The Feminist Perspective Flashcards
Themes in feminist analysis of the family
The family as a place of work - housework is as real as waged work. Housework and childcare is mainly done by women, they are unpaid an rarely recognised. Oakley emphasised housework remains the primary responsibility of women.
The myth of the symmetrical family - emphasise it is still mainly women who perform household tasks, make sacrifices to buy clothes, less likely to make important decisions, more likely to give up paid work as expected to look after children.
The greater dependency of women in men’s earnings - average pay of women is 85% of that of men.
Domestic violence - women more likely than men to be victims of serious domestic violence.
Liberal Feminists
Recognises women’s position in the family has adverse effects on their power, careers and health.
Best way to improve their position is to remove all forms of discrimination to establish equality for men and women. Measures include:
- changing socialisation and parenting practises to avoid gender stereotyping.
- establishing and asserting legal rights of women as individuals e.g. equal pay act, sex discrimination act and equality act
- establishment of equality in maternity and paternity leave
- better and cheaper childcare
- more sharing of housework and childcare tasks with men
- stronger action against domestic violence
Feminist perspectives…
They have had more influence on the study of the family than any other perspective.
They emphasise the harmful effects of family life upon women and the family’s continuing oppression of women.
Family and marriage are major sources of female oppression and gender inequalities in society e.g housework, childcare, power and authority or women’s employment outside the home.
Radical Feminists
Focus on patriarchy in the family.
Family is main obstacle to women’s equality.
Greer argues many relationships remain highly patriarchal and exploitative.
Believe family benefits men at the expense of women where men exercise their power and control over women.
Solution is to reject the family and reject relationships with men altogether.
Marxist Feminists
Emphasises way in which women are doubly exploited as workers in a capitalist society and as women.
See women’s work on the family as contributing to the maintenance of capitalism in the following ways:
- The social reproduction of labour power
- Social control of the working class
Marxists Social reproduction of labour power
Family provides place where children can be raised with a sense of security and ruling class is supplied with a readily available labour force.
Family achieves this by:
- providing a place to relax, ensuring members of workforce are able to go to work each day with their labour power renewed.
- producing and maintaining labour which is free of cost to the capitalists through unpaid housework of women.
- socialising children into the dominant ideas of society. Parents having control over children, family leaned to accept the power inequalities they will face. Family lays groundwork for submission to the boss in later life.
Marxist social control of the working force
Refers to means of keeping people conforming to dominant norms and values of society.
Harder for workers to go on strike if they have a family to support because t may mean cuts in living standards for themselves and children.
Family also act as a safety valve providing release from lack of power and control at work.
Delphi and Leonard argue safety valve is provided by women who emotional work is an important aspect of women’s domestic labour. Safety valve helps the stabilisation of the capitalist system.
Criticisms of the Marxists and radical feminists perspectives
Women’s roles are not the same in all families, many consist of dual-worker couples.
More women are working and have independent incomes, means they have more power in the family.
Two thirds of divorces are initiated by women shows that women can escape from unsatisfactory relationships.
