Lesson 6 - Gender Inequality - New Right Flashcards
What do Abbott and Wallace(1992) observe when looking at families
Say “Families need fathers”
Nuclear family under threat from social change/government policy
Lead to society becoming less stable
What do Abbott and Wallace(1992) say about modern families
They are unable to carry out roles effectively, especially in the nuclear family.
Working mothers are failing to put children’s needs first.
Led to increase in divorce & rise of single parent families
What do Abbott and Wallace(1992) blame the increased divorce rates on
Welfare system
Encourages single parent families
Divorce and abortion have become easier over the years
Why do Abbott and Wallace(1992) blame the increased divorce rates on welfare
Amount has increased
Led women/wives w/ children to work to make money to provide for family
Therefore ended traditional role of women staying at home to be housewife/mother
(+) Margaret Thatcher policies support New Right
Froze child benefits during rule
Meant families had to be less reliant on the welfare state
Nuclear family had to be even stronger in the roles it performed
E.g. father had to financially provide for family, whilst mother stayed at home to look after the house/children
(-) New Right contradicted by Marxists
Argue females should not have the role of traditional housewife
Should aim to be reserve army of labour
Therefore Marxists have +ve outlook on married women working
disagree w/ New Right & Functionalists
(-) Feminists criticise New Right wrt anti-abortion & anti-contraception
Radical/liberal feminists argue women have freedom & right to choose what they do in terms of their sexuality, fertility and reproductive choices
Feminists argue women should be in control of choices wrt getting pregnant/having children
Feminists welcomed the pill in the 1960’s to give women choice/freedom
What is Redwood saying about family
Supports idea of nuclear family
· Family is natural institution
-social changes have threatened trad N&V of family life
eg sexual permissiveness, homosexuality, cohabitation, unmarried mothers, high divorce rates, increases in single parent family
What is redwood saying about marriage
· The New Right have stated that decline in marriage rates led to weakening of traditional family roles
· People cohabiting instead of marrying
What is Redwood saying about single parent families
· 91% of single parent families headed by female
-often cares for children if family breaks up
· 1.9 million single parent families exist in UK in 2013 (grown from 1.8 million in 2003)
What is Redwood saying about women working
· More women work outside of family home
-rather than stay at home to raise children/do housework
· Return to traditional family roles needed iot remedy situation
(-) New Right blames victims
Single parent families are victims of circumstances
eg divorced women who leave a poor relationship
Single parent families are criticised by government for not raising children properly and for depending on the welfare state
These women experience many problems
eg relying on state benefits, lack of jobs, finding childcare etc. which are beyond their control
(-) Nuclear family is minority style of family
19% of households make up the nuclear family in 2013
Even in Victorian England
the nuclear family wasn’t main family type
Eg single parent family existed + it was very common for women to work + extra marital affairs occurred
Questions if nuclear family & gender roles actually changed so much over time (-)
(-) Marxists n Feminists argue against nuclear family
Argue alternative family forms are possible in contemporary capitalist life
Eg single parent, single people, and couples without children. Such family life is not inferior to nuclear family
(+) More single parent families
Duncombe and Marsden (1995)
Interviewed women who were single parents
They said reason why relationships failed was because they were dissatisfied with their husbands not being responsible in the marriage for housework or for the emotional needs of the family
