More Feminism

• Marxist Feminists 


  Benston argues that women make a significant contribution to ruling class profits by performing free domestic tasks
• Marxist Feminists

  •Children learn to accept authority, especially patriarchal authority in primary socialisation in their family.This acceptance of authority, learned first in the family is vital to capitalism as it reduces the likelihood of any challenge to the system.
• Marxist femists -Ansley (1972) describes wives who soak up the frustrations husbands suffer at work as “the takers of shit”, for Marxist- feminists this explains domestic violence against women
• Radical Fem

  Strengths of Radical-Feminism

   

  Radical-feminists have highlighted the extent of male domination within the family and patriarchy in society in general
• Radical Fem

  Criticisms of Radical-Feminism

   

  •Like many theories, their model of the family is still largely based on the model of the nuclear family of working husband and economically dependent housewife. Many females and families / households don’t fit into this category so they ignore family diversity.

  •Radical-feminists criticise and advocate abolishing the family without offering realistic, constructive alternatives to it.
• Marx Strength

  •They explain how gender roles within the family ‘fit’ the requirements of capitalist society rather than being ‘natural’ as Functionalists claim.• They explain how the family benefits capitalist society and the ruling class rather than society as a whole as functionalists believe.• Marxist-feminists make us aware of the importance of socialisation in transmitting capitalist views and how the female is a reserve army of labour for the capitalist system.

  •They highlight the frustration at work for men can be one of the reasons for domestic abuse.
• Marx Fem Weakness

  •Marxist-feminists still focus on the nuclear family of working husband and economically dependent (house) wife. Many females and families / households don’t fit into this category so they are ignoring family diversity.

  •They focus on the negative aspects of family life, ignoring the positive features of the family.
• Strength Of Black Gurls

  •Difference Feminists argue that we cannot generalise about women’s experience. •They highlight and claim for example lesbian and heterosexual women will have different experiences of family life, middle class and working class women will have different experiences. White and black women will have different experiences also. •
• Weakness Of Black Gurls

  •However other Feminists argue that Difference Feminism ignores the fact that women do share many similar experiences. •For example, compared with men, women face a much greater risk of domestic violence and sexual assault, low payed jobs and many more experiences.•