Running head: RADICAL FEMINISM

Radical Feminism Research and Evidence Summary Abstract

Celeste Riches
Child and Family Advocacy
21 October 2016

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Family Research and Evidence Summary Abstract

Statistical Data for Radical Feminism

In a national survey produced by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation, 6
out of 10 women and 1/3 of men call themselves a feminist or a strong feminist. This
survey also shows that 4 out of 10 Americans see the feminist movement as angry and
some even go so far to say it is unfairly blaming men for the challenges women are
facing (Cai & Clement, 2016).

70% of US women who took the survey made by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family
Foundation say that the feminism movement is best described as empowering. 83% of the
women who answered the feminism movement is empowering range between the ages of
18-34 (Cai & Clement, 2016).

According to the Center for American Progress, less than one of three children have a
full-time, stay-at-home parents. Furthermore, 23.4% of children under the age of five are
enrolled in an organized child care center (Glynn, 2012). This shows that less and less
children are being raised by their parents in the home as their parents work outside the
home.

Approximately 9 to 15 percent of childcare centers, located outside the home, are said to
be high quality (Greenspan, 2002).

Radical Feminism is Hurting Children and Families

Title of Study #1: The Four-Thirds Solution: Solving the Childcare Crisis in America Today
Authors: Stanley I. Greenspan
Year: 2002

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Source: Greenspan, S. I. (2002). The four-thirds solution: Solving the childcare crisis in America
today. Boston: Da Capo Press.
Purpose of Study: Showing readers that day care does not provide the one-to-one nurturing and
attention children need in their early years. Greenspan suggests that parents work 2/3 time
making children a priority and equal responsibility of the parents.
Number of Participants: N/A
Methodology: N/A
Summary of Important Findings: Greenspan has many useful studies in understanding the
importance of parent-child relationships and how child care centers can hinder the building of
those relationships. Child care centers, on average, do not provide children with the best quality.
It has been shown that quality counts, no matter what the setting. Whether children are in outof-home child care or are cared for at home by parents, it is the quality of the interactions that
has a significance on childrens development (Greenspan, 2002, p. 31). The studies have also
shown that the children are more responsive to parent-child relationships and this is more
important to the caregivers relationship with the children (2002). When care-givers give
children one-on-one attention, the child does not express as much emotion as the child would
with his/her parents (2002).
Impact: Greenspan brings up a good point that as more mothers look for work outside the home,
in their search for gender equality, more children are enrolled into childcare centers. As these
mothers go into the work force, there will be a higher need for childcare centers. The chances of
finding a high-quality childcare center is slim. Greenspan stated that 9 to 15 percent of childcare
centers could be defined as high-quality (2002). Children deserve high-quality care from loving
caregivers. However, as children attend these centers, they are losing precious time they could be

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spending with a stay-at-home parent building a strong parent-child relationship. This will in turn
hurt the children as they are being raised by caregivers rather than their own parents. Many
children can spend more time at daycare and with their caregivers than with their own family.
Family relationships can suffer as children spend more time in childcare centers. Children need
to be spending more time in the home with their families to grow up to be a good contributing
member of society.

Title of Study #2: Feminism on Family Sociology: Interpreting Trends in Family Life
Authors: Bonnie Fox
Year: 2015
Source: Fox, B. (2015). Feminism on family sociology: Interpreting trends in family life.
Canadian Review Of Sociology, 52(2), 204-211. doi:10.1111/cars.12072
Purpose of Study: To show the changes occurring in the family due to social trends.
Number of Participants: N/A
Methodology: N/A
Summary of Important Findings: The trends in society are also effecting the home life. As
feminism becomes more common, more women are working outside the home causing more
dual-income families. Fox explains that dual-earning couplesface the challenge of handling
the incompatible demands of employment and family responsibilities (2015, p. 205). Not only
are both parents working outside the home but cohabitation rates are rising. This is due to
couples uncertainty about their economic situations, so they postpone the commitment of
marriage (2015). As more adults worry about their economic stability, they are less likely to have
children. Birth rates are low as a reflection of more woman combining employment and family

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(2015). Children are becoming more of an economic stress on couples because of the cost of
childcare, if both parents choose to work outside the home.
Impact: This has set off a chain reaction. With the radical feminist ideas that women are to be
treated the same and have the same opportunities as men in the workplace, more woman are
working outside the home. This is becoming detrimental to the family unit. Women are putting
other priorities above children and marriage. As more women work, they are becoming more
concerned with gaining wealth and moving up in the workforce. This is causing and additional
stress on individuals to worry more about money and their economic status. This in turn pushes
individuals to work more and make more sacrifices away from their families to keep the lifestyle
they want. Some of these sacrifices may be to not have children or postpone having children. As
couples are worried about their income, they begin to cohabitate. When a couple discusses
having children, they see children as an additional financial burden so they end up postponing
having children, deciding against having a lot of children, or end up not having any children. We
can see that this idea of more women in the work force can quickly lead to the downfall of
families and home life. There needs to be a balance between mothers working outside the home
and the time families spend together.

Does Radical Feminism Really Impact Society Negatively?

Title of Study #1: Feeling the Failure of Feminism
Authors: United Families International
Year: 2016
Source: United Families International (2016). Feeling the failure of feminism. Retrieved from
http://unitedfamilies.org/abortion/feeling-the-failure-of-feminism/

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Purpose of Study: To show how feminism is effecting the whole of society.

