Feminism and the Family
Ann Oakley (Marxist Feminist)
Beechey (Marxist Feminist)
Benston (Marxist Feminist)
Ansley (Marxist Feminist)
Breugal (Marxist Feminist)
Adrienne Rich (Radical Feminist)
Firestone (Radical Feminist)
Delphy and Leonard (Radical Feminist)
Amos and Parmar (Black Feminists)
Wollstonecraft (Liberal Feminist)
Criticisms
Legislation
The Sex Discrimination Act (1975)
Equal Opportunities Act (1970, in force by 1975)
argued that women should be equal partners in marriage and should be entitled to an education. Wollstonecraft argued that women exist in a metaphorical ‘bird cage’ as women are trapped by patriarchal society. Their lack of education meant it was impossible for them to gain employment and flourish as individuals.
Sexual division of labour means that women are expected to do domestic work and childcare.
Women are economically dependent on men and have no money of their own.
Women have no one to turn to when they’re sad or frustrated but they are expected to deal with the frustrations of their husbands.
Economic differences means that women are less over control over financial resources, so they are unable to engage in social activities.
Mens sexual desires are assumed to be more important than women, so women are expected to just please their husbands without considering their own desires.
Oakley argues that women lose their own identities and are often called by their husbands names.
Capitalist society does not favour their economic position within the family either as they are a target for capitalist exploitation as they are given poor part time hours and low pay causing them to be more dependent on their husbands.
Women, as part-time workers, are a ‘reserve army of labour’, easy to hire and fire.
Capitalism gets two workers for the price of one. If they didn't cook and clean for men then employers would have to pay men higher wages to allow them to pay someone to do them
Women are ‘safety valves’ for the frustrations of capitalism…women as ’takers of shit’
Women are regarded as dependent on men. Employers don't pay women enough to live by themselves and therefore have to depend on men.
Domestic violence / rape is evidence of (and an extension of) patriarchy.
Family is a source of oppression
Maintains men’s dominance.
women provide ‘57 varieties of unpaid service’.
‘compulsory heterosexuality’
Feminists are criticised for assuming the traditional nuclear family is the dominant family type
Assume families are passive puppets manipulated to perform certain functions
Functionalists such as Parsons criticises feminists for not seeing women’s ‘expressive’ role as equally important as other roles
Mary Kenny (New Right theory) says the family provides women with a power-base to fulfil their desires for motherhood
There are internal divisions within feminism about the ultimate cause of women’s inequality eg. is it patriarchy or capitalism?
Radical feminist views are too extreme and unrealistic at times
Marxists feminists assume capitalism is the issue but in communist societies, women are still subordinate in families
Millet (Radical Feminist)
Men benefit directly from the exploitation of women in the family in society
Black women may have other experiences to other women as they not only have to deal with sexism but racism too. In this instance, a black woman's family may be a great source of comfort and support
Jennifer Somerville (liberal feminist)
She suggests proposals to improve family life for women that involve modest policy reforms rather than revolutionary change
Eg. women have made advances in paid work and family relationships (eg. marry, cohabit or remain single)
She recognises that men do not always pull their weight and this can lead to relationship breakdown, but high rates of remarriage suggest that the marriage ideal is still strong and she rejects any radical proposals for matrifocal (single-parent) families
She wants to see practical legislation that is flexible enough to allow working parents to look after children too (Labour’s ‘welfare to work’ ; Sure Start centres)