Marxism - gender Flashcards
What is Benston saying
Wife must keep husband in “good running order” because he is bread winner
- Men cannot protest, risk losing job
Wives nurture husbands, thus, owners of capital have no reason to pay for health-care systems
Women dependent on men because nuclear family
Women perform unpaid domestic labour
How does the nuclear family ideology link to gender inequality
Marxist Feminist ideas
Maintains dominant position of bourgeoisie: enables fathers to pass wealth to sons
Women perform unpaid domestic labour
- Women make up reserve army of labour
What is the Reserve Army of Labour
Refers to the unemployed and underemployed in capitalist society
They exist because:
* Keep wage costs down
* Existing workers have weaker bargaining position
[Capitalist economies are inherently unstable
RAoL needed since fortunes of economy fluctuate]
How does reserve army of labour theory explain gender inequality
Women are’t main workers in society
If increase in supply & demand -> women will be employed to do some labour
work for very low wages in temporary jobs
What is Engels saying
- Private property
- Men must be sure that their son is their own so they can pass owner ship of their private property onto their heir
Sexual domination gave rise to ideology of nuclear family
Men will be super assertive/dominant over their wife
Mate guarding, fear of cuckoldry but Marxist version
What is Ansley saying
- Women are the “takers of shit”
- Husbands take out anger on wife, who is a safety valve
- Women act as sponges for husbands frustrations after their long day of being exploited at work
- Bosses feel reassured that husbands have coping mechanism so can up the capitalism exploitation toll
This relationship must be maintained in order for capitalism to continue
This then perpetuates gender inequality since women reinforce their oppression and lack of power
Evaluation of Benston
(-) Crisis of masculinity questions idea of males being breadwinner
- State males in society are in crisis and that females are over taking them in the labour market and other areas of social life
Males are the ones facing gender inequality rather than females (housewives)
- Farrell (2013) claimed that “glass cellar” rather than glass ceiling
Glass cellar refers to lowest ranking professions in USA
- 24 out of 25 of them are filled by 85-100% of males
Evaluation of Marxist Feminist ideas
Nuclear family & Reserve Army of Labour
(-) Focus on macro structural issues that affect gender inequality
- eg Nuclear family ideology
Small scale interactions ignored
-provide more valid understanding of inequality
- eg Running of family budget
Evaluation of Engels
- (-) Focus on class and economic factors when looking at gender inequality
- Radical feminists argue oppression of women by men wrt sexual domination due to legitimate children was first real type of inequality
Evaluation of Ansley
(-) Hochschild (2003) states we have “commercialised our intimate life”
- Argues people pay for services that family used to provide
e.g. we pay someone to do the domestic chores
Women now do paid work, thus, they pay for someone to do housework, life coaches etc
- Females becoming more unavailable to perform tasks they once did
Disagrees with ideas about how females are housewives who soothe and emotionally absorb their husband’s anger
