Does The Feminist Theory On A Couple's Decision To Have Children

Rather, Rachels opposes both the idea parenthood as well as accusing parents of their misjudgments.(Rachels, 572) This shows the awareness that Rachels has in objectively challenging the current stance that couples must have a child together. Altogether, Rachels has provided a strong paper that initially seems very convincing, but when taking a deeper look, one finds that there are several flaws in his argument.

In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay.

THE NO-BABY BOOM, by Anne Kingston, published in March 2014 was about the social infertility rates of twenty-first century women. Kingston uses credible evidence that shows that she wants to promote awareness and change the perception of how society views the topic of infertility. The way Kingston presents the information to the reader is by providing statistics, personal stories, and her personal opinion on the idea of the “childless” mother. Readers this is most likely to appeal to is people who are struggling with infertility. The concern and values throughout this article is the infertility rate of women and the way it affects their life styles. The reason that Kingston published this article is to let people become more aware of the

Through comparison of Margaret Sanger and Betty Friedan I have been able to present two feminists against each other even though they were writing nearly 30 years apart in a trend of consistency. I have been able to conclude that the constraints of female autonomy are evident in the physical constraints which women of the 1950’s place themselves under in the form of housewife roles and the restrictions of motherhood. Women were subjecting themselves to these captive positions as a result of their biology, they believed that it was the normal thing for women to do and it is this captivity in the difference between perception and reality which is so fundamental in the evolution of birth control. Thus highlighting the intricate relation between the first and second wave of feminism in the limitation of women from their bodily autonomy. A controversial statement which is supported in the reality that if women never obtained this contraceptive form of equality then they would never be truly equal with men, they would always have to take time out of their careers to have children and it would never allow career progression which they are capable of. Gender equality must ultimately start from within and in this case it must start in the form of the female reproductive

In society, the idea of a heteronormative and nuclear family-based life is pushed on young women, and men, from birth. In the article The Dialect of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution by Shulamith Firestone, she discusses how oppressive marriage and motherhood is towards women and how technology can free women from their biological roles. In fact, she states her demands for an alternative system, which includes, “the freeing of women from the tyranny of their reproductive biology by every means available, and the diffusion of the childbearing and childbearing role to the society as a whole, men as well as women” (247). In other words, women cannot truly be free until they are not the only ones responsible for childbearing and mothering children. Though some would argue that men are present in a child’s life, Firestone would retort that fathers do not share the same

As the rates of childfree-adults continues to rise, with 15% of women and 24% of men remaining childfree at the age of 40 (Blackstone, 2014s, Martinez, Daniels, & Chandra, 2012), public interest regarding the aforementioned adults’ decisions has also increased. While many believe that couples’ who have decided to remain childfree have made this decision with haste and without thoughtful consideration, which may in part be due to previous research that indicated that many couples who do not want children reach their significant decision after merely one discussion (Kurdi, 2014, p.1), Blackstone and Stewart (2016) disputed the commonly accepted beliefs in the introduction within their sociological research article titled There’s More Thinking to Decide”: How the Childfree Decide Not to Parent. Throughout the article Blackstone and Stewart (2016) aimed to provide readers with a concise overview of childfree-adults’ deliberate and protracted decisions regarding their choice to not have children.

Freidan (1963, pg. 16) states that “All they [women] had to do was devote their lives from earliest girlhood to finding a husband bearing children”. Gender roles were extremely distinctive and in some ways still are now, however, nowadays there is a belief of gender fluidity which some people identity themselves with as they identify as more than one gender. Women have been recognised as the figure who should conform to their husband, take care of the home and also the children. This role prevented women from being as free as men because they simply didn’t have the rights to. This point of view from feminists is different to Parson’s view because while he puts forward that the nuclear family is the normal family set up, feminists argue against the nuclear family because they can see the

In this reading, I found it fascinating that it has been nearly 100 years since the first Planned Parenthood opened in New York, and men are still trying to restrict a women’s ability to control how many kids she has. I think this just another example of men exerting their power over women, because they fear it they let women obtain the ability to control their number of kids, than the men will somehow lose a little bit of their power they have over women (Lerope 18). This just added to the anger I felt toward men who are abusing their power. As I have outlined throughout this paper, women already have so many inequalities they are faced with, so why should men take away a right that women should have, considering the fact that only women can bare children (Leorpe 17). I think it’s just another example of the power hungry men trying to seize more power over women, something they have done throughout

