feminist views on the family Flashcards
overview on feminism perspective on the family
- feminism- conflict theory- negative view on the family
- feminists have introduced areas of study that no one else has e.g. studied unequal conjugal roles and the extent of domestic violence
- there are different strands of feminism:
radical fem
liberal fem
marxists fem
difference fem
the agreements/disagreements between the strands of feminism
- they all agree on:
- women being oppressed in the family - they disagree on:
- the extent of gender inequality e.g.
(RF- women are extremely oppressed-Greer
LF- there has been progress, women arent as oppressed, not as bad as before)
- the cause of oppression e.g.
(MF- blame capitalists
RF- blame men)
- the soloution to oppression e.g.
(MF- communism)
how are MF different/similar to TM?
- unlike traditional marxists like Engels and Zaretsky who focus on the oppression of the prol, MF focus on the oppression of women and how cap benefit from the the oppression of women not being paid as a housewife
- like TM, MF define TNF as family, women are oppressed in family
marxists feminists views
- because the man is the breadwinner, the women is economically dependant for needs of subsistance
- this gives the man power and leaves the women powerless
- this benefits cap because cap socially constructed SCR
- this contrasts with functionalists belief that SCR is natural
How does this benefit capitalists? (1) social reproduction of the labour power
this is performed in 2 ways:
a) by women being an unpaid housewife, this women helps cap by serving the current generation of workers (male prol)
-cap motives are profit/money
-they want effective/efficient workers
-women looks after well-being of current cap workforce for free and this saves cap money
b) they provide the next generation of workers
-cap need workers
-in cap society women are socialised by cap ideology to have children
- as a result, women conform to being a housewife and having children
AO3 of (1)
- it is criticised because of the view that women produce the next generation of workers, statistics of birthrate has declined, reason why? childless women
- built on the premise that all families are all TNF based on SCR, whereas actually family diversity is the norm and women are in paid work which refutes the claim that women are at home looking after the current generation
How does this benefit capitalists? (2) Ansley- women as an unpaid housewife benefits capitalists by acting as a ‘safety valve’
-a women stops a man from ‘losing it’
-the male prol suffer from alienation (because of the deskilled nature of work) and exploitation (because of the long hours and low wages)
-this causes anger and stress, which could result in a rebellion to overthrow cap
-a women prevents this from happening; by being an unpaid housewife she is put into a position of powerlessness
-this allows a man to release his frustration caused by cap through domestic violence, and because women cant leave, they absorb the male’s anger
-Ansley refers to women as the “takers of shit”
AO3 of (2)
- MF criticised because not all men are violent and the majority of men are against DV
- Greer disagrees that cap doesnt cause DV, patriarchy does
- not all men work, in post-modernity, JCR is most common
- the nature of cap work is so exploititive that it causes men to relieve anger on women, then women who work would do the same to men. the nature of work has also changed and there are social policy laws to protect workers, so it is not as bad
How does this benefit capitalists? (3) by being an unpaid housewife in the traditional nuclear family, women serve the needs of capitalists by acting as a reserve army of labour
women can be used as a reserve for work, cap have a whole army to work if needed
-work is very deskilled
-allows people to be replaced easily
-women can replace men if needed
-ensures capitalist profit is unaffected
AO3 of (3)
- women are used as a RAOL- evident in wilsons study in WW2
- capitalists profits were threatened because men had to go to war, set up nursery’s, so nursery’s were set up for women to put their children in them and go to work in the factory’s
- when men returned, women were forced back into the role of and UHW since the nursery’s were shutdown
- this can be criticised because it is based on the premise that women dont work and in post-modernity the majority of women work
How does this benefit capitalists? (4) Benson- women being and unpaid housewife reduces the bargaining of male power
-in the TNF, men are the BW and women and children are ED on man for NOS
-this stops the man from complaining about about exploitation because everyone is ED on them
marxists feminist solution
in order to solve gender inequality, everyone must rise up and overthrow capitalism with communism
MF soloution critics (AO3)
-too radical- unrealistic- not practical
-although communism might solve class inequality, it wont solve gender equality, there is still sexism and patriarchal values
Radical feminists views
-RF view the extent on gender inequality as significant even in post-modern society
-they believe society is patriarchal meaning women are oppressed as society is male-dominated
-they also believe we are socialised with patriarchal values and ideology
what do RF think is the cause of oppression?
- they blame men as the cause if oppression and regard men as the ‘enemy’
- they believe that the TNF is the worst family for women as it is the most oppressive since a women is ED on a man which leaves them powerless
- they think marriage is very oppressive/patriarchal- because women are viewed as posessions (obeying husband, father giving of daughter to another man, taking the husbands surname)
- they believe in the darkside (domestic violence)
