Assess the contribution of Feminist perspective for an understanding of the family in contemporary society. (24 marks) Within modern day society the nuclear family is still seen as the idealistic family type. Feminist argue that the family oppresses women through these main factors unequal division of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. Feminist do not regard gender inequality as natural or inevitable but as socially constructed; there are various views towards this liberal, Marxist and radical. The liberal feminist believe we are moving towards greater equality, since they argue that women were once the oppressed gender in family and society as a whole.
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. The New Right is firmly opposed to family diversity. The New Right sees the nuclear family as the ‘natural’ family and is based upon fundamental biological differences between men and women. In their view, the nuclear family has clear-cut divisions of labour between the breadwinner-husband and homemaker-wife. Therefore leading to criticisms from feminists.
Gender discrimination in the workplace did exist and still continues in one form or the other, this in fact obviously ignored by Summers. Gender difference is the product of gender discrimination or gender inequality, not the other around. In fact, gender difference is the main outcome of gender discrimination. There are two reasons for gender difference, first and also the most important is the nurturing climate, the second is cultural differences. In most cultures, men are encouraged to be stoic and to prove their masculinity; on the other hand, women need to be passive, helpless and dependent.
The suffragette’s militancy tactics they used to try and pressure the government into giving them the vote was an important reason as to why they hadn’t achieved the right to vote by 1914. However this was not the only reason, it was also because of Asquith’s personal beliefs that he would lose the vote to the Conservatives if women were given the right to vote. Another reason is that women’s role in society was originally to stay at home and look after the man and their house while the men played the political role, and men didn’t want this to change. Source B and Source C suggest that the suffragette’s militant tactics was the reason as to why women didn’t get the vote by 1914, but source A suggests otherwise. Source B comes from a labour party MP, Ramsay MacDonald who does support a revolution but he does not believe being violent by “breaking windows” is the way to do this.
Whilst the system impacts adversely on both men and women, the men do have more choices whereas the women are relatively powerless. The men do maintain control over the land, church, country and legal system, which meant women could only access justice through men and so their rights are subjugated to men’s needs. The head of the house
Priestley was concerned with the inequality of life – those who had much abusing those who were in their power. How far does the action of this play demonstrate his ideas? In ‘An Inspector Calls’ Sybil Birling is often seen abusing the power she has, especially when she refuses to help Eva Smith by giving her support from her organisation. “(Stung) I didn’t like her manner” shows the audience that Sybil is shocked by the manner of someone who is in a lower class than her. It gives us the impression that Sybil believes people in lower classes than her should talk to her with a better manner than someone of a higher class as Sybil sees herself as more respected than someone of a lower class.
The Colony’s view on single women influenced greatly the way women were treated within the colony. The colonists saw them as a threat because they were vulnerable without a husband or father for protection and were seen as unproductive in their work compared to men (Grimshaw, p. 87, Rushen p. 52, 54). They were blamed for prostitution and sexual immorality within the colony. The colony rather than holding out a hand of care for these new immigrant women pointed
The use of ‘evade’ tells Abigail that he cannot be overcome and therefore she cannot overcome god like she has taken control of the Girls. Miller has used a comma before Hale says Abigail to prolong the pressure that Abigail is under as well as to lengthen the dramatic tension. The women of Salem are only seen as house wives, doing the normal roles of a mother and wife. Miller exerts an extreme amount of pressure on them to be a certain way; it is like Miller is expressing his view on women in ‘The Crucible’. The society preaches freedom however value uniformity more.
The home and workplace before the industrial revolution had been virtually the same; however, both had begun to separate. Male and female spheres had separated along with the separation of home and workplace as well. While the men were gaining their income from their jobs in the public sphere, women, still viewed as the primary care takers for the children, were primarily put into the private or “domestic” sphere. To explain why the separation of men and women in the work force was necessary, the ideology of separate spheres was created; it had defined innate characteristics of women. Women were deemed incapable to work and function in public because these traits were thought to make women less capable to do work that the men did.
However, politically and economically men have sustain their dominance. For years, in the not so distant past, women were prohibited to get jobs let alone an education, if allowed they would only be permitted to work as teachers or secretaries. Anything above that woman were classified as not intelligent enough or to fragile. The differences between the sexes were socially defined and vague through the eyes of chauvinism in which men assumed authority over women and maintained it through control. As the objective of impartiality between men and women is ever closer we are also losing our attentiveness of essential differences.