Deborah Conflict Theory

In society in the 1950’s the average woman played an inferior role to men. Men considered themselves superior to women and often expected women to cater to their wishes. Females were expected to adjust their feelings , thoughts and actions to accommodate men's beliefs. The “do not speak unless spoken to” rule was common for women. They were expected to obey their husbands and fathers without hesitation. In order to be judged as respectable, they would have to remain sexually pure until marriage. After a minimum amount of schooling, women had to find a suitable young man to marry. In some instances a woman’s parents would orchestrate an arranged marriage to benefit their social status or income. Being put in such a position deteriorated a woman’s power. Today, women have fewer guidelines to abide by. First, women

“Look at us! We’re just like everyone else. We’ve bought into the same ridiculous delusion; this idea that you have to settle down and resign from life.” (April Wheeler, Revolutionary Road). It has become a society norm that women are meant to serve housewives; to cook, clean, garden, and nurture children, even though they are much more capable of other things. The role of women is greatly overseen, as they are not perceived to be of their full potential, rather than as societies idealistic expectation. This is because men and those who are wealthy are unable to look past gender and accept women as of equal significance.

Due to primary socialisation, the children in the family would then be socialised into their gender roles so then when their time comes to marry and have children, this family structure will continue: the male has the instrumental role and the woman has the expressive role. To contradict with this view from Parsons’, the feminist theory would challenge this view when considering the inequality which comes of this. One argument made by feminists is to do with the oppression which women have dealt with for many years due to their somewhat, ascribed role of being inferior to men, up until around the 1960’s.

An average, women during the 1960’s were held accountable for many responsibilities. Women led very different lives during this time period. Punctual, responsible, and reliable were just some of the many standards that were expected from society. At the age of twenty women were expected to be married; soon after they would become pregnant. Raising a family and devoting their lives to be the best housewives possible. Legally women made no earnings or any income for that matter. Child care and in vigorous chores were a part of their daily routine. Women had no say financially. Women had one duty, and that was to be a housewife. Men had all the control in marriages; after all they were the bread winners. Women were stuck in a vicious cycle of controlling and power hungry men. Comparing women from the 10960’s to the women in today’s generation is quite astonishing. The women’s rights movement fought for women to be free. Women no longer need to be chained to such degrading and depressing circumstances. Raising a family and having a husband is a beautiful goal most women dream of. However, we should also have the right to decide when we want to marry and to whom we believe is the right candidate. “Why I Want a Wife” written by Judy Brady raises a powerful message on women in the 1960’s. Judy touches upon the idea that women had constantly been expected to be in confined and submissive relationships. Brady perfectly depicts the

There is sufficient, vital unfairness in gender relations within the family or home that can take many dissimilar forms. Family arrangements can be quite unequal in sharing the load of

The period 1940-1975 represented a time of trouble within the United States and overseas. As World War II ended in 1945, many Cold war conflicts erupted shortly after that, increasing social controversy among teenagers, minorities and especially women. During this time period, gender inequality was ongoing in many aspects of life. Women were tired of constantly staying home engaging in domestic activities and were dissatisfied in their roles as “housewives”. The rise of the women’s rights movement was spurred by the growth of women joining the workforce, resentment of being treated as inferior to men, and the rise of unity among women.

After all the devastation brought about by the Great Depression and World War II, Americans desired and sought for a return to normalcy during the 1950s. With men away at war and women pursuing jobs, the rate of divorce skyrocketed as families were being split apart. Juvenile delinquency rose in great numbers due to the lack of parental supervision during wartime. This evoked fear in the American people that the survival of the “traditional American family” was in jeopardy. Thousands of women were pushed out of the workforce and back into their homes as returning soldiers resumed their positions on the job. Suburban housing flourished as the notion to conform spread across the country. The 1950s was a period of conventionality, when both men and women practiced strict gender roles and complied with society’s expectations in attempts to recreate the “American Dream”. The concept of the “Ideal Woman” created a well-defined picture to women of what they were supposed to emulate as their proper gender role in society. A woman was told her primary interest was everything but herself. She was expected to cook, clean, take care of the kids, and be a loving wife who waits for her husband to come home in order to adhere to his needs. Taking time to care for herself was never in the picture. The idea of conformity trapped these women in suffocating boxes that allowed no room to breathe. The pressure put on women to be the core of the entire family while keeping her husband happy was

Families provide the logic that translates women's into many material vantages places greater depth of emphasis on sex oppression Radical feminists and labor market, As Hamilton explains, med capitalist relations, bur rather argue that is sex oppression is buried far deeper Esoterically and psychically.

