Theories of Patriarchy
Assess the claim that gender inequalities in the domestic and occupational divisions of labour are best understood with reference to the concept of patriarchy. You should illustrate your answer with reference to a range of feminist perspectives.Western female thought through the centuries has identified the relationship between patriarchy and gender as crucial to the women's subordinate position. For two hundred years, patriarchy precluded women from having a legal or political identity and the legislation and attitudes supporting this provided the model for slavery. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries suffrage campaigners succeeded in securing some legal and political rights for women in the UK. By the middle of the 20th century, the emphasis had shifted from suffrage to social and economic equality in the public and private sphere and the women's movement that sprung up during the 1960s began to argue that women were oppressed by patriarchal structures. Equal status for women of all races, classes, sexualities and abilities - in the 21st century these feminist claims for equality are generally accepted as reasonable principles in western society; yet the con
In order to carry out its functions, the family relies on differential relationships (Broderick, 1993). Application depends on controlling access to public arenas (Golombok and Fivush, 1995). Developing theories to explain how gender inequalities have their roots in ideologies of gender difference and a hierarchical gender order, feminist theoretical concepts of patriarchy are able to explain and challenge gender inequality and the gendered division of labour in the private and social spheres (Seidman, 1994). Crucially, whilst the law has become aware of the potential for the exploitation of family members and in acting underlines the importance of public attitudes and legislation in maintaining gender inequalities and differential relationships; the reform approach cannot be seen as an open acknowledgement that socialisation patterns and family arrangements are male dominated (MacLean & Kurczewzki 1994). The implicit relationship between individual men and institutions can be viewed explicitly in the complex provision made to protect those who are individually opposed using the church's own structures. Gender, Racial, Ethnic, Sexual, and Class Identities. Power in institutions is used collectively rather than individually, and the segregationist strategy pursued in the public arena maintains the exclusionary strategy used in private that in turn supports the segregationist strategy used in public. patriarchy is arguably the oldest example of a forced or exploitative division of social activities" and clearly existed before it was ever examined by sociologists, the features of patriarchy had been accepted as natural (biological) in substance. In radical feminism, the family is viewed as a major institution whose role is to foster gender inequality through the socialisation of children and subordinate women by forcing them to conform to feminine stereotypes (e.
Common topics in this essay:
Labour Feminist,
Golombok Fivush,
Eunuch Postmodern,
Introduction Western,
Lesbian Black,
Firstly Walby,
East Germany,
Theory Patriarchy,
Feminist Revolution,
Church England,
gender inequality,
seidman 1994,
division labour,
sarup 1993,
gender inequalities,
private public,
golombok fivush 1995,
differential relationships,
golombok fivush,
segregationist strategy,
women's lives,
roles wife mother,
private public sphere,
gender inequality division,
inequality division labour,
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Acceptance Essays
