Preview

Asses Feminist Views on the Role of Families and Households in Today’s Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
930 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Asses Feminist Views on the Role of Families and Households in Today’s Society
Asses Feminist views on the role of families and households in today’s society. There are different types of feminism including: Marxist Feminists, Radical Feminists, Liberal Feminists and Difference Feminists. They do not all share the same views on families. Not all of these Feminists still remain extremely relevant today as women are still the subject to domestic violence and sexual assault is a huge problem. Most people agree that the most obvious problems that feminists want to solve are real problems that need to be somehow solved. Feminism is not hugely relevant nowadays, not as much as it used to be the feminist movement as we have come to know it is in fact going through a metamorphosis, adapting to the times. The older traditions of feminism, despite their accomplishments, are the products of a previous generation. Like all traditions, they change over time.
There are many feminists that do speak of the troubles that women are still facing to this day. There are also some older Feminists who have adapted their positions to address these problems; the feminism of these feminists is certainly not irrelevant. So I would say that the feminism of today's productive activists is very relevant, while the feminism of 35 or 40 years ago is less so.
Marxist Feminists argue that the main cause of women’s compulsion when in the family is actually not men, but it is Capitalism. Women’s compulsion then performs several different functions for capitalism. One of them is women will reproduce the labour force, this will happen through their unpaid domestic labour, by then socialising a next generation of workers and maintaining and servicing the current one. Another one of them is “Women absorb anger” This is mainly focusing on Capitalism. Fran Ansley a Marxist Feminist describes wives as “Takers of shit” This is because they soak up the frustration their husbands feel because of the exploitation they feel at work. In Marxists point of view this describes and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Using Material from the Items and Elsewhere, Assess Sociological Explanations for Inequalities Between Husbands and Wives
    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Using Material from the Items and Elsewhere, Assess Sociological Explanations for Inequalities Between Husbands and Wives

    Firstly, feminists propose that there are inequalities between husband and wives, this is evident through the domestic division of labour. Feminists would blame underlying patriarchy for the inequalities between husband and wives. The domestic division of labour consists of men working and women staying at home to take responsibility of household labour, such as childcare and cleaning. Women take more of a role as the domestic worker, as seen by the survey in Item A, even if they are working full-time. Men have more power because they are the primary breadwinner; Radical feminists would argue that this institution benefits men more than women. They would argue that men sometimes abuse this power, for instance through domestic violence if women do not accept the patriarchal order (Item C). Men earn the money and this takes power away from women, this may be an explanation to why women suffer more domestic violence than men (Mirrlees-Black, 1999). Another example of this would be that only very recently it became illegal for a husband to rape his wife (1991).…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Using Materials from the Items and Elsewhere Assess Sociological Explanations for Inequalities Between Husbands and Wives.
    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Using Materials from the Items and Elsewhere Assess Sociological Explanations for Inequalities Between Husbands and Wives.

    Firstly feminists propose that there are inequalities between husband and wives, this is evident through the domestic division of labour. Feminists would blame underlying patriarchy for the inequalities between husband and wives. The domestic division of labour consists of men working and women staying at home to take responsibility of household labour, such as childcare and cleaning. Women take more of a role as the domestic worker, as seen by the survey in Item A, even though they worked. Men have more power because they are the primary breadwinner; Radical feminists would argue that this institution benefits men more than women. They would argue that men sometimes abuse this power, for instance through domestic violence if women do not accept the patriarchal order (Item C). Men earn the money and this takes power away from women, this may be an explanation to why women suffer more domestic violence than men (Mirrlees-Black, 1999). Another example of this would be that only very recently it became illegal for a husband to rape his wife (1991).…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Family Roles and Relationships: Examining the Contribution of Feminist Sociologists
    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Family Roles and Relationships: Examining the Contribution of Feminist Sociologists

