outline and evaluate feminist contributions to our understanding of gender

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E) Outline and evaluate Feminist contributions to our understanding of gender.

Before the rise of Feminism in the 1960’s, the popular view in sociology was that the biological differences between men and women were the things that determined their role in life. Functionalists assumed that men were biologically suited to heavy work (instrumental roles) and as women bore children, they were therefore biologically suited to the role of mother and carer, the expressive role. In the late 1960’s Liberal Feminist Ann Oakley argued the case and said that gender roles were not ‘nature’ but were in fact nurture. She felt that gender roles were down to socialisation and even if there were biological tendencies, they could be overridden by cultural factors. She did several cross cultural studies; each one seemed to strengthen her case. For example, she found 14 cultures where women did the lumbering and 38 cultures where men and women shared cooking duties.

Since the emergence of Feminism, there have been several different Feminist perspectives and although they do not all agree about the origins of gender issues, each one has added its own valuable contribution to the understanding of these issues and heightened women’s, and men’s awareness of the inequalities that exist. Feminists have challenged the relationship of men and women as one where women belong to one group and men belong to the other.

Whilst 1st wave Feminism (1850-1930) gained women the right to vote, 2nd wave Feminism has also resulted in great improvements of the lives of 20/21st century women. It has heightened awareness of gender issues in areas like the family, the workplace, education, and the media to mention a few. Some of the successful Feminist campaigns resulted in things such as the 1975 sex discrimination act, the 1970 equal pay act and women’s refuges.

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Feminists also introduced different methods in carrying out sociological research. Previously sociological research was very ‘malestream’ and all research was done by male sociologists, on men and applied to society as a whole. No research had been done on the family, childbirth, household labour or money decisions which are all major parts of society.

Feminists felt that the ‘scientific’ methods used by men could not help understand society.

In the 1970’s, Liberal Feminist, Ann Oakley introduced the unstructured interview as the technique to gain in depth ‘real’ information about women and their experiences but this was criticised as it was ...

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The body of the essay is great and shows excellent knowledge and understanding. However, there is probably not enough evaluation - a key critic would be that the essay asks if we understand gender, yet feminists seem to focus mostly on women at the expense of men. The essay writer would also benefit from practising writing introductions and conclusions.