Functionalist View On Gender Inequality - Definition Of Functionalist Perspective Of Gender Inequality In Sociology. Structural functionalists posit that gender roles arise from the need to establish a division of labor that will help maintain the smooth running of the family and concomitantly contribute to the stability of society. The functionalist perspective of gender inequality was most robustly articulated in the 1940s and 1950s, and largely developed by Talcott Parsons' model of the nuclear family. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole, and believes that society has evolved like organisms. It is argued that without this inequality, division of labour would be difficult (not everyone can be team captain). Max Durkheim And Weber Summary 1032 Words | 5 Pages. the weakness of the functionalist argument is it ignores the continuation of inherited wealth being passed on by parents Functionalist theorists believe that inequality is inevitable and desirable and plays an important function in society. There have been a number of theories put forward by various Institutions, Organizations, Authors, Scholars, Researchers, and Development practitioners, somehow to explain the problem why the issue of gender varies from region to region and why implementing gender equality, and female empowerment is lower than expected in SSA. Why Race and Gender Inequality Still Exist 1101 Words | 4 Pages. Get access to over 12 million other articles! Tumin. Parsons proves the key functionalist view when he talks about how women are more suited to the 'expressive' roles, and men to the 'instrumental' role of the breadwinner Murdock also supports this view, saying one of the key functions of the family in society is to socialise children into these gender roles. Conceptions of masculinity and femininity, ideas concerning expectations of women and men, internalised judgements of women’s and men’s actions, prescribed rules about proper behaviour of women and men – all of these, and more, encompass the organisation and persistence of gender inequality in social structures. The Structural-Functional Theory of Social Stratification. Social inequality and social stratification, according to this view, lead to a meritocracy based on ability. Thus gender, like other social institutions, contributes to the stability of society as a whole. This theory suggests that gender inequalities exist as an efficient way to create a division of labor, or as a social system in which a particular segment of the population is clearly responsible for certain acts of labor and another segment is clearly responsible for other labor acts. From this position social inequalities in society are fair and just, everyone is given and equal chance, it’s merely that some people work hard and succeed and others choose to be feckless and idle; Evaluation.