Later on Rich believed that women who were starting to make a difference towards society were switching their gender roles by surpassing the male. In the essay she claimed that “…middle-class women were making careers of domestic perfection, working to send their husbands through professional school, then retiring to raise large families” (Rich 9). She argued how women are supporting their spouses when the men are dependent and how women later put their dreams on hold when they start a family. But men don’t have the same sympathy towards the women’s careers, when they have children they don’t let them continue ‘their careers of domestic perfection’, instead they make the women become dependent on them. This is ironic towards the male and female roles because now the male is portrayed

The intended audience for Hook’s article was a wide range of people. The text suggests aims at those who grew up in patriarchal households and suffered because of it, as well as those who grew up in a very accepting household yet were criticized outside their home for not conforming to patriarchal gender roles. Hooks mentions that men who grew up in significantly patriarchal households and

Therefore, feminist sociology is not effective in leading women towards change or an end to dominant heterosexual assumptions that put patriarchy at power. Thus, it is difficult for women to breakthrough the oppression merely on theories and lacking practical action or reforms. When sociologists, such as Smith uses categories to analyze the relationship between women and her male counterpart, she draws on this notion that there is this believed or assumed natural heterogender relationship in society. As Smith proposed, men are able to work in the public materialist world and contribute to the everyday capitalist world is due to the existence of a female figure working within the private sphere to support the workings within the household, and in turn, make a patriarchal and capitalist society possible. Therefore, there is the assumed husband and wife, nuclear family in the household, with each playing their part and indicating that every individual is required to situate themselves as actors in this

This approach basically linked to feminism, an idea that support of social equality for women and men. The importance of gender-conflict approach is to make us aware that men are usually placing in position of power over women and the importance of women to the development sociology. The example of Gender-Conflict Approach is the gender pay gaps between men and women in the workforce. Research shows that women only make just 77 cents to the men’s dollar. Why do gender gap in pay and wealth exist? Simply put, they are the product of historically rooted gender biases that still thrived today. The assessment of labor value is strongly by biased perception of individual qualities though to be determined by gender. These often break down as gendered binary that directly favor men, like the idea that men are strong and women are weak. The next example is the role of woman in conflict. Research examined that the contributions of women to society has produced some observation that are generalized to many culture. In fact, women are ubiquitous to most cultural settings and “where there are not, it is not because they lack the ability or interest in a situation but because there have been deliberate efforts to exclude them”( Lengermann et al in Ritzer (2008), pg. 451). In western country for example, regardless of their demograpghic consideration, women constitute or are forced into

In the 1960s to 1970s, a feminist movement began and sparked a change in attitudes towards women in familial roles and pushed against gender inequality. This movement’s effects trickled down to the opinions and actions of people in the later 1970s to mid-1980s. The period saw a decline in the backing of the traditional family wife role for women and greater acceptance for women finding employment (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). However, the change also encountered backlash, with the growth of employed mothers came concerns of the negative effects on the children and their relationship with the mother (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). This triggered an inconsistent time for family structure. The nineties saw

The economics of intimate partner relationships play a role in patriarchy and the reinforcement of women abuse. Martin (1981) states that meritocracy is a discourse that everyone has equal opportunity in the workforce. It fails to recognize the barriers that prevent people from having the same opportunities as others. For instance, women face many social pressures that prevent them from working in the public sphere such as discrimination, sexism, being pushed down to apply for certain jobs because it dominated by males and may not have the physical requirement like body mass. Martin (1981) argues that capitalism supports patriarchal families and the idea that a woman's place is considered to be in the private sphere, the home, while a man is to be in the public sphere. Martin (1981) states that capitalism is about competition and succeeds when barring disadvantage or vulnerable populations including women from advancing to the top of the hierarchy so that people, predominantly white males, would remain in power. One strategy to prevent women from advancing in their career is to receive minimum wage and less income than men which therefore makes them easily replaceable in the work force. This defines women as temporary workers (p. 41). This leaves women economically dependent on men and gives a reason

She is especially upset by the field of sociobiology.  Gender as Social Structure By assigning people to one or two categoriesmale or female- society has created difference between them. Risman feels that genders strongest influence is found at the interactional level, and therein lies the deepest liability for the continuation of inequality in American family life