender pay gap strongly favours men and women are much less likely to progress to highest positions.
what is the familial ideology?
western culture portrays in the media the idyllic nuclear family with stay at home expressive female. seen through gov having power over who can marry, how many ppl can be married and whether marriage can end. eg can’t marry cousin x
what do radical feminist say about family life?
it is negative and controls women. family is dark and dangerous place and dobash&dobash found men feel a legitimate right to control wives through violence.
what did british social attitudes survey find about conjugal roles?
although attitudes show more support of sharing household chores, women still do more, limiting freedom to work for promotion/enjoy leisure activies.
what law made sure women and men got paid the same?
equal pay act 1970
what do marxist feminists believe are the 2 causes of women’s inequality in the labour market?
1) the routine devaluing of female employees’ skills blocking promotion.
2) segregation of traditionally female work eg the 5Cs.
who found that women make up less than 1/3 of the UKs top jobs?
the fawcett society report
what did bourdieu say about feminine traits being looked down upon?
symbolic violence happens towards women. assumption of superiority exists where males will define themselves as male as they do not have feminine traits. this is described as ‘othering’ as women are ‘other’ and lower status.
what did bourdieu say that men hold over women?
symbolic power but victims just accept without question. through language, ideas and habits of daily life.
what does radical feminist walklate say about inequality?
women experience secondary victimisation where female victims of sexual violence have to experience pain of rape and then being blamed for it.
what do radical feminists kelly and radford say about inequality?
men have power to rape so women warned not to walk alone at night wheras men have freedon of movement. women not taken seriously by police so sexism/abuse is daily experience.
criticisms of feminist views on inequality?
it is hard to measure some of the forms of power as it is very subjective.
hakim argues that inequality is result of women’s economic choices so inequality is result of women choosing specific occupations such as family life.
what did the fawcett society report suggest?
current gender pay gap is -13%
women make up 8% of FTSE 100 CEOs and no w.o.c
what did the acheson report find?
higher rates of anxiety and depression in women than men.
what did o’brian say about health care?
men less likely to seek medical help than women
