Feminism is a range of political movements, social movements and ideologies that have a general goal. This goal is to achieve equality amongst men and women in all aspects of life such as political, social, economic and personal. One of the many themes that is explored in feminism is patriarchy. Walby (1990, p.20) argued that “Patriarchy was a system of interrelated social structures which allowed men to exploit women”. The concept of patriarchy is in the centre of many feminist theories. It allows for theorist such as Sylvia Walby to attempt to explain the stratification of power and privilege by gender.
Sylvia Walby published her book Theorising Patriarchy in 1990. In this book Walby looks at four diverse perspectives, Marxist feminism, radical feminism, liberalism and dual-systems theory.
Radical feminism focuses on gender inequality, how males are more powerful the females. Marxist feminism also focuses on …show more content…
Walby does not consider how patriarchy can be negative for men, as beta-males are dominated by alpha-males and can suffer as much as women do within the patriarchal society. Many men feel the pressure from society to follow their gender roles and behave a way that is deemed socially acceptable. These social norms send out negative messages to young boys, teaching them to become emotionless, express feelings of aggression and to be heterosexual as that is what society deems necessary to be an alpha-male (Wade & Ferree, 2015).
In conclusion, the patriarchy theory explains how men dominate women. Walby believes that the patriarchy system is made of six structures that fall under public and private patriarchy. Research has shown improvements for women over the years, but still remain to be male dominated. It can be critiqued as Walby’s theory only focuses on the negative impact patriarchy has on women and not
Sylvia Walby published her book Theorising Patriarchy in 1990. In this book Walby looks at four diverse perspectives, Marxist feminism, radical feminism, liberalism and dual-systems theory.
Radical feminism focuses on gender inequality, how males are more powerful the females. Marxist feminism also focuses on …show more content…
Walby does not consider how patriarchy can be negative for men, as beta-males are dominated by alpha-males and can suffer as much as women do within the patriarchal society. Many men feel the pressure from society to follow their gender roles and behave a way that is deemed socially acceptable. These social norms send out negative messages to young boys, teaching them to become emotionless, express feelings of aggression and to be heterosexual as that is what society deems necessary to be an alpha-male (Wade & Ferree, 2015).
In conclusion, the patriarchy theory explains how men dominate women. Walby believes that the patriarchy system is made of six structures that fall under public and private patriarchy. Research has shown improvements for women over the years, but still remain to be male dominated. It can be critiqued as Walby’s theory only focuses on the negative impact patriarchy has on women and not