Family : Radical Feminists - Greer

• Germaine Greer

  she said that there is a strong ideology being reinforced in the media that being a wife is the most important role for a woman, wives of important male figures receive publicity for being devoted and subservient, and looking good on their husband‘s arm. In return for being a good wife, they receive rewards, such as a nice house, expensive car and gifts. For this reason, Greer agreed with Zaretsky in his use of term for married woman as glorified prostitutes.
• Germaine Greer

  she argues that the family continues to disadvantage woman. She focuses on looking at the role of women as the wives and mothers. She argues that there is a strong ideology, suggesting that being a wife is the most important female role, wives of presidents and Prime Minister get considerable publicity, often have to be subservient to their husbands.
• Germaine Greer

  Such a role demanda that the woman must not only be seen to be at her husband side on all formal occasions. She must also be seen to adore him, and never to appear less than dazzled by everything he may say or do. Her eyes should be fixed on him, but he should do his best never to be caught looking at her.
• Germaine Greer

  This inequality is mirrored in most marriages. Greer argues that marriage reinforces patriarchal relations from the outset. What she refers to as a ghastly figure of the bride expresses traditional conceptions of femininity, and once the honeymoon period is over marriage settles into pattern, in which the husband spends more time outside of the home, compared to the wife spends more money on himself, does less housework and generally does better out of the relationship.
• Germaine Greer

  Wives tend to see it as their job to keep their husband happy while the husband thinks he has done all he needs to keep his wife happy just by consenting to marry her.
• Germaine Greer

  It is typically women who are more likely to think they need to be married in order to be happy, but in reality this is a myth. In fact, it is men who do better out of marriage than women. Married men report higher levels of satisfaction than non-married men, while single women report higher levels of satisfaction than married women. Three quarters of divorces are initiated by women, which has led to a decline in the stable married-family in recent years. Greer sees this as a good thing because the illusion of traditional family life was built on the silence of suffering women.
• Germaine Greer

  Greer consents that motherhood can be intrinsically satisfying she argues that it is not valued by society. She says 'mothers bear children in pain, feed them from their bodies, cherish and nourish and prepare to lose them'. Children are expected to leave their mother's home when quite young and to ow their mothers little or nothing in return. Many of the elderly who die of hypothermia are mothers, yet their children accept no responsibility for helping to support them.
• Germaine Greer

  Society attaches no or little value to motherhood. Greer suggests at least the following pieces of evidence to demonstrate that mothers are undervalued in society:

  • In childbirth, the attention focuses mostly on the well-being of the child. The mother's health takes a back-seat.
  • Mothers and babies are generally not welcomed in society - in restaurants and public transport for example.
  • Women are expected to return to work shortly after giving birth, on top of all of the child care duties.
• Germaine Greer

  • The feminine ideal is to be slim and hipless, while broad hips and the blossom of maternity are seen as monstrous. Women are expected to 'regain their figure' shortly after childbirth.
  • After all is said and done the final role for mothers is to take the blame if their children go bad.Single mothers are here singled out for special attention.