Number of Participants: N/A
Methodology: N/A
Summary of Important Findings: Feminism was what drove individuals to fight for womens
freedom to vote. Now feminism has become, as a commenter stated, the most socially
destructive movement in modern times (United Families International, 2016, para. 2). Chivalry
is dying because women want to be treated as strong independents. This shows that women are
not the only ones being affected during this movement. Feminism has morphed into the idea that
there are no inherent differences between the sexes (2016, para. 8). As women work outside
the home, at least 20 hours a week, it is seen that there is a negative impact on children and in the
womens marriage relationship (2016). Marriage and family is being destroyed with the ideas
that marriage is a patriarchal idea and does not promote womens freedom. Feminists believe
that women do not need to be married in order to do the things they want and they can do more
without a husband at their side. This in turn causes more women to turn to the government for
support rather than a spouse (2016). Another trend is that as feminists work to receive full
equality they feel they need to have reproductive freedom. This is just another way of stating the
support for abortion. Abortion rates are continuing to increase in society values.
Impact: These issues that stem from feminist ideas are slowly working to deteriorate marriage
and family, and other relationships. These feminist ideas of the pointlessness of institution of
marriage and gender differences have started to effect other societal beliefs. The topics of
abortion, cohabitation, and gender equality are becoming more and more prevalent in our
society. These topics have stemmed from the feminist movement and will continue to grow
parallel to one another. This is important for society to understand how these beliefs can affect

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our society norms. Society in a whole will change if these radical feminist ideas are pushed and
accepted. Gender will disappear, leaving behind traditional gender roles.

Title of Study #2: Feminisms and the Family

Authors: Daniel R. Ortiz
Year: 1995
Source: Ortiz, D. R. (1995). Feminisms and the family. Harvard Journal of Law and Public
Policy, 18(2), 523-530. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1762342812?accountid=9817
Purpose of Study: To understand what feminism is and how it is effecting the family.
Number of Participants: N/A
Methodology: N/A
Summary of Important Findings: Ortiz breaks feminism down into three main categories. These
categories are liberal feminism, difference feminism-including relational feminism, and
dominance feminism. Liberal feminism destroys the idea of a traditional family and degenders
the family (Ortiz, 1995). Relational feminism supports the idea to make traditionally private
norms apply in the public (1995). Dominance feminisms will change family roles and whatever
else necessary in order to protect women from becoming oppressed (1995).
Impact: As radical feminists work to degenderize families, this will cause a loss in gender roles,
and traditional family roles. The child-parent relationship will be obsolete as parental authority is
questioned. This will cause problems in the societal norms when dealing with authority. As more
individuals follow the relational feminist view, more men would be judged inside and outside of
the family (1995). As radicals work to free women from oppression, they tend to put men into

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oppression. Dominance feminism demands that the state intrude within the family in order to
protect womens safety (1995, para. 17). These ideas would also demand that the state makes
abortion more available to women in cost and subsidies. This will have a huge impact on
societys values and ideas as state laws and policies are altered to help radical feminists receive
what they want.
Opposing View
The idea of feminism is not necessarily a bad thing. Feminism began as a way to help
women have equal rights in society and politics. Radical feminists take these ideas even further.
They want to reorder society and eliminate the traditional gender roles. They want exact gender
equality across the whole board. Radicals believe that women need to be treated with even more
equality to men than they are currently receiving. Radical feminists see the biggest problem in
our society of men who are consistently oppressing women. Many radicals believe that men have
too much control in our society. Radicals believe that men need a female to guide them and they
need women to bring point and meaning to their lives (Solanis, 1968). Radicals are working to
change the male culture into one that accepts women for who they are and whatever they want
to do.
During the 2015 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) conference, Kate Gilmore,
the Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), made the statement
that marriage is not much better than an arbitrary detention cell; that the kitchen is a torture
chamber; that the bedroom is a site for the gravest of human rights violations (Bunker, 2015).
Radicals have taken part in movements to burn their bras as a sign to do away with the sexual
objectification. Radical feminists support reproductive rights and the womens right to her own
body. Radical feminists are trying every way to expand womens rights.

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9
References

Bunker, L. (2015) The kitchen is a torture chamber. Retrieved from

http://unitedfamilies.org/email-archives/ufi-the-kitchen-is-a-torture-chamber/
Cai, W., & Clement, S. (2016). What Americans think about feminism today. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/feminism-project/poll/
Fox, B. (2015). Feminism on family sociology: Interpreting trends in family life. Canadian
Review Of Sociology, 52(2), 204-211. doi:10.1111/cars.12072
Glynn, S. J. (2012). Fact sheet: Child care. Retrieved from
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2012/08/16/11978/fact-sheetchild-care/
Greenspan, S. I. (2002). The four-thirds solution: Solving the childcare crisis in America today.
Boston: Da Capo Press.
Ortiz, D. R. (1995). Feminisms and the family. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy,
18(2), 523-530. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1762342812?accountid=9817
Solanis, V. (1968) The S.C.U.M. manifesto. Retrieved from
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/architecture/ockman/pdfs/feminism/solanis.pdf
United Families International (2016). Feeling the failure of feminism. Retrieved from
http://unitedfamilies.org/abortion/feeling-the-failure-of-feminism/