Feminist Perspective

The feminist perspective theory was developed to understand gender inequality. It critiques traditional family roles and explores different feminist approaches. Marxist feminists focus on capitalism and unpaid labor, while radical feminists argue against patriarchal relationships. These perspectives have led to improvements in women's status, but challenges remain.

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FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
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Introduction
The feminist perspective theory was developed by sociological scholars’ in order to understand
gender inequality and why it existed in society. The feminist saw the family as having a negative
impact on the lives of women in society, unlike the functionalist perspective that takes the
positive views of the family (Hines, 2015).
In the nineteenth century before the Second World War, women role was in the family. Women
were not given opportunity in the industrial market; neither were they allowed to own any
property. Though after the Second World War there have been tremendous changes in the family
systems. This was due to the feminist perspective argument. Women are now allowed to own
property and even compete with men in the industrial market. There is also a rise in single-parent
families, high divorce rates, and late marriages.
The key feminist perspectives on the family
The feminists argued that roles were leaned and not biologically determined. The most important
institution in which roles and behavior were learnt was the family. The feminist criticized the
traditional family roles which oppressed women. Boys grew knowing they are superior and girls
were socialized to accept roles within the family. Essentially accepting housework roles was
indeed feminine. This, in turn, created a patriarchal society (Littlewood, 2016).
The different feminist approaches
Feminism today is split into different branches which include; liberal feminist, radical feminist,
Marxist feminist, black feminist among others.
Marxist feminism

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They argued that the main cause of gender oppression on women was not men but rather the
capitalist society. Marxists such as Engels and Zeretsky acknowledge that women are exploited
in family life. They focused on capitalism and the family. The Marxist sees women as the key
feature of exploitation in family life (Pollock, 2015). Women perform a huge amount of unpaid
labor within the family, and this is exploitation and has a high profit to those who own means of
production. If women were to be paid it would lead to a great amount of wealth distribution. The
women unpaid labor benefits the capitalist in that, they only pay one member of the family and
the woman roles like childcare, taking care of the husband to keep him going to work daily,
reproduction and even emotional services are done for free.
Husbands are afraid to withdraw from their labor power even though they are exploited; hence
this reduces their bargaining power putting up with low wages, rather than striking for higher
wages and be sacked. So the family not only produces cheap labor for the capitalist but also it
teaches its generation workers to be passive rather than rebellious. Therefore children learn to
submit to the authority.
The Marxist severely critiques the family is the source of women oppression. Women working in
the family provide unpaid labor and depend on their husbands like their children. Women who
are working outside the home are also expected to provide labor for domestic work. This makes
them work twice.
However, this theory is less applicable today as women have made progress in the family today
since they can also work in the capitalist market and also house chores are performed by both
women and men. Also in the job market workers are allowed to strike today if they feel

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exploited. Also in the jobs today, women are given leaves before and after birth as well as fathers
in order to provide equal chances of providing affordable child care.
Radical feminists
The radical feminists also argue that relationships between men and women are patriarchal. Men
are the cause of women’s exploitation. The family is the core root of women oppression, and
therefore it needs to be changed (King, 2015). They argue against the liberal feminist that paid
liberated work women, but it’s false, and instead, it is more burdensome as women have to work
in the household as well as in the industrial market, Paid work and unpaid household work, and
men benefit on both. Women suffer on taking triple shifts, household work paid work and taking
care of the children. They also argue that many women are on the dark side of family life. There
is domestic violence in which women are the one who experiences it more than men. The
radicalisms advocate for the abolition of patriarchy and instead establishment of an alternative
family structure. The family institution is the core of the patriarchy system. It acts as a unit of
governance in the society which rules through the family heads (Griffin, 2015). In the traditional
families, the father was granted ownership over wife or wives even to punish her, even
ownership of property was only through the male line.
In society today, there have been modifications as women can own property and rights have been
granted like divorce protection and citizenship.
The relevance of feminist perspective approaches
These approaches have made a significant improvement on women status in the society even
though each of them has got its limitations. Ideas were set to discuss on why women and men

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were so unequal. All the feminists have an insight into the problem of gender inequality.
Therefore, strategies are being made for remedy.
The feminists have stressed on the matter of gender inequality which is built in the organization
of marriage, families, work, politics, and religion. Therefore making women and men equal is
the necessary solution not only to an individual but the society in general(Bunch, 2018).
The relevance of Marxist feminism
The Marxist feminist put women in the capitalist’s structure. Women provided unpaid labor in
the household. Women can now own property. Women liberation on exploitation can only be
reached through the restructuring of the capitalist system, which is more often seen in society
today. Though women still perform the double task of household work and paid work. The
position of men and women is equal in society today with equal status as well as roles. Women
can inherit property as well as men. Working women and men are given leaves in order to
provide equal and cheap care when their children are born or even before.
The relevance of Radical feminism
The radical feminists critique all the possible violence or oppression on women. Men oppress
women as a biological class. Radical feminism is against the practices that promote gender
oppression on women like female genital mutilation, prostitution, and pornography (Garry,
2017). They advocate for women movement that would bring liberation on them. This has been
achieved though not in full as we can see women filling divorce. This means that gender equality
has been achieved even though not in full. In the traditional family, the man was given full

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authority over the woman; this meant that he would even punish the wife. The radical feminist
advocated for the abolition of any possible violence on women and even policies to restructure
the family system.
Role in the family
This is partly played by individuals in the family. There are boy’s roles, girl’s roles, woman and
man’s role. Each member of the family is expected to take their roles. There were specific roles
that were taken by boys in the traditional family and specific roles for girls; women were
expected to perform domestic work and also train the girls to do so when they get married.
Husbands get paid work to they support the family members financially (Walters, 2018).
Role of women in different forms of family
A woman is a mother and a household manager. A mother makes friendship and family
relationships with other families in the surrounding bringing peace and harmony.
The attitude of women to family roles has changed of late due to changes in the family form, as
well as, decreased fertility and high employment. Women are participating in their family as
breadwinners and family heads. In the traditional family, women suspended their interest until
marriage in order to do what their husbands pleased, today women enter marriage with other
roles besides family roles. Control over fertility also enabled women to change their roles
establishing their career, therefore entering into the labor market.

