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Sociological A Grade Theory Essays
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Evaluate Feminist views of families and households (35)Feminists also take a critical view of the family. They do not re-
gard gender inequality as natural or inevitable as argued by
Parsons, but as something created by society. However, Femi-
nism is a broad term covering several different types. Each of
these approaches the family differently and offers different so-
lutions to the problem of gender inequality.
Liberal Feminists are concerned with campaigning against sex
discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities for
women. Somerville argues that women's position has improved
considerably, with better access to divorce, jobs, control over
fertility and the ability to choose whether to marry or cohabit.
She argues that women's oppression is being gradually over-
come through changing people's attitudes and through
changes in the law such as the Sex Discrimination Act (1975),
which outlaws discrimination in employment. They believe we
are moving towards greater equality, but that full equality will
depend on further reforms and changes in the attitudes and so-
cialisation patterns of both sexes. Although Liberal Feminists
do not believe full gender inequality has yet been achieved in
the family, they argue that there has been gradual progress.
Gatrell found in dual-earner families that fathers played a
greater role in their children's lives than their fathers. Function-
alist Parsons would criticise Liberal Feminist ideas and state
both genders have biological roles suited for them, which leads
to different tasks in the home. For example, women are biologi-
cally able to bear children and men are biologically able to en-
gage in more physical labour. This shows that naturally there
are gender differences in the home about biological differences
Marxist Feminists argue women are oppressed by both capital-
ism and patriarchy. They see capitalism rather than patriarchy
as the principal source of female oppression and capitalists as
the main beneficiaries. Although men benefit from women's un-
paid work in the home, it is capitalism that ultimately gains the
most. Duncombe and Marsden argue women now take on a
triple shift leading to further inequality. Women are now re-
, sponsible for paid employment, unpaid housework and child-
care and providing emotional support to the family, adding ad-
ditional strain to women only. Ansley argues the emotional sup-
port provided by the wife acts as a 'safety valve' for the frustra-
tion produced in husbands as workers. The men's frustration
and anger at their plight as labourers are absorbed by the wife.
Women are the 'takers of shit', so the system is not threatened.
Marxist Feminists also argue that women are a ‘reserve army'
of cheap labour; useful if jobs are required to be filled, such as
in WWI, but when they are not needed, they are 'sent back' to
be housewives, reinforcing the idea of men dominating. Elliot
rejects the work of Ansley and claims that women only act as
emotional sponges, absorbing all the frustration and anger of
men. Today statistics indicate that 757,000+ men were victims
of domestic abuse in 2020. This shows that not all family units
lead to the oppression of women, at times men can experience
oppression and abuse and male victimisation also needs to be
studied.
Radical Feminists believe women are oppressed through male
domination as they see society as patriarchal. Radical Femi-
nists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy,
ruled by men, and the key division in society is between men
and women. Radical feminists state men are the enemy, argu-
ing they are the source of women's oppression and exploita-
tion. Patriarchal ideology and Biology are the keys to the op-
pression of women. The family and marriage are the key insti-
tutions in a patriarchal society. Men benefit from women's un-
paid domestic labour and their sexual services and they domi-
nate women through domestic and sexual violence or the
threat of it. For radical feminists, the patriarchal system needs
to be overturned. In particular, the family, the root of women's
oppression, must be abolished because men benefit from
women's unpaid domestic labour and their sexual service. They
argue that the only way to achieve the end of female oppres-
sion is through separatism as women must organise them-
selves to live independently of men. Many radical feminists ar-
gue for 'political lesbianism' - the idea that heterosexual rela-
tionships are inevitably oppressive because they involve 'sleep-
ing with the enemy'. Men benefit from women's unpaid domes-
tic labour and their sexual service. Greer argues for separatism
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