Feminist theories of the family

Feminist perspectives on the family

Liberal feminists; have campaigned for the end of sex discrimination & for equal rights/opportunities for women, e.g, equal pay. They believe in the gradual eradication of gender inequality through changing attitudes & the law.
There have been changes in the family, more men are doing domestic labour & parents socialise their children more equally, having similar aspirations for them despite gender.
Criticisms - Marxists & radical feminists; more far-reaching changes are needed to reverse the deep rooted social structure, they only focus on the underlying causes of women's oppression.
Marxist feminists; women are oppressed by capitalism in the family, they reproduce labour force (socialising next generation of works, servicing the current ones), absorb anger (Fran Ansley; 'taker's of sheit', emotional sponges of husbands capitalist frustration) reserve army for cheap labour (used by employers & disposed of when no longer needed, back to domestics).
Gender inequality can be reached by destroying the family & having a socialist revolution where a classless society emerges.
Criticisms - Difference feminists; the family is not negative, for black women it acts as a 'refuge' from racism & sexism in wider society.

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Radical feminists; men are the enemy & the key source of women's oppression & exploitation. Men benefit from womens unpaid labour & sexual services, they dominate women through domestic/sexual violence or the threat of it.
They see 'political lesbianism' through seperatism in society as the key to overcoming the patriarchy, Greer; the creation of all 'matrifocal' households should replace the heterosexual family.
Criticisms - Somerville (liberal fem); they ignore that women's positions have improved signficantly, there is better access to divorce, contraception etc...Heterosexual attraction will make it unlikely that seperatism will work.
Difference (intersectional) feminists; they view the black family as a source of support (refuge) & resistance against racism. They argue that feminism has a white middle-class bias.
Hill; black women have a unique standpoint because they share with black men a history racism & with women a history of patriachal oppression, they are triple disadvantaged alongside low social class.
Critcisms - Other feminists argue that they ignore that all women share many of the same experiences, e.g, a risk of domestic violence & sexual assault or low pay.

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