First of feminists have disagreed and argued with the functionalist theory of socialisation in the (nuclear) family benefiting society as a whole, Marxists feminists claim that exploitation of women helps in the direction of capitalism, where radical say it’s there to serve men who benefit from the unpaid labour of females, but they all believe that in societies and cultures such as the UK the socialisation process, especially up until the 1970s, was/is a way of supressing and giving women false consciousness of their place in society. Feminist challenge the ideology by functionalist that the nuclear family is the only natural and legitimate form, the family is something that is familiar to us all, and most people consider themselves to be in or part of some sort of

According to the liberal feminist approach, women are less privileged than men and focus should be aimed at social change through legislation and social policy so women have equal opportunity. Thus, in order to change the current state of the family and how parenting roles are divided, new policies such as free child care and tax breaks for families should be implemented. The benefits of free child care would provide women with the opportunity to have their children cared for while they pursue their career goals or other tasks. Tax breaks would easy the stress on both parents financially and allow the father to work less hours and be at home more helping out with chores.

Feminism and feminist social theory unlike other theoretical perspectives is woman-centered and inter-disciplinary, hence promotes methods of achieving social justice. The feminism and feminist social theory takes into consideration three questions, what of the women? Why is the present social world as it is today? Additionally, how can the social world be changed to make it more just for the women and all people alike? In recent developments, feminist theorists have begun questioning the differences between women. The areas under question include race, ethnicity, class, age intersect, and gender. In summation, the feminist theory involves the concern with giving women world over voice, and highlighting how they have contributed to the

Today, in a world of the “postmodern family” the traditional lines of family structure are blurred. Children may come from diverse types of homes, or a couple, married or not may choose to have no children and consider

A good way on going about this and avoiding arguments in the workforce is to provide jobs that may apply more to women. Another reason is no paid leave when women become pregnant. While jobs will provide women 12 weeks job protected leave, it is not paid leave. This discourages women to become pregnant while they have a job. A women wanting to start a family should not be discouraged but should be celebrated and accepted. Jobs when they hire a women should be able to guarantee that a women if they become pregnant will have 12 weeks of paid leave to recover. According to slate.com, “women in their early 20’s and early 30’s are when most have a child…”. This is why women 25-34 in Danville are in poverty; many lose their jobs because jobs won’t give them paid leave and 12 weeks to recover. Jobs are now the deciding factor on whether a husband and wife can start a family or not. The last reason is due to no pay equity. I can relate to this because I was raised by my mother alone and with the help of my

Yet, this is not something that women should enjoy for it is their duty in nature and “biology” to pair with man and have children. Women have been so pre-disposed to a patriarch way of living that they are taught from an early age that they should be mothers and marry and care for their children. Little girls are given baby dolls to teach them to be motherly and are taught to respect men and marriage. Children as young as 2 to 3 years of age already possess knowledge of certain gender-role stereotypes (Tocu, 2016). Yet, it is not embedded in young girls that they too have every right to be happy within a marriage or relationship and that they too can feel joy and pleasure.

The roles of men and women have drastically altered the past century and men now take on some responsibilities that were once viewed as tasks of a woman. As a result women have been able to advance their careers, express their political views, and have become equals next to men in society, which illustrates that had women not been discriminated against and viewed as the homemaker for so long, equality between men and women would have occurred ages ago. In my vision of society an individual's sex would not inhibit one from fully participating in the activities of the community that he or she desired. The burden of childbirth for women would still be present but after the child was born, men would play a more prominent role in the tasks of raising his son or daughter. Sharing the benefits and burdens of child-rearing responsibilities will allow both the male and female to maintain steady employment and balance their schedules to make time for family and a career. Females that wish to enter a profession will be accepted solely upon their abilities, not their gender, and seen as equals in the work place. Should a working woman choose to start a family she deserves a sufficient amount of time away from work (with pay) to care for herself and her newborn baby without being hassled by her employer for not being entirely committed to her job. Also, a man should receive certain benefits