three main strands of feminist thought on the family.

• The three main strands of feminist theory are Marxist feminism, radical feminism and liberal feminism.
• The distinction between the three theories comes from what they see as the root cause of patriarchy.
• For Marxist feminists the root cause of patriarchy is the capitalist system.

  For radical feminist the root cause of patriarchy is the power dominance of men.

  For liberal feminists the root cause of patriarchy is the cultural attitudes and laws that allow discrimination.
• Marxist feminists:

  • sees the exploitation of women as essential to the success of capitalism.
  • The family produces and cares for the next generation of workers for society at almost no cost to the capitalist system. It's cost free because society accepts that housework should be unpaid.
• Marxist feminists:

  Men are paid for work outside the home but women aren't paid for work inside the home. Benston (1969) points out that if housework was even paid at minimum wage levels it would damage capitalist profits hugely.
• Radical feminism:

  Radical feminists see the exploitation of women as being down to the domination of men in society. Radical feminists believe that men will always oppress women.
• Delphy and Leonard (1992) are radical feminists who see the family as a patriarchal institution in which women do most of the work and men get most of the benefit.
• Liberal feminists emphasise the cultural norms and values which are reinforced by the family and by other institutions in society. The family is only sexist because it supports mainstream culture which is sexist.
• Liberal feminists believe social change is possible. They try to put pressure on institutions such as the legal system and government to change laws and social policies which discriminate against women.