marxist feminist and the family

Question 1

men are not the cause of gender inequality

Answer 1

capitaalism is

Question 2

women benefit

Answer 2

capitalist system

Question 3

three ways women benefit capitalist system:

Answer 3

1)absorb anger
2) reserve army of cheap labour
3)reproduce next generation-workforce

Question 4

absorb anger

Answer 4

• link to Parson’s warm bath theory
  -women help men destress after a hard day at work and thus help keep industrial capitalism going.
  -women are just absorbing the anger of the prolateriat(husband exploited by capitalist system) preventing this anger from being directed towards the Bourgeois, and thus preventing revolution and the downfall of capitalism.

Question 5

reserved army of cheap labour
what percent of FTSE 100 CEOS are women?

Answer 5

-women tend to take on the low status, low paying roles in society
-men take on CEO + managerial positions
-women face glass + concrete ceiling
-Only 9% of FTSE 100 CEOs are women

Question 6

reproduce next generation(workforce)

Answer 6

-women do most of the childcare within the nuclear family(expressive role) part of which involves socialising them to accept the authority of their parents= gets them used to the idea of being obedient to hierarchical authority what future capitalist employee needs.
-They are thus socialising the next generation of workers, and they do this for free because their domestic labour is unpaid.

Question 7

Diane Feeley (1972)

Answer 7

family= an authoritarian unit dominated by husband in particular + adults in general
-family has authoritarian ideology teaches passivity not rebellion–> children learn to submit to authority
-as a result accept their place in the hierarchy of power + control in capitalist society

Question 8

Fran Ansley (1972)

Answer 8

Ansley argues women absorb the anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism( takers of shit)
-men exploited at work by the capitalist system and women are victims of the frustration they feel - lead to domestic abuse

Question 9

Laurie Penny

Answer 9

argues that neoliberal capitalism has encouraged women to seek self-empowerment and freedom through consumerism (by buying high heals and overt expressions of sexuality, for example).

Question 10

problem with Laurie Penny’s view?

Answer 10

only a relatively few women earn enough to be able to ‘consume their way’

Question 11

In reality many women work

Answer 11

very long hours in unpaid domestic roles or low paid unskilled jobs, and it is mainly the exploitation of women which sustains both patriarchy and capitalism.

Question 12

For Marxist Feminists, the solutions to gender inequality are economic:

Answer 12

we need to tackle capitalism to tackle patriarchy

Question 13

two solutions according to marxist feminists:

Answer 13

-campaigning for better pay and conditions in jobs where mainly women work, such as cleaning and caring jobs.

-Another solution is paying women for housework and childcare, thus putting an economic value on what is still largely women’s domestic work.

Question 14

evaluation of marxist feminists
(blaming capitalism)

Answer 14

-women’s oppression was clearly in evidence before capitalism – if anything, women are probably more oppressed in pre-capitalist, tribal societies compared to within capitalist societies.

Question 15

evaluation of marxist feminists
(women acting as reserve army of labour)

Answer 15

less and less relevant every year: the employment rate for men in the UK in December 2022 was 79% for men and 72% of women, only a 7% gap.

-BUT: 38% of women worked part-time, compared to only 18% of men