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Today women are heading families. Women headed family is common due to divorce or women
choosing not to get married but have children anyway. Employment opportunity enables women
to head family since they can be breadwinners (Widmer, 2016).
Ideal or archetypal family
Archetype means original or old. The original patterns of the family were derived, modeled,
copied or emulated. People have several archetypes although only one dominates. Therefore, it’s
important to know which archetypes are at play with co-workers, friends and loved ones (Brunel,
2015).
Twelve archetypes are divided into four groups. Each group has its orientation; ego fulfillment,
freedom, socialness and order. All the types share the same source; ego, soul and self.
The ego types:
Innocent; Ascribed with the freedom to be self, fear of being punished therefore seeks to do
things right.
Orphan; Men and women are equal. They desire to connect with others and stand out in the
crowd. Fear losing self in an attempt to blend with others.
Hero; has the desire to prove oneself through courageous acts. Has a weakness of arrogance but
always competent and courageous.
Caregiver; seek to always love your neighbor as yourself. It desires to protect others,
compassionate and generous.
The Soul type:

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Explorer; they desire to find out who they are through exploration. Fear being trapped and have
a feeling of emptiness.
Rebel; believe that rules are made to be broken and always desire to revenge and revolution.
They fear to be powerless.
Lover; they desire for intimacy and experience. Want to be in surrounding and with people they
love. Fear being alone unwanted and unloved.
Creator; they desire to create things. Have great imaginations.
The Self-types:
Jester; believe you only live once. Therefore desire to live in full enjoyment within the moment.
Sage; believe the truth will set you free. They use intelligence to understand the world. They fear
being misled.
Magician; theydesire to understand the universe and to make dreams come true. They can easily
be manipulated.
Ruler; they desire to have control and power. They believe power is the only thing and want to
make prosperous family and community. They are authoritative and fear being overthrown
(Garry, 2017).
Changing family patterns
Serial monogamy; this is a pattern in which one marry divorce and then remarry (Okin, S.M.,
2016).

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Few people are marrying and also marrying late. This is due to prolonged studies and
establishing a career.
Secularization; decline in churches makes people feel free to cohabit and also societal approval
of cohabitation, staying single and having children outside marriage.
Divorce has also been a major change in the family pattern due to women stability. Women who
divorce are less likely to remarry than men. Same sex relationships have also been rampant in
changing family forms.
One person household is also among the family patterns today as many people are not living as a
couple (Lundberg, Pollak and Stearns, 2016).
Changes in feminist theories; several changes have taken place in the feminist theories; for
instance, the Marxist argued that women are exploited in the family system. This is different
today since women can also head families and are employed in the workforce (Parpart and
Stichter, 2016).
Also in the radicalism argument that family is patriarchal has changed since we see many
families being headed by women.
Conclusion
As we have seen above the feminist perspective theories were developed in order to explain the
causes of women oppression in the society, as well as to seek for possible ways of eliminating
gender inequality among men and women. To liberate women from oppression could only be
possible through forming rules and do away with the patriarchal family system that constantly

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oppressed women from doing household work without pay. There has also been a tremendous
change in the family forms these days. These changing family forms have changed the role of
women in the family; men can now share household work equally with women. Women can also
get paid work apart from household work and can as well head families. The Marxist argue that
the family has been the main institution for gender oppression of women and the radical feminist
talk of the practices that oppress women which include female genital mutilation, prostitution,
and pornography.

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References
Brunel, P. ed., 2015. Companion to literary myths, heroes and archetypes. Routledge.
Bunch, C., 2018. Transforming human rights from a feminist perspective. In Women's rights,
human rights (pp. 11-17). Routledge.
Garry, J., 2017. Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook: A Handbook.
Routledge.
Garry, J., 2017. A heated debate: Theoretical perspectives of sexual exploitation and sex
work. Journal of sociology and social welfare, 42(4), p.79.
Griffin, P., 2015. Crisis, austerity and gendered governance: a feminist perspective. feminist
review, 109(1), pp.49-72.
Hines, S., 2015. Feminist theories. Introducing gender and women’s studies. London: Palgrave,
pp.23-39.
Hirsch, M. and Keller, E.F., 2015. Conflicts in feminism. Routledge.
King, Y., 2015. Feminism and the Revolt of Nature. Thinking About the Environment: Readings
on Politics, Property and the Physical World: Readings on Politics, Property and the Physical
World, p.179.
Littlewood, B., 2016. Feminist perspectives on sociology. Routledge.
Lundberg, S., Pollak, R.A. and Stearns, J., 2016. Family inequality: Diverging patterns in
marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), pp.79-102.

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Okin, S.M., 2016. Families and feminist theory: some past and present issues. In Feminism and
families (pp. 13-26). Routledge.
Parpart, J. and Stichter, S. eds., 2016. Women, employment and the family in the international
division of labour. Springer.
Pollock, G., 2015. Vision and difference: Feminism, femininity and histories of art. Routledge.
Tilly, L.A. and Scott, J.W., 2016. Women, work and family. Routledge.
Walters, M., 2018. A feminist perspective in family therapy. In Gender and power in
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Widmer, E.D., 2016. Family configurations: A structural approach to family diversity.
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