Feminism

• Liberal-

  -sees society as patriarchal but suggests opportunities are improving because of the feminisation of the economy

  -the service sector e.g.- retail has become dominated by a female workforce

  -wilkinson calls this a genderquake

  -they're therefore optimistic about the future of females in modern society
• Marxist-

  -Benston- patriarchy is an ideological aspect of capitalism

  -capitalism transmits the idea of that women’s domestic labour is crucial to capitalism as the housewife role maintains the health and efficiency of the male workforce at no extra cost
• Radical-

  -Delphy- argues that gender inequality is more important than class inequality

  -patriarchal ideology is used to control women for the benefit of men

  -women are told how to look, dress and behave and when patriarchal ideology fails then women are always under the threat of male violence and sexual aggression which limits their capacity to live freely
• Evaluation-

  -Overly deterministic- suggests that social behaviour is determined by social factors beyond the control of females but doesn't take how females interpret that situation into account

  -M/C women may not be exploited as much as W/C women as they have more access to education and economic power

  -fails to explain why women end up with the responsibility for domestic labour