Sociology essay female role

Allyer Montoute
Assess the extent to which the feminist perspective is applicable to an understanding of the female role in the family in contemporary Caribbean society.
In the contemporary Caribbean society, the feminist perspective aids in understanding women’s role in the family. According to this perspective, women provide a cushion to male frustration, acts as a domestic worker and a socialize children in the expected norms of society. Although it explains the female role, it disregards that women have more control over their lives.
Women console their husbands or partners in times of depression and anger. They ensure that the men feel good about themselves after stressful days at work. As Fran Ansley (1972) puts it ‘when wives play their traditional role as takers of shit, they often absorb the husbands legitimate anger and frustration at their own powerlessness and oppression.’ Within the Caribbean, outraged husbands or male spouses who have lost their jobs or are drunk on a Friday night, let out their anger by violating and abusing women, often leaving them scared in an effort to feel relaxed. This according to the feminist is one of the roles of women in the family.
Another major function of the woman is to take up all the house work. They are cooks, washers and cleaners for all members of the family. Majority, especially the working class females, hold the title housewife. Ann Oakley (1974) argues that women’s role as housewives is the most important role in society. It is evident in the Caribbean that if women do not cook, children and men would starve, in the same way if they do not wash men clothes they will remain dirty and not be bothered about their situation. Therefore, women’s role as housewives keep everyone in society satisfied.
Additionally, women are the nurturers of children, giving them affection and care, in manners that show them who they should be. They help them be society what society expects them to be. Talcott Parsons (1959) claimed that the woman's role is expressive as she nourishes a child. In that way, the woman socializes boys in taking up a masculine identity and girls a care giver. This explains the feminist view in the Caribbean since nurses are mainly female while mechanics and doctors are males because in the home the boys mowed the lawn and girls would assist in preparing the food. It cannot be ignored that the upbringing of a child is consistent with what society expects.
Although women perform these roles as laid out by the feminist perspective in the Caribbean, women have more control over their lives thus, they live without men and when they do live with a man, he perforce has to contribute to house chores. Additionally, the focus on career prevents women from wanting children.
Women in the Caribbean are keen to believing that a single life is the best in many regards thus the role of providing a sponge to soak up men’s frustration does not apply. Women live in homes with their children and provide everything for them without the help of men. With no male dictates, the woman moves freely and resists exploitation such as daily sexual intercourse and regular beatings. It is for this reason that González (1970) stated that the matrifocal family is a unit in itself because the woman is strong. Independence seem to be the way that woman of the present times are moving, to avoid the control of men.
Moreover, women do not carry out all household duties alone. In St. Lucia, men are now serving as ‘housewives’ while women are the breadwinners. This may be because of the increase in opportunities for women in the workforce. However, in most families, duties are split. If a woman does the cooking, the man is expected to do the dishes. Although Oakley (1974) claim that women do majority of the chores, she also found in her research that seventy percent (70%) of men are engaged in household chores. Therefore, the changing roles in the family have reduced the heavy reliance on women to undergo all house work.
Furthermore, the perspective does not address the vast number of women who decide not to reproduce. Jennifer Somerville (2000) claim that women decide on the amount of children they want to have, but in the Caribbean women become more interested in career and enjoyment that they barely have time for any child. In St. Lucia, new developing careers such as modeling which has a prerequisite that all interested females must be without child and since many young females pursue these careers, it disregards their role as child nurturers. Therefore, women’s role is no longer expressive within the family since they have become career oriented.
In conclusion, the feminist perspective is applicable in understanding the role that the female play in the Caribbean. In truth, Caribbean women are sponges to male anger, domestic workers and socializers of children. However, some do not fully conform to these roles as they remain single, have men do house work and do not desire to have children.