From a feminist perspective, the family helps to maintain the existing social order.
Feminists call the existing social order patriarchy. Patriarchy is the combination of systems, ideologies and cultural practices which make sure that men have power.
Feminist theory argues that the family supports and reproduces inequalities between men and women.
Feminists believe women are oppressed because they're socialised to be dependent on men, and to put themselves in second place to men.
The family has a central role on this socialisation - male and female roles and expectations are formed in the family and then carried on into wider society.
Feminist sociologists say that there's an ideology about men's roles and women's roles in the family.
