This essay was written by an A Lebel sociology student who completed the course with a grade A. It was marked by an A Level Sociology teacher and both essays scored between 15-20 marks. These essays were not written in timed conditions.
Evaluate the view that the main function of laws and policies on families and households is to
reproduce patriarchy. (20 marks)
The view in the question is one held by feminists who believe that laws and policies are in place to
help maintain and produce patriarchy. Patriarchy is the idea that males dominate society and hold
power and status over females.
First of all, feminists state that laws on maternity leave, when women are given a certain time off of
work after having a baby, help to reproduce patriarchy. Feminists believe that policies surrounding
maternity leave are much more generous than those based on paternity leave, which is when males
are given a certain amount of time off of work after the birth of a child. The majority of women are
entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, 39 of which are paid whereas men are provided between 1 and
2 weeks of paternity leave. Feminists state that this is encouraging the idea that females are
responsible for the care and socialisation of infants and that the expressive role is their main role and
should be carried out by them, rather than the father. This then helps to encourage the patriarchal
family as the man will be out working and earning money, making him the breadwinner, while the
woman stays at home and cares for the child. This also increases the mothers financial dependence
on their partners as they are needed at home to care for the child and therefore are unable to work
and earn as much as they could be earning.
Feminists also state that policies on care in the community see the family as the main provider of care
for other members. In the feminist view, this care almost always falls on the females due to
stereotypical gender norms and expectations. As the female is expected to provide care, such as for
family members who are ill or elderly, their ability to work in a full time paid job becomes much more
difficult and as a result, they will be much less financially independent and therefore will have reliance
on their partner's income to help provide for the family. This reflects stereotypical gender norms where
females stay at home and provide care, known as the expressive role, and males go out to work and
are the breadwinner in order to provide for their family, known as the instrumental role. This helps to
reproduce patriarchal society as females become trapped as they are expected to provide care and
therefore cannot earn their own money and need to rely on a males income rather than their own.
Feminists also believe that laws and policies surrounding child benefits helps to reproduce patriarchal
society. Child benefits or children’s allowance is a social security payment given to the parents or
carers of a child in order to help provide for the child. Feminists state that this money is normally paid
to the mother of the hild, which helps to reinforce the idea that it is the female who should be providing
the care for the child rather than the male. They argue that as this money is given to the female rather
than the male, it encourages the idea that females should perform the expressive role while the male
goes out and earns the majority of the money to support the family, This then promotes patriarchal
society as stereotypical norms are promoted.
However, others would argue otherwise. The New Right believe that the main function of laws and
policies on the family is to lead to family diversity. They argue that over the years, laws and policies
have led to the increase in family diversity due to a number of reasons. They believe that laws
surrounding divorce, such as the Divorce Law Reform Act of 1969 which allowed a divorce to happen
on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown, have made it far too easy to divorce and therefore
undermining the idea of marriage being a lifelong commitment. These policies have led to the
formation of families such as single parent households, reconstituted families and cohabitating
couples. They also state that laws surrounding marriage have led to family diversity, such as the
legalisation of same sex couples. They say that this gives the impression that the state no longer sees
the heterosexual couple as superior. These policies together have helped to undermine the traditional
nuclear family and have increased diversity, and therefore they do not believe it reproduces
patriarchal society as we are moving away from the traditional nuclear family.
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