Woman Subordination: The Classical and Contemporary Theoretical Discussion

Abstract

This research study focuses on classical and contemporary theories of woman subordination. These theories include the liberal and the radical feminist, the conservative, the classical Marxist and the existentialist perspectives with emphasis on patriarchal social structure and the norm of domesticity. The liberal feminist perspective of women subordination centers upon governmental authority that legitimizes the demarcation of public and private spheres while granting more rights and authority to men and constraining women’s social domain. Radical feminists assert that the oppression of women is linked to the undesirable institutional practices that exert control over the sexual orientation of women such as pornography and prostitution. The classical Marxist approach on the subordination of women attributes it not to any biological flaw, but rather to an evolutionary process in which society transitioned from a matriarchal structure to a patriarchal one. The conservative theorists focus on the biological construction of women as the primary factor of their subordination while the existentialists view human actions as the primary factor of their sub and over-ordination.