This study video provides an essential overview of the feminist approaches to family and their view on the family as a social institution.
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VIDEO CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:09 Different feminist approaches to family life
1:26 Liberal Feminism
3:29 Marxist Feminism
4:43 Radical Feminism
5:24 Other feminist perspectives on family
6:24 Relevance of feminist ideas
7:10 Evaluation of feminist ideas
Feminists, such as Ann Oakley, agree with Marxists and functionalists that the family is essentially a conservative institution that preserves the social order. They disagree with functionalists and agree with Marxists that in doing so it benefits only a powerful group within society. For feminists, this group is men. They argue that families preserve, support and embed patriarchy.
Liberal feminism and family:
Liberal feminists focus on striving for legal equality between the sexes. The family has long been a clear source of inequality. Marital rape was not formally recognised as a crime in the UK until 1991 (because of the notion that marriage gave a man “conjugal rights” that could not be withdrawn save through annulment or divorce). Divorce laws have been reformed on many occasions to make them more equal, but it used to be much easier for a man to get a divorce than a woman (see a later section), etc. Liberal feminists argue that most of those battles for legal equality have been won, however there is clearly still inequality between the sexes (for example, in relation to domestic work - see a later section). They put this down to the need to also change cultural values in society.
As such, while families currently play a part in the oppression of women, they do not have to: it is possible to have family life and gender equality.
Radical feminism and family:
Radical feminists do not believe that changing the law will ever be enough, on its own, to end the oppression and subjugation of women. They argue that men will always oppress women and the family is a vehicle for that oppression. As such women should find alternative ways of living where they are not subject to male oppression. This has led some radical feminists to favour gender separatism.
Radical feminists argue that girls are socialised (not least through families) to believe that oppression and inequality are normal and therefore they accept the inequality of family life: indeed they dream of it and work for it.
Marxist feminism and family:
Marxist feminists argue that families help to preserve both capitalism and patriarchy, and that the two work hand in hand. They point out that the capitalist system gets the benefit of unpaid female work as their workforce (and the next generation) are fed, looked after and kept happy to ensure they keep working hard and making profits for the bosses.