For example, cultural feminists look to the different values associated with womanhood and femininity as a reason why men and women experience the social world differently. Other feminist theorists believe that the different roles assigned to women and men within institutions better explain gender difference, including the sexual division of labor in the household. Existential and phenomenological feminists focus on how women have been marginalized and defined as the “other” in patriarchal societies. Women are thus seen as objects and are denied the opportunity for self-realization. Gender Inequality: Gender-inequality theories recognize that women's location in, and experience of, social situations are not only different but also unequal to men's.
Assess the view that the nuclear family has a negative effect on its members The nuclear family is a well known social unit within the world consisting of one man, one woman who are married with around two children. This is a typical type of family within society, this essay will depict the view that the nuclear family has a negative effect on its members. Feminists across the spectrum would push considerable argument that the nuclear family is bad for them. Feminists believe that male patriarchy is how societies are run meaning they are male dominated, with both Radical and Marxist feminists tending to hold the belief that the family is one of the main areas where women are oppressed. One important point to be made is the delegation of domestic labour.
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.
By utilizing the Handmaids as a representation of the females in the Gileadean society, the author exposes the flaws of an anti-feminist society through objectification and the absence of agency. The Handmaid’s Tale illustrates women who are strongly objectified by men. An example of how Handmaids are objectified is through their names. The women are named after their assigned Commander; their name which consists of two parts is constructed with the prefix, ‘Of’, followed by the suffix of their Commander’s name. The main character’s Handmaid name is Offred, meaning that she is property of Fred.
Gender Roles plays a huge part of the novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, by showing the reader how women are treated unfairly and what this treatment can cause to the women. In this novel, Alice Walker portrays how society sees men as the dominant gender and how women are merely sex slaves and servants. The main reason for the female circumcision is to satisfy the men in the tribe needs. If it were up to most women, they would not go through this ritual, but unfortunately, they need to, according to the Olinkan tribe. The women get this done to their body so they are “cleansed”, so a man is able to marry them.
Such myths, Beauvoir explains, are derived trough literature and Social beliefs. The construct of the “essence of women” have been grossly misconstrued by a male dominated world. In her essay, she strongly argues about the two-sided opposition of the “self” and “other” through an existentialist perspective, which is through the experience of the human condition. She boldly announces that the male has appointed himself as “self” and the female as “other” in order to gain dominion and authority to call the female inferior, passive, or weak. I will take an in depth look at the contradictions and myths that men have created of women as outlined by Beauvoir.
They defined part-time employment as between 1 and 32 hours of work per week. This research demonstrated that mothers working part-time reported themselves to be less depressed than stay-at-home mothers in their children’s early years and to have less work-related conflict than those working full time. Also, the psychologist, Bennett (2007) explained in her book The Feminine Mistake that working mothers have better physical and emotional health, and higher self-esteem than unemployed mothers. In general, the results of different studies indicate that employed mothers spend less time with their infants and preschoolers than unemployed mothers. However, this effect diminishes with maternal education and with the age of child.
A People’s History of the United States: Reflection Chapter 6 The Intimately Oppressed This chapter mainly focuses on the injustices done against women, as we can tell from the first few sentences. Zinn gives numerous examples of women’s subordinance and invisibility to the rest of the world. Women at the time (approx. colonial to early 20th century) were seen as inferior and were used in more ways than one. According to Zinn, “…their physical characteristics became a convenience for men, who could use, exploit, and cherish someone who was at the same time servant, sex mate, companion, and bearer-teacher-warden of his children,” (Zinn 103).
“Assess the view that the family benefit all its members” The view that the family benefits all its members is associated with functionalist theories of the family. Murdock and Parsons are good examples of positive views of the family, such as views have come under heavy criticism from those who look at the negative side of family life, and see the family as “dysfunctional” or harmful to its members- radical feminists for example point to the issue of domestic violence. Radical feminists believe that violence against women within the family is a form of power and control. “Violence was used by the men they lived with to silence them, to “win” arguments, to express dissatisfaction to deter future behaviour and to merely demonstrate dominance” Dobash and Dobash found that most women who left violent partners returned in the end out of fear of being stigmatised. Radical feminists are criticised for overemphasising the power of men, People believe that it overemphasises the place of domestic violence in family life.
Men in this society dominated their women. The psychoanalytical perspective mainly focuses on the character of people in the society. It explains how people feel, their hopes, desires and dreams toward achieving their goals in the society. This is portrayed by the efforts of Edna towards liberating herself from the society perception that views women as housewives. The feminist perspective on the other hand focuses on the way the society during believes and perceives gender inequality