    In this essay I will be assessing the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. There are different roles in families such as: Conjugal; where both the partners share task such as housework and childcare, the opposite of this would be segregated roles; where the couples have separate roles, the male is breadwinner and has the instrumental role and the female is the housewife and has the expressive role. A dual earner is a couple…. A single parent is a person who has been divorced or been widowed and has to take care of the children they had with the previous partner. Furthermore there are different types of relationships between families such as equal; where the husband and wife both have an equal say and are treated equally, however it can be one-sided; where the husband or wife are more dominant which can lead to domestic violence, it could also be democratic; where the family all vote for something instead of one person taking the decisions, but it can also be patriarchal; where the male take the main decisions and Is the breadwinner. A feminist is a person that argues that sociology has traditionally taken a ‘male stream’ perspective and ignores female viewpoint; they examine women’s experiences and study society from a female’s perspective. There are different types of feminism: Liberal, Marxists, Radical and Difference Feminism. They all tend to be critical of the nature of a women’s role and relationship inside families because they see them as grossly patriarchal, oppressive and unfair, as mentioned in Item B. On the other hand, the different types of feminist don’t agree with each other’s perspective on ideas of families and households, and they tend to clash.…

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships.
    • 1343 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships.

    Firstly one must look at the division of domestic labour and conjugal roles. Conjugal roles refer to the roles performed by men and women in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Traditionally men had the instrumental ‘bread-winning’ role which the women had the expressive role (childcare and primary socialisation). Feminists say that the traditional division of labour is neither natural nor beneficial to women as their expressive role is unpaid and taken for granted. However different feminist views disagree on who benefits from this unpaid labour. Marxist feminists would argue it is capitalism that benefits most as wives keep their husbands happy and therefore they are left with a content workforce. On the other hand, radical feminists would argue that men are the main people to gain from women’s oppression as we live in a patriarchal society. A functionalist view from Wilmott and Young says that there has been a ‘march of progress’ in which the family has become more symmetrical with more joint conjugal roles (where both partners share the household labour). However feminists reject this view with Oakley arguing the family still remains patriarchal and Boulton saying the evidence to support the alleged rise in symmetry is weak, and that the responsibility for childcare still lies with women.…

    • 1343 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examine the ways in which Feminist sociologists gave contributed to our understanding of family roles and relationships
    • 880 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Examine the ways in which Feminist sociologists gave contributed to our understanding of family roles and relationships

    Another type of feminist is Marxism, these argue that the main cause of oppression of women in the family is capitalism and not men as suggested by other feminists. Women’s oppression have several functions for capitalism, these include: Women reproduce…

    • 880 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Assessment – assess sociological explanations of the increase in the number of divorces since the 1960’s (24 marks)
    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Assessment – assess sociological explanations of the increase in the number of divorces since the 1960’s (24 marks)

    Feminists believe that male dominance can lead the wife to feel less superior and under a lot of pressure to fulfil the role of a stereotypical and traditional wife. Due to changes in society, it is more acceptable now for the woman to work and women and men are now supposed to be equal in society. However, society has changed but the traditional role of a wife has not leading to the woman in the marriage to do the cooking, cleaning, childcare and work a full time job which leads to the breakdown of marriage because of the resentment felt towards their husband.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    outline and evaluate the feminist view on the role of the family (33 marks)
    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    outline and evaluate the feminist view on the role of the family (33 marks)

    Marxist feminists argue that the nuclear family functions to benefit the capitalist’s ideology and the patriarchal ideology. Marxists feminists argue that the focus on women as mothers puts considerable pressure on women to have children and to take time out of the labour market to bring them up. This pressure can make women feel oppressed which can be beneficial to capitalists and men as it stops women from rising up against them and trying to break the model of the stereotypical ‘housewife’ role.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Miss America Scholarship Fund Case Study
    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Miss America Scholarship Fund Case Study

    According to the dictionary, feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. This means that what a feminist wants is not a matriarchal society where men are oppressed by domineering women, but equality for women. This doctrine has existed for many years, and it first became prominent during the late eighteenth century. However, if we are to explore how feminism affects society today, we must focus on its more recent history. Specifically, the “second wave” of feminism which arose during the 1950s and 1960s. This new feminist movement arose a few years after the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This book struck a nerve with the American housewife, and caused many to question if all a woman was capable of doing was merely cooking, cleaning, and pleasing her husband. In 1966 Friedan and others formed an activist group named the National Organization for Women, or NOW. This group demanded equal pay for equal work and enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment due to race and/or gender. As the feminist movement progressed, more and more women began to stand up for their rights, until in 1980, when women comprised the majority of undergraduates. But enough with history, how does feminism exist in our society today? First we must take a look at how feminism is perceived. According to…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How do feminists view the division of labour within the family home?
    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How do feminists view the division of labour within the family home?

