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Feminism

Is the role where men financially support a woman in a marriage compatible with the feminist belief in the equality of the sexes?
Accepted:
March 23, 2011

Comments

Thomas Pogge
April 3, 2011 (changed April 3, 2011) Permalink

A society where this is the norm is not one in which the two sexes are equal. So, as a social norm, this division of gender roles is not compatible with the feminist belief in the equality of the sexes. But at the individual level the two are compatible. In a society in which the sexes are equal, there would be lots of women working while their male partners mind the kids. This is compatible with feminism, surely. Therefore, a feminism that believes in the equality of the sexes must then also find acceptable the mirror image: men working while their female partners look after the kids. If these two role divisions were roughly equally frequent, I think feminists should find no fault.

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