ICE

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ICE 1 (10 - 15 minutes)

• Answer both sets of questions
• How did the womens and mens experiences in
  their families differ? How were they the same? Be
  specific/give examples.
• What was important for the women in these
  relationships? The men? Be specific/give examples.

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Feminist Family Theory
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Definition of Feminism

• Feminism is a social theory and political
  movement primarily informed and motivated by the
  experience of women, including the struggle for
  individualism and economic citizenship.
• focus on analyzing gender inequality and the
  promotion of women's rights, interests, and
  issues.

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Definitions

• Sex the biological aspects of maleness and
  femaleness biological identity
• Gender the social constructs of femininity and
  masculinity social identity
• Patriarchy a male-dominated society
• Oppression arbitrary and cruel exercise of
  power
• Womanism some black feminist women prefer this
  term

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Feminist Thought

• The basis of feminist ideology is that society is
  organized into a patriarchal system in which men
  have advantage over women.

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Basic Assumptions

• Womens experiences are central to our
  understanding of families
• Understanding of work
• Gender is a socially constructed concept.
• Men made money women stayed home
• Bachelor spinster
• Social and historical concepts are important.
• Womens history suffrage, WWII

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Basic Assumptions

• There are many forms of families
• Research
• Emphasis is placed on social change
• The personal is political
• There is no objective, unbiased observation of
  humans
• Humans and their biases observing humans

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Feminists

• have campaigned and made changes on issues such
  as
• reproductive rights,
• domestic violence,
• maternity leave,
• equal pay,
• sexual harassment,
• discrimination, and
• sexual violence

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Feminist Family Theories

• There are 3 main feminist theories when speaking
  of families
• Liberal,
• Radical, and
• Marxist
• all emphasise the central importance of looking
  at patriarchy to understand the family.

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Liberal Feminists

• Important to challenge laws and customs that
  restrict womens ability to achieve significant
  roles in society.
• Application in family theory assert the family
  serves the needs of men, reinforces patriarchy
  and oppresses women.
• It is however capable of being reformed.

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Radical Feminists

• identify gender exploitation as the most
  fundamental form of domination.
• Individuals should strive toward androgyny and
  therefore, equality
• In family theory The family is seen as an
  economic system run for the benefit of all men.

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Marxist Feminists

• emphasise the double exploitation of women by
  capitalism and men.
• In family theory exploitation of women in their
  reproductive roles and in household labor, which
  maintained women as second class citizens.
• The family is seen as a safety valve within
  capitalism.

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History of Feminism

• First Wave
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• A Vindication of the Rights of Women
• Used metaphor of women as nobility, and therefore
  coddled and fragile to argue against the
  intellectual stifling of women
• Suffrage women's struggle for the right to vote
• 1920

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In-Between

• 1935 Margaret Mead
• Tchambuli tribe
• 1940s
• Women working
• 1960s
• dominant theory about families was
  structural-functionalism
• Jessie Bernard
• The Future of Marriage (1972)
• His and Hers

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History of Feminism

• Second Wave
• 1960s and after
• concerned with independence and greater political
  action to improve womens rights
• workplace rights
• Started to recognize lesbians and women of
  colors rights in movement

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History of Feminism

• Third Wave (19902)
• It involves attempts at further inclusion into
  traditionally male domains.
• Looks at a larger place within social positions
  (e.g., gender roles, family roles).
• Multiple roles of oppression Matrix of
  Domination
• Multi-racial Feminism

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Some Myths About Feminists

• Only women can be feminists
• Its only about womens issues
• All feminists hate men
• All feminists are lesbians
• Feminists want to rule the world
• Feminists are anti-family

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Critiques

• Oppressive to men (focuses only on women)
• Research is too subjective
• Too politically active should be observers, not
  facilitators of change
• Working against traditional nuclear families
• Too much attention on women, not enough on other
  groups who are oppressed
• See Matrix of Oppression

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Reading Questions

• Compare Alice and Bobs experiences
• In what ways are their perspectives on their
  marriage different?
• How are their lives impacted by social norms and
  expectations?

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References

• http//www.wordiq.com/
• Ingoldsby, B. B. et al (2004) Exploring family
  theories. Los Angeles Roxbury.
• Somerville, J. (2000) Feminism and the family
  Politics and society in the UK and USA. New York
  St. Martins Press.
• White, J.M. (2005) Advancing family theories.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.