There are different types of feminists they all have different views on the family. Feminists mainly believe that the family is a patriarchal ideology which is control mainly by male dominated ideas. They feel that they are stereotyped to have the expressive role in the family and that they have to live by this role.
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.
These children that the women bring up then become the workforce of the future to little expense of the capitalists, they have already been primary socialised to act the way that society ‘expects’ them to, therefore this allows the capitalists to exploit them to work long hours for little money because they feel that they cannot rise up against the capitalists as they think that how they are being exploited is normal.
Radical feminists argue that the nuclear family mainly benefits men because gender-socialization results in males and females subscribing to a set of ideas that largely confirm male power and superiority. They believe that the nuclear family is the main place in which male dominated ideas are transmitted to children; this encourages sexual division of labour which is then classed as ‘natural’ and unable to be changed.
This can also lead to the exploitation of women as patriarchal ideology mainly views women as sexual objects when they are single and mothers/housewives when married and they cannot change these stereotypes as they are set by society and are