Men gain a dividend from patriarchy not only in terms of honour, prestige and the right to command, but also in material terms. The subordination of women to men is a profoundly materialist matter, but in its generation and its perpetuation. Discuss wit

Joseph Carolan Masters in Equality Feminist Theory Exam

Question 4.
Men gain a dividend from patriarchy not only in terms of honour, prestige and the right to command, but also in material terms. The subordination of women to men is a profoundly materialist matter, but in its generation and its perpetuation. Discuss with reference to gender relations in employment.

INTRODUCTION

There is an argument within Feminism that men, regardless of their class background, benefit from the oppression of women materially. For the male capitalist, this can be in the form of women workers as a cheap, casualised “reserve army of labour”, to borrow from the language of Marxism. For the male worker, there are supposed benefits in the form of certain industries being protected as male preserves, historically through protective legislation, or in the granting of the “family wage”. In this short text, I would like to counter these assumptions, instead arguing that male wor...