Feminist view

• Marxist Feminist


  THESE FEMINIST

  Focuses on women's exploitation benefiting capitalism.
• Benson


  THIS MARXIST FEMINIST

  - suggests that females benefit capitalism in two ways

  1) free domestic labour, 2) reproduction of labour power

  - Men cannot easily stop working (wage) as the family rely on his wages.
• Ansley


  THIS MARXIST FEMINIST

  - Argue women soak up the frustrations of capitalism

  - They are the 'takers of sh+t
• Evaluation of Marxist Feminism

  CRITICISMS INCLUDE:

  Too much emphasis on class

  Postmodernists - Class is unnecessary now

  Radical feminists - Patriarchy is more important than capitalism

  Relies on revolution to bring about change
• Liberal Feminist


  THESE FEMINIST

  They believes LAW changes have improve women's lives without blaming capitalism.
• Somerville


  THIS LIBERAL FEMINIST

  - Acknowledges progress for women but highlights remaining inequalities.

  - Legislation changes leading to more equality within marriage

  - Women can show men 'the door'.
• Oakley


  THIS LIBERAL FEMINIST:

  - Believes that socialisation can bring gender equality

  - study into 'Motherhood' - Research method was unstructured interviews.
• Evaluation of Liberal Feminism

  CRITICISMS INCLUDE:

  - Doesn't explain how men hold power

  - We need revolutionary change rather than reforming structures

  Overly optimistic

  Middle class, white movement
• Radical Feminist


  THESE FEMINIST

  - Views women's exploitation as a result of male dominance.

  - Patriarchy is embedded in ALL institutions (e.g. family) and wider society

  - examples include: Domestic Assault, Domestic Violence
• Greer


  THIS RADICAL FEMINIST

  - Highlights societal devaluation of motherhood and inequality in marriages.

  - Media portray the ideal role for women as that of a wife/mother

  - Men benefit from marriage more than women (evidence with the high divorce rate applied for by women)

  - Solution is to segregate the sexes
• Evaluation of Radical Feminist

  CRITICISMS INCLUDE:

  - These feminist promote seperatism and abolish the family, this is BOTH unrealistic and will never happen.

  - Ignores the progress and legal changes that have occurred for womens equality
• Difference Feminism


  THESE FEMINIST

  Emphasizes the impact of ethnicity on women's family experiences.

  Also considers the impact of class, sexuality, age, etc

  We shouldn't generalise all women - Women have different experiences that should be researched.
• Amos and Parmar


  THESE DIFFERENCE FEMINIST

  - Stressing the influence of ethnicity on family dynamics.

  - Critical of mainstream feminist theory for not addressing racism and the experiences of black women
• Evaluation of Difference Feminism

  CRITICISMS INCLUDE

  Walby (1992) whilst recognising there are differences between women's experiences, there are also similarities e.g. Greater risk of low pay, domestic violence and sexual assault compared to men.