Outline And Evaluate The Feminist Views Of The Rol

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Feminist views of the family revolve around and understanding of the term patriarchy, which means make domination. Feminists agree that men tend to have a superior position in society and that women suffer oppression because of this. Many feminists argue that the family is a corner stone of this oppression and as such needs careful analysis. Liberal feminists believe that the fanily is gradually becoming less oppressive for women, they cite the move of many families towards more symmetrical roles where men take more part in the domestic roles so that women are no longer burdened by the mundane, repetitive, low status work of cleaning, laundry and childcare work which makes their position in society less powerful than mens. However, radical feminists disagree. They believe that women still face much oppression in the family. They show that one in five women suffer domestic violence in the family, many suffer sexual violence or at least have their sexual desires taken less seriously than mens; they also note that few empirical studies show men as equal to women in domestic labour (Oakley, Dunscombe and marsden) nor do men appear to be allowing women an equal say in decision making (Edgell) or in financial control (Pahl). Functionalists and the new Right take issue with radical feminists’ suggestion that women need to live without men as the New Right believe that only a man can act as a satisfactory role model for male children and give the children the discipline they need to be well socialised. They disregard the feminists demand for equality in conjugal roles as they believe that a division of labour where woman focus upon the home is instinctive, natural and functional. Marxists feminists, however, agree that the trad nuclear family should be dismantled as it is the corner stone of capitalism which they believe to be problematic. Firstly they see the family
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