Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE OF THE FAMILY - Coggle Diagram
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE OF THE FAMILY
Anne Oakley
Agree with Marxists + Functionalists that the family is essentially a conservative institution that preserves the social order
They disagree with Functionalists and agree with Marxists that in doing so it benefits only a powerful group within society
For feminists, this group is men in which they believe families preserve, support and embed patriarchy
Liberal feminists
Families are slowly becoming more equal through changes in law + social attitudes
'March of Progress view'
They do not believe that full equality has been achieved but the process is well underway
E.g. they show how parents are now socialising their children in more gender neutral ways, with similar aspirations for both sons + daughters as well as chores not being determined by gender
Social policies have impacted the role of women within the family e.g.
Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Equality Act
- these all encouraged employment
-
Family Planning Act
- gave control over reproductive rights
Divorce Reform Act + Exclusion of Marital Rape Clause
- gave women marital rights
Radical Feminists
Do not believe that changing the law will ever be enough on its own to end the oppression
They argue that men will always oppress women + the family is a vehicle for that oppression
Therefore, women should find alternative ways of living where they are not subject to male oppression
They favor gender separation to believe that oppression + inequality of family life
Men = main enemy - they use financial, psychological, sexual, physical power
Family needs to be abolished
Argue for Political Lesbianism because heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive
Greer = Matrilocal households - all females households shred parental responsibility
Marxist Feminists
Argue that families help to preserve both capitalism + patriarchy
Women reproduce the labour force
- through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers + servicing the current workers (their husbands)
Women absorb anger
- similar to warm bath theory, but marxist interpretation of this is that women are just absorbing the anger of the proletariat, who are exploited and who should be directing that anger towards the Bourgeois -
Ansley
= women are the 'takers of shit'
Women are the 'reserve army of cheap labour'
- if women's primary role is domestic, and they are restricted from working, this also means they are in reserve, to be taken on temporarily as necessary by the Bourgeois, making production more flexible- they can be activated when they are needed + let go when they are not needed e.g. WW11
Ansely - Argues women absorb the anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism
Ansley argues women's male partners are inevitably frustrated by the exploitation they experience at work + women are victims of this, including domestic violence
Intersectional Feminism
States that other feminist beliefs focus on the experience of women in a nuclear family, however not all families are nuclear
Just as not all women will have the same experience in family life
For example, a black woman might find her family provide a refuge from societal racism rather then it being a place of oppression or negativity
Triple shift
Emotional Support
Domestic Labour
Paid work
Dual Burden
Emotional Support
Domestic Labour
Neo-Liberal Feminists - McRobbie
- focuses on female empowerment + expectations for women to have it all - a lifestyle built upon consumption
However, this can have negative impacts:
Increased pressure in work
Increased pressure on family life
Increased expectations of personal life, including appearance ect
Questions arise - is this female empowerment or is it setting an unrealistic expectations for women?
Postmodernism Feminism
Different experiences of women and the kinship networks they form within laws + their friends