Feminists perspective - family Flashcards
Key feminist points
-Believe that gender inequality is still a large point of social differences. UK is a patriarchy
-Women have less economic power, and are expected to be responsible for children, household and have a paying job
-Believe women still need to achieve social, economic, domestic and legal equality with men
-Believe family works to uphold patriarchy - women are socialised to accept male dominance
-Different types of feminism: marxists, liberal and radical
Marxist feminists - key points
-Believe that patriarchy/exploitation of women supports bourgeoise, and that men benefit from capitalist society more than women
-Capitalism exploits proletariat, which then exploits women
Marxist feminism - Margaret Benston (1972)
-Believe nuclear family and women is beneficial to capitalism, produces future workforce with little cost
-Unpaid labour of women is very profitable
Marxist feminism - Fran Ansley (1972)
-Capitalism has removed male workers of control, as they have become alienated from their work
-Challenges masculinity, creates anger that is then absorbed back into the family and female partner
-Can lead to domestic violence, and direct anger at women rather than actual problem of capitalism
Ideological conditioning device
David Cooper - he family is ‘an ideological conditioning device in an exploitive society’ - children learn to conform and submit to authority
Diane Feely - the structure of the family relationships teaches the young to accept their place in a class stratified society
Criticisms of marxist feminists
-Model of family is based on out-dated idea of working father and stay at home mother
-Ignores women who chose to be a mother and wife, and enjoy this
-Present women as ‘passive victims’, when some women have fought back
-Do not see that some families are positives
-Ignore other factors, e.g. race
Radical feminism - key points
-Believe women are exploited through the natural dominance of men, and believe that men will always oppress women
-Believe women are the most oppressed in the family situation
-Purposeful exploitation of men
Radical feminism - Germaine Greer (2000)
-WIVES - most important female role, but marriage is a ‘con’ -Married men score higher on measures of psychological and physical well-being than unmarried men, single women tend to be more content than married women
-MOTHERS- motherhood is satisfying -Women feel the need to return to original figures as quickly as possible after birth, expected to return to housework -Mother’s take the blame for what goes wrong in their children’s lives
CHILDREN/DAUGHTERS - Female children are more available for exploitation and an easier target
-Daughters are more vulnerable to abuse from male family members, feels that abuse is more common than we believe, extension of male heterosexuality
-Best step for women is to live in segregation, would benefit from living in ‘matrifocal’ households
-Work is not backed up by research evidence, and makes sweeping generalisation
Radical feminists- Delphy and Leonard (1992)
- Claim that husbands exploit their wives, despite the fact they do care for them and do love them
- Believe that women have a role within marriage to ‘flatter’ their husbands –> provide emotional support
But do not believe that women receive this in return
Radical feminists - Redfurn and Aune (2013)
-Believe that violence against women from men can take different forms:
-Forced marriage, martial rape, domestic violence, psychological bullying
-Believe they occur as a result of patriarchal ideas that are rooted in society’s history and ideas
-Family acts as a transmitter of ideas onto the next generation, allowing them to continue
Radical feminists - Firestone (1971)
-Believe men and women are separate and conflicting ‘sex classes’ - interaction between the two causes inequality
-Patriarchal nuclear family has oppressed and exploited women
-Women should use new reproductive technologies to exclude men from families as she believes women’s independence on men derives from childbearing functions
Liberal feminist theory - relative resources theory
-Within the home, gender inequality caused through economic imbalance between men and women (men have wider access to higher paying hobs and careers are not disrupted by child birth)
-Gives men more dominance in household (In decision making, therefore do not share responsibility)
-Shift - increase in women in economy in 1970s, led to new ‘dual-earner couples’. Created a more balanced outlook with more women having more power in decisions
-However, disputed as true 50-50 earner couples are rare. Women put more time into childcare and household. Typically women that take time off work when child is ill
-If a man lost his job, the woman would still take on more housework
Liberal feminism - Jennifer Somerville (2000)
-Feminists have failed to acknowledge progress made in society, more choice in jobs and marriage
-Some men are now willing to carry out household tasks
-However many do not take their share of work, but women can now choose to leave them
-Does not believe women would be happier without men, but can see that now women are choosing non-family households
-Believes new policies are vital in increasing equality
-Believes that the burden of childcare on women needs to be lifted in order to increase equality
Liberal feminism - Ann Oakley (1981)
-Believes that gender inequality is a product of discrimination from those who run institutions (its not embedded in society)
-From ignorance and misunderstanding of the biology of males and females
-Focused on gender roles socialisation - this is the source of patriarchal ideas as girls are persuaded that the main roles in life are within the family
-Prevents them from competing or higher-paid jobs
-Believes the change in the economy has also led to legal changes that challenges patriarchal ideas (e.g. Equality Act 2010)
Liberal feminists - Helen Wilkinson
-Believes change in economy over last 50 years (e.g. globalisation) has reduced factories, and introduced tertiary sector which has led to more females in employment giving them economic power
-Believe economic change has led to change in women’s attitudes - ‘gender quake’
-Women have different attitudes towards family life, children than in previous generations, more likely to aspire to university and careers
Abuse in the family (to support feminist theory)
Jan Pahl (1985) -
- Dislikes term ‘wife battering’ - believes it emphasises women as the issue
-Explanations for why the majority of violence is committed by men against wives/girlfriends/children:
1. Individual problems - deviant or pathological personalities. consequence of mental health or childhood
However, many men who are violent did not grow up with violence
- The social structure - violence in social context rather individuals
Dobash and Dobash (1980) - ‘domination and control of husbands over wives is historically and social constructed’
Culture perpetuates male violence, more M/C goes unreported
