Delphy and Leonard

• Delphy and Leonard's Account of Families and Marriage


  Radical feminists who argue that the family is patriarchal
• Family relationships


  • Involve economic exploitation
  • Men benefit from the unpaid work of women within families
• Wives


  • Exploited in terms of the way their labour is used by their husbands
  • Their work not being valued
  • Their financial dependence on their husbands
• The family


  • Based on a hierarchy - with the husband at the top and other family members in subordinate positions
  • Husband provides for his wife's upkeep and gets to control her labour for his own use
  • Even when women have well-paid, full-time employment, they still do most of the domestic work and childcare
• Families


  • Maintain men's dominance over women and children
  • Maintain the patriarchal nature of society