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The social reproduction of labour
• The family provides a place where children can be born and raised with a sense of security
• Family is a place for eating, drinking and relaxing - it helps ensure that the members of the workforce are able to go to work each day
• Women do unpaid housework and child rearing which benefits capitalism
• Children are socialised into the dominant ideas in society - they are taught that work is needed to make a living and they must be punctual and obedient at work
• parents have control over the children, men over women like in a work place
Social control of the working class
Family acts as a safety valve, providing a release from the frustration of the lack of power and control at work many workers experience.
The family as a place of work
• housework = work
• however it is unpaid and is mainly carried out by women
• men gain from it as they have their meals cooked for them, their children looked after, and their homes kept clean by women's work
• according to Oakly housework still remains the main priority for women eventhough it is hard and unrewarding
Myth of the symmetrical family
Feminists emphasise that it's women that mainly do:
• housework and childcare
• make sacrifices to buy the children clothes and make sure other family members are properly fed
• less likely to make important decisions in the family
• more likely to be dependant on men's wages (average woman's wage is 83% of a mans)
• more likely to give up paid work to look after children
• experience the dual burden of housework and work
• triple shift - housework, work, and emotional baggage
• more likely to be victims of domestic abuse
Criticisms
• women's roles are not the same in all families - many families have dual workers
• it assumes that women are passive victims and do not have any choice - some women choose to be housewives
• more women are working and have independent incomes - around 70% of divorces are initiated by women which shows that they can escape from relationships which are oppressive
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