Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed Essay Example for Free

realise the ways in which feminism has contri scarceed EssayExamine the ways In which femlnlsm has contributed to our understanding of families Feminists take critical views of the family as they conclude it oppresses wo manpower and so creates issues such as unequal divisions of domestic labour and domestic force out against women. Feminists believe that there is a triple burden of paid work. domestic labour and emotional work. Also gender Inequality Is not regarded as innate or Inevitable, but something that has been created by society. Feminists excessively deliberate that the oppression of women is due to patriarchy. The New Right has been criticised by feminists such as Ann Oakley (1997) as it has a button-down and anti-feminist perspective on the family. The New Right is firmly opposed to family diversity. The New Right sees the nuclear family as the natural family and Is ground upon fundamental biological differences amongst men and women. In their view, the nuc lear family has clear-cut divisions of labour between the breadwinner-husband and homemaker-wife. Therefore leading to criticisms from feminists. Ann Oakley argues that the New Right wrongly assumes that husbands and wives roles argon fixed by biology.She withal believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for womens equality. Even more so, other feminists argue that the traditional nuclear family favoured by the New Right Is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and Is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In this view, it prevents women working and keeps them financi aloney dependent on me. Feminism is often referred to as feminisms as it is acknowledge that the feminist label Is broad and a cover many types of feminist.The main types of feminists be bighearted, Marxist, Radical and Dfference. Liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000) believe that the main obstacle for women is the equality in attitudes, practices and law in which can be changed without any fundamental changes to the social organisation of society. They also are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities. Through people favouring and challenging the gender role soclallsatlon In childhood, attitudes can and so be changed towards roles In the family.Liberal feminists argue that womens oppression is gradually being overcome hrough the changing attitudes and changes in laws such as the Sex Discrimination wager (1975) which outlaws discrimination in employment. Even more so Liberal feminists hold a similar view to theorists such as Young and Willmott, although they do not believe large gender equality has been achieved in the family, they argue It has been a gradual progress. Through the gradual progress of changing attitudes, the ways In wnlcn cn110ren are soclallsea In tne Tamlly Is now OITTerent.Daugnters are socialised more equally to sons in the modern day compar ed to the past. However, ther feminists such as Marxist and Radical, criticise Liberal feminists for impuissance to challenge the underlying causes of womens oppression and for believing that changes in law or attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist feminists and Radical feminists believe or else that far-reaching revolutionary changes to deep- root social structures are needed. Another type of feminist is Marxist feminism, and they argue that the main cause of womens oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism.Several functions are per instituteed through womens oppression for capitalism, firstly that women reproduce he labour force, through their unpaid domestic labour and by socialising the side by side(p) generation of workers and maintain the servicing of the current generation. Another function is that women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Wives are describe as takers of shit by Fran Ansley (1972) who acknowledges that women so ak up the frustration of their husbands feelings due to the alienation and maturation they suffer at work. This is a primary example for Marxists, as it explains young-begetting(prenominal) domestic forcefulness against women.Abbot and Wallace (1990) note that the main ause of domestic violence is the male perception that the partner is failing her duties. Dobash and Dobash (1979) also found that these duties tended to be about(predicate) sex, money and home making. Due to the male perception of the partner failing her duties, it is often resulted in the women believing that they deserved to be beaten. Also women are a reserve army of cheap labour, meaning that when extra workers are needed women shall be taken on to work, but as soon as they are no longer needed the employers let them go to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour.However, Radical feminists have been critical based on the emphasis is being put on capitalist forms of exploitation. They argue that p atriarchy predates Capitalism which makes it a more significant explanation of female exploitation and oppression. Radical feminists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy and for radical feminists the key division in society is between me and women. Radical feminists see men as the enemy as they are the source of womens oppression and exploitation. Also that the family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal ociety.Men benefit form womens domestic labour and from their sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it. Radical feminists argue that the family is the root of womens oppression, so therefore must be abolished. They also argue that the lonesome(prenominal) way to achieve this is through separatism, where women must live independently of men. Even more so, radical feminists argue for political lesbianism, which is the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve sleeping with the enemy.Germaine Greer (2000) argues for the creation of all-female or matrilocal households as an alternative to the heterosexual family. However, for liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000), radical feminists fail to recognise that womens position has improved considerably with better access to Jobs, divorce and control over tnelr own Tertlll ty Somerville also argues tnat separatlsm Is unlikely to work as heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the conventional nuclear family will disappear. On the other hand, Somerville does agree that women have yet to chieve full equality.The feminist climbes already considered tend to assume that most women live in conventional nuclear families and that they share a similar experience of family life. However, difference feminists argue that women have very different experiences of the family from one another and so therefore cannot be generalised. For example, working-class and middle-class women, s ear and white women and lesbian and heterosexual women all share different experiences so therefore cannot be compared. Black feminists argue that by regarding the family solely on a source of ppression, white feminists neglect black womens experiences of racial oppression.The black family is positively viewed as a source of support and resistance against racism by black feminists. However other feminists argue that this approach neglects the fact that, despite such differences, women do in fact share many of the same experiences. For example, women face a greater risk of domestic violence and sexual assault and low pay compared with men. Feminism is criticised for ignoring the increased family diversity of families in the modern day, and although the nuclear family remains important, it is by no means the only family type.