Feminism and Patriarchal Structures

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, key waves, theoretical perspectives, and criticisms within feminist sociology based on the provided material.

Patriarchy

A system where men hold more power and privilege than women, built into how society is organised.

Walby's Six Structures of Patriarchy

Paid work, household, culture, sexuality, violence, and the state.

Malestream Sociology

Mainstream sociology criticised as historically written by men, about men, treating male experience as the default and marginalising women's experiences.

Household Structure (Patriarchy)

An example of patriarchy operating where women do most of the unpaid housework and childcare.

Early Feminism (Wollstonecraft, 1792)

Argued that women deserved equal education.

First Wave Feminism

Fought for the vote, and property and education rights.

Second Wave Feminism

Fought for equal pay, contraception, and protection from domestic violence — "the personal is political."

Third Wave Feminism

Introduced intersectionality — recognising that race, class, and sexuality shape women's experiences differently.

Liberal Feminism (Cause of Patriarchy)

Believes patriarchy is caused by outdated laws, policies, and attitudes.

Liberal Feminist Solution

Gradual reform — equal pay laws, better childcare provision, education that challenges stereotypes.

Liberal Feminist System View

Sees society as broadly fair in principle, just unequal in practice, and does not aim to overthrow the system.

Radical Feminism (View on Patriarchy)

Believes patriarchy is fundamental to all of society, maintained through control over women's bodies, sexuality, and the threat of violence.

Marxist Feminism (View on Patriarchy)

Sees patriarchy and capitalism working together — women's unpaid labour sustains capitalism at no cost to employers.

Dual Burden

Women doing paid work and unpaid domestic work simultaneously.

Triple Shift

Paid work, housework, and the emotional labour of managing the family's wellbeing.

Marxist Feminist Solution

Replacing capitalism with a fairer economic system that values all labour equally, paid or unpaid.

Dual Systems Feminism (e.g. Hartmann)

Argues that capitalism and patriarchy are two separate but interacting systems of oppression, and neither alone fully explains women's oppression.

Dual Systems Feminist Stance on Capitalism

Holds that ending capitalism alone would not end patriarchy — both systems need to be challenged and dismantled together.

Dual Systems Example

Women's unpaid domestic labour benefits capitalism (reproduces the workforce for free), but the expectation that women specifically do it comes from patriarchy.

Intersectional Feminism

Argues that women's experiences of oppression differ depending on race, class, sexuality, disability, and ethnicity.

Intersectionality Example

A Black woman facing both sexism and racism simultaneously.

Intersectional Feminist Requirement for Addressing Patriarchy

Requires addressing overlapping inequalities together, rather than treating gender as a single universal experience shared by all women.

Criticism of Liberal Feminism

Criticised for not challenging the system itself, and focusing mainly on middle-class, white women's experiences.

Criticism of Radical Feminism

Criticised for oversimplifying by blaming all men collectively, and proposing unrealistic solutions.

Criticism of Marxist Feminism

Criticised for assuming patriarchy would simply disappear once capitalism was replaced with socialism.

Criticism of Dual Systems Feminism

Criticised for being overly complex — hard to know which system to prioritise challenging first.

Criticism of Intersectional Feminism

Criticised for being so attentive to difference that it's difficult to unite around a single, coherent movement.