    Feminism is a collection of movements and beliefs aimed at defining and defending women’s rights within society and politics aiming for all round equality. A big issue that arises within women rights is inequality in the household. The division of labour in the home is how fairly the jobs are shared between the partners in the household.…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Outline and assess Feminist explanations of gender equality in the contemporary UK
    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Outline and assess Feminist explanations of gender equality in the contemporary UK

    Marxist Feminists who believe that capitalism creates inequality due to its nature argue that more fundamental changes are needed to society to tackle inequality and consequently gender equality. Marxist feminists recommend a total upheaval of the nature of the capitalist system. Marxist feminists argue that women’s subordination suits the need of capitalism as they are part of the reserve army of labour which puts them at a disadvantage and therefore are beneficial to the operation of capitalism. However Marxist feminists are criticised heavily by postmodernists how question traditional Marxist feminist arguments as they do not take into account the considerable social change which has taken place in the 19th and 20th century which has contributed to the feminisation of the workplace and women are more likely to be paid more than men.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality. 40 marks
    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality. 40 marks

    Radical feminist believe patriarchy has been socialised into society making it accepted, this results in the unequal gender inequality for women. People in society are taught male patriarchy through education, male dominance is enforced and a masculine view of the world is presented to children, this is shown through the gendered subjects and the teacher treatment of male and female students. They argue that male dominance has become accepted in society so much so that this leads to violence towards women being accepted in the home and on the streets. Radical feminists believe that men exploit and oppress women. They believe that the family plays a significant role in aiding this oppression, as women can be exploited by their male partners through abuse and the additional work they do. However, Marxist criticise radicals for generalising women’s experiences, women’s experiences vary greatly depending on their class, ethnicity and household type. If a women was from a middle class background she is more likely to suffer in the family, as it’s accepted that only the man works, bringing…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Nancy Hartstock Should Follow Karl Marx's Feminist Standpoint
    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Nancy Hartstock Should Follow Karl Marx's Feminist Standpoint

    That Nancy Hartstock should follow Karl Marx’s lead in developing her “Feminist Standpoint” - the perspective of the oppressed in a ‘phallocratic’ regime in order to describe the oppressive dynamics of the ruling gender – did not surprise me. After all, as she explains, it is only through his use of a proletariat perspective that enabled Marx to accurately view and describe the exchange of values that ultimately benefits the bourgeoisie with surplus value, much to the detriment of their workers, subsequently left to survive on subsistence-wages. Given its historic standing, political credentials and academic regard, Marxist understanding of capital and capitalism would be the logical blueprint upon which to build a more modern analysis…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Assess the contribution of Marxism to our understanding of families and households
    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Assess the contribution of Marxism to our understanding of families and households

    Marxists see all society’s institutions as helping to maintain class inequality and Capitalism. Therefore, the main contribution of Marxism to families and households has been to explain how the family functions to maintain the interests of the bourgeoisie, and maintain the Capitalist system. Marxists’ contributions have drawn much criticism from New Right and Functionalist sociologists, who question whether Marxism can help us to understand the family in contemporary society.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mary Wolstonecraft's View On Empowering Women
    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mary Wolstonecraft's View On Empowering Women

    Although all feminists have been concerned with empowering women both in their private lives and in society as a whole, not all of them have sought equality in either the public or private sphere.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Outline And Evaluate Feminist Views Of

    • 712 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Outline And Evaluate Feminist Views Of

    Marxist feminists, such as Benston, argue that the typical nuclear family provides the basic commodity required by capitalism, such as reproducing in order to maintain a workforce, and also maintaining the present workforce’s health and wellbeing. She therefore argues, that both men and women play an important role, whilst conforming to a New Right perspective on the matter.…

    • 712 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics