Feminist Theories

AQA Sociology A Level Theory

Liberal Feminism

Criticism of Functionalist views on gender roles

Sex and Gender as separate (Ann Oakley)

Changes through socialisation, laws and culture

Liberal Feminism EVAL

Over-optimism, march of progress, ignores the possibility of deep-seated structures such as patriarchy and capitalism

Contributed to change in laws:

* The Abortion Act
* Equal Pay Act
* Sex Discrimination Act

Radical Feminism

* Patriarchy
* Firestone- origins of patriarchy lie in women’s biological capacity to bear infants, women are dependent on men

Kate Millet

Personal is political- men dominate women through relationships: sexual politics

Radical Feminist solutions to reduce oppression

* Separatism
* Consciousness-raising
* Political lesbianism

Radical Feminist EVAL

* Draw attention to the political dimensions of areas such as marriage, rape and domestic violence
* Marxists assert that it is capitalism that is the primary form of inequality
* Inadequate theory of how patriarchy will be abolished
* Neglect female violence
* Assumes all women are the same and face oppression

Marxist Feminism

* Women are a cheap, exploitable labour for employers
* Reserve army of labour
* Reproduce the labour force
* ‘Takers of shit’ Ansley

Familism- Barrett

This ideology presents the nuclear family as the only place where women can attain fulfillment, through motherhood, intimacy and sexual fulfillment. This ideology keeps women subordinate

Marxist Feminist EVAL

Fails to explain women’s oppression in non-capitalist societies

Unpaid domestic labour may benefit capitalism, but doesn’t explain why it is women and not men who perform it

Dual systems Feminism

An economic system: Capitalism

A sex-gender system: Patriarchy

Patriarchal capitalism

Dual feminists see capitalism and patriarchy as two intertwined systems that form a single entity.

Sylvia Walby

Capitalism and Patriarchy are inter-related. Their interests are not always the same, they collide over the exploitation of female labour. Women are allowed to work in the capitalist sphere of work, but only subordinate to men

Walby EVAL

Shows how the two systems interact and structure one another, without assuming that their interests always coincide

False universality- Difference feminism

Claims to be about all women, but in reality only focuses on the experiences of white, heterosexual, middle-class women.

The problem of essentialism

Difference feminists argue that liberal, marxist and radical feminists are essentialist- they see all women the same, and fail to see the diversity of women’s experiences and exclude other women from their problems

Judith Butler

Poststructuralism is concerned with discourses and power. By enabling its users to define others in certain ways, a discourse gives power over those it defines

Poststructuralist EVAL

Walby agrees that there are differences among women, but she argues there are also important similarities- they are all faced with patriarchy

Cannot offer a solution to women’s oppression