Different Views on Gender Issues Liberal feminists argue that our society holds the false belief that women are, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men, it tends to discriminate against women. In order to challenge the inequality, liberal feminists work hard to emphasize the equality of men and women and trying to achieve equal opportunities. At work place, liberal feminists aim to eliminate inequalities such as vertical and horizontal segregation and unequal pays. The segregation is mainly caused by the structural functionalists’ view that women should work in the traditional female dominated industries forever to remain the current social structure and continue to be the subordinates of male. Structural functionalists fail to catch the trend that more and more women are entering the previous male-dominated industries and structuralists should not view females as puppets who do not their own wills.
There a many different types of feminist theories but they all share a few common interests. They all believe there is a fundamental division in society between men and women, that women are to some extent exploited by men and that society is male-dominated or patriarchal. They also criticize existing sociology by saying it has a pro-male bias. They call this ‘malestream’ sociology claiming most sociology is written by men, about men and for men. In the early 1970s feminist ideology became influential in sociology and this was reflected in a growing number of studies of the family from a feminist point of view.
August 7, 2011 JUS 110- Crime and Criminology Critical Feminist Theory VS Grauwiler and Mills A critical feminist views gender inequality as stemming from unequal power of men and women in a capitalist society, which leads to the exploitation of women by fathers and husbands. Under this system women are considered a commodity worth possessing like land or money. (Siegel 2010) In knowing this view we know that men feel that they have power over women since they are generally stronger they take advantage of this and try to control the women in their lives. Many times the control that they have over women is abusive. It is a known cultural difference that men usually dominate the world.
Introduction Although biological and physiological characteristics of human beings are the fundamental bases for male and female differences. However, sociocultural beliefs have also created certain gender stereotypes that distinguish males from females. Males and females are placed unequal at every level of social organization in Ghana. For example, women and men are often treated unequally in terms of access to employment, education and social resources. In any of these instances, women are at the disadvantage position in many societies.
Discuss the issue of gender bias in psychology Gender bias is looking at one particular gender and considering it as the normal gender. There is a large problem with psychology being seen as gender bias in favour of men, often devaluing women or simply ignoring them in their studies. An example of this is Asch, who only looked at male students, meaning that his findings can’t be generalised to women. Aristotle viewed women as a deformity in terms of both physiology and biology. Kitzinger (1988) believes that questioning whether women can do certain activities such as going to university or having certain positions in government are often used for political reasons to save men’s jobs or protect them from losing face to an inferior woman.
An entire workforce of men would definitely consider the male’s needs over the females, resulting in unbalance and discontentment from the female public. Moreover, since females make up almost half of the population in most countries, it is impossible to just overlook the needs of the women. By promoting such a stereotype and opposing to females taking on careers traditionally dominated by men, room for advancement would become greatly limited. Another component is the family aspect, which are immensely affected by the presence of gender stereotypes in the society. According to social expectations, the father spends most of his time away from home, working in the office in order to support his family financially, rather than emotionally.
Body Dissatisfaction within Men and Females Is body dissatisfaction more likely to be found amongst women than men? It is widely known that women suffer from body dissatisfaction in today’s society as a consequence of several factors such as media and family influence. As the standard of an ideal body today, in many cases, is impossible to achieve, many women turn to drastic measures in order to achieve that body. Some writers claim that body dissatisfaction only affects women, but studies have shown that men too suffer from body dissatisfaction although this issue has not been getting as much attention as it has amongst women. The consequences of body dissatisfaction appear to be different between men and women, but they both suffer from it.
Assess the fashion industry using the feminist perspective Feminists argue that that in society men oppress women and that women do not have equal rights when compared to men, they argue that the family serves the needs of patriarchy and that we reside in a patriarchal society where males are the dominate sex. Feminists take a critical view on most things in society but a main one being fashion. Feminism itself simplifies down to equality. It is shown to be not about attacking men but improving society and having equal chances between both sexes. It states that many women’s focus is on her wardrobe so they can impress the opposite sex as they feel useless if they fail to impress, they also argue that fashion is a more female dominated area, they show that most of the top fashion designers are male ruled and that Radical Feminists such as Germaine Greer believe that all key societies (including fashion) have been found on patriarchy (ruled by men).
Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed to our understanding of families Feminists take critical views of the family as they argue it oppresses women and therefore creates issues such as unequal divisions of domestic labour and domestic violence 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 natural or inevitable, but something that has been created by society. Feminists also argue 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 conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family.
Feminists believe that the family is patriarchal, dominated by men, and that it exploits and oppresses women. The family supports and reproduces inequalities between men and women. Women are oppressed because their socialised to be dependent on men and remain in second place. They reject the new rights view of the separate roles, and also reject the ‘march of progress’ view in that society has not changed and it is still unequal. Feminists believe that marriage remains patriarchal and that men benefit from wives.