Feminism in general must be respected for all that the group has done, helping females progress together as a gender and addressing issues which females have faced. As time has gone on, females have gained equal rights in society. Women can work and women can vote, both important things that women in the past did not get to do and that women today take for granted.
However, as much as I am all for both genders having equal rights, I am opposed to the feminist view that all men have power over women in society. I believe this to be a generalisation and take this as proof that people still believe in the stereotype that all men are physically superior to women and that they should be macho. This is an annoyance as it takes away all individualism and implies that all men are the same when we are not. Feminism also says that men use marriage as a way to dominate women. Although this may be correct in some cases, it is again a generalisation. Many people are in marriages where both partners enjoy equal rights and in some cases, the female in a marriage may have more power. Feminists also argue that if women fulfill the role of a housewife then they are providing stability for men. This may be true in the sense that the man's home life is stable, but if the man is going out to work then he is providing financial stability for the relationship. In this sense, they are almost a prop for each other and so provide stability for each other.
Marxist-feminists believe that working class men take out their frustrations of powerlessness within the capitalist system on their wives in forms such as domestic abuse. I believe that this could be true and that the power they crave can only be satisfied by having power over someone else, in this case their wives whom they can have complete control over behind closed doors. In whatever way you look at it, this is wrong and should not be tolerated and feminists should be applauded for tackling the issue.
Radical feminists believe that the family is a social institution that sustains patriarchy within the family. This goes back to the feminist opinion that men hold control over women in every aspect of society and that they do this through fear of domestic violence, rape or murder. I believe that in some families, the father figure will still be the head of the family and have a higher position of power than his wife. However, times are changing and we find ourselves in a society where most people appreciate that regardless of our gender, we should be treated as equals and have equal rights. I believe that the female role in the household is changing and that now that women are allowed to work and gain a wage of their own as opposed to previous times when women were expected to be housewives for there husbands and their was no negotiation. The man was to be the person to make the wage and the woman was to ensure that the man's life was comfortable when he returned from working and that everything was as it should be within the home. As it is now acceptable for both sexes to work, I believe that responsibility is now shared for the most part in the home and that men do not rule the home as predominantly as they used to.
In conclusion, I feel that the Feminist group mean to do well and have done so massively in the past. They have addressed the role of women in society and looked to address and solve problems, have highlighted issues such as domestic abuse in the family which has seen this sort of behaviour branded as socially unacceptable and radical feminists have been linked to solid progress in areas such as job-sharing, better childcare facilities, paternity leave and longer maternity. However, I feel that Feminists over-emphasise the negative aspects of family life in order to get what they want, when in reality many women are perfectly happy fulfilling roles such as child rearing. I think for Feminists to be more widely accepted and rejected, they need to be more open to negotiation and realise that not all men are the same and that we are all individual people who make our own choices up and whom make part of a group, rather than being a cult of likeminded animals.
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