Feminist perspective on the family

• Liberal feminism:


  Concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities for women.
• Liberal feminism:



  Argue that women's oppression is being gradually overcome through changing people's attitudes and through changes in the law such as the Sex Discrimination Act (1975), which outlaws discrimination in employment.
• Liberal feminism:



  They believe we are moving towards greater equality, but that full equality will depend on further reforms and changes in attitudes and socialisation patterns of both sexes.
• Liberal feminism:



  They hold a view similar to that of 'march of progress' theorists such as Young and Willmott. Although liberal feminists do not believe full gender equality has yet been achieved in the family, they argue there has been some gradual progress.
• Liberal feminism:



  Some studies suggest that men are doing more domestic labour, while the way parents now socialise their sons and daughters is more equal in the past and they now have similar aspirations for them.
• Liberal feminism - A03:


  Other feminists criticise liberal feminists for failing to challenge the underlying causes of women's oppression and for believing that changes in the law or people's attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist and radical feminists believe instead far-reaching changes to deep-rooted social structures are needed.
• Marxist feminism:


  Argue that the main cause of women's oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism.
• Marxist feminism:


  Women reproduce the labour force: through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers and maintaining and servicing the current one.
• Marxist feminism:


  Women absorb anger: would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Ansley: describes wives as 'takers of shit' who soak up the frustration their husbands feel because of the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work. For Marxists, this explains domestic violence against women.
• Marxist feminism:


  Women are a reserve army of cheap labour: that can be taken on when extra workers are needed. When no longer needed, employers can 'let them go' to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour.
• Marxist feminism:


  Marxist feminists see the oppression of women in the family as linked to the exploitation of the w/c. They argue that the family must be abolished as the same time as a socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society.
• Radical feminism:


  Radical feminists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy - rule by men. The key division in society is between men and women.
• Radical feminism:


  Men are the enemy: they are the source of women's oppression and exploitation.
• Radical feminism:


  The family and marriage are key institutions: in patriarchal society. Men benefit from women's unpaid domestic labour and from their sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it.
• Radical feminism:


  The patriarchal system needs to be overturned. In particular, the family, which they see as the root of women's oppression, must be abolished. They argue that the only way to achieve this is through separatism - women must organise themselves to live independently of men.
• Radical feminism:


  Many argue for 'political lesbianism' - the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because the involve 'sleeping with the enemy'
• Radical feminism:


  Greer: argues for the creation of all-female or 'matrifocal' households as an alternative to the heterosexual family.
• Radical feminism - A03:


  Somerville: radical feminists fail to recognise that women's position has improved considerably - with better access to divorce, better job opportunities, control over their own fertility, and the ability to choose whether to marry or cohabit. She also argues that heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that separatism would work.

  She does recognise that women have yet to achieve fully equality. She argues there is a need for 'family friendly' policies, such as more flexible working, to promote greater equality between partners.
• Difference feminism:


  Difference feminists argue that we cannot generalise about women's experiences. They argue that lesbian and heterosexual women, white and black women, m/c and w/c women, have a very different experiences of the family from one another.
• Difference feminism:


  E.G. by regarding the family purely negatively, white feminists neglect black women's experience of racial oppression. Instead, black feminists view the black family positively as a source of support and resistance against racism.
• Difference feminism - A03:

  Other feminists argue that difference feminists neglect the fact that all women share many of the same experiences. E.G. they all face a risk of domestic violence and sexual assault, low pay etc.