1. Gender Inequality: Marxist and Feminist views
Gender and Society

2. Outline Introduce Marxism Feminist critiques Reproductive labour
Dual systems theory

3. Marxist theory
Capitalism is the basis for the organisation of society (economic determinism)
Two main classes
Bourgeoisie
Owners of the means of production
Proletariat
Have no choice but to sell their labour

4. Marxist theory Wage labour is key to production
Profits arise through exploitation (surplus value)
Classes produced through relations of production

5. Marxist theory The workers transform raw materials to make profits.
Profits go to the shareowners and directors

6. Engels ‘Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State’ 1884
New forms of production allowed men to gain ‘surplus’ leading to wealth and power
Monogamous marriage developed to allow men to pass on property
Sex oppression is also class
oppression

7. Engels
‘In the great majority of cases today, at least in the possessing classes, the husband is obliged to earn a living and support his family, and that in itself gives him a position of supremacy, without any need for special legal titles and privileges. Within the family he is the bourgeois and the wife represents the proletariat…. With the transfer of the means of production into common ownership, the single family ceases to be the economic unit of society. Private housekeeping is transformed into a social industry’

8. Engels on Marriage Marriage is based on economic conditions
Although constructed as a voluntary contract it is coerced by the organisation of society.
Bourgeoisie wives are similar to prostitutes they sell their bodies to one man rather than many

9. Marxist theory
To what extent do you think this model is a useful way of understanding society?

10. ‘The woman question’
1960s revised interest in Marx and Engles’ writings
But it didn’t seem to account very well for women.
Two strands of feminism emerged
Adding the theory of reproduction to that of production
Marxist feminism
Dual systems theories - capitalism & patriarchy
Socialist feminism

11. Theory of Reproduction
Marxism is based on a divide relating to the relationship to the means of production
Bourgeoisie
Proletariat
Women’s domestic work
does not fit into this picture

12. Theory of Reproduction
Women’s labour is important in two dimensions
Their labour in the home is necessary for workers to be employed
They physically give birth to the next generation of workers

13. Reproducing the labour force
Capitalism requires workers
Women have to give birth and care for children in order to restock the labour force

14. Marxist feminism
‘Relations of production, grounded as they are in a deeply ideological division of labour, cannot be investigated through economic categories alone. (…) the capitalist division of labour is not determined by technical requirements alone’.
Barrett M (1980) Women’s Oppression Today London, Verso

15. Marxist feminism Capitalism is the primary cause of women’s oppression
Reforming or ending capitalism is the primary goal

16. Talk to the person sitting next to you about the to extent to which you think capitalism may be responsible for women’s oppression.

17. Limitations
Theorising reproduction went some way to explaining women’s position, but it could not answer many questions
Why were/are women oppressed in non-capitalist countries?
Why are women paid less than men?
Why are women responsible for domestic sphere?

18. Socialist feminism
For socialist feminism, Marxist ideas on class oppression are important
But they do not fully explain women’s position
Developed dual systems
approach
Different combinations
of capitalism and patriarchy

19. Capitalism and patriarchy
Hartmann shows that capitalism and patriarchy often work against each other but do not destroy each other
Capitalism and patriarchy may have competing interests and need to adjust to each other.

20. Reproducing for capitalism
If women did not work in the home then workers could not sell their labour
Eat, sleep, keep healthy etc
If workers had to pay for these
services then wages would have to go up

21. Not class alone Women’s oppression is related to their class position
Not paid properly for their labour either in or out of the home
But patriarchal privilege is also a central structure to society
Racism also recognised as interrelating to class and gender oppression

22. Patriarchal Capitalism
Traditional heterosexual families developed within an institutionalized sexual hierarchy
Women have primary responsibility for the home and children
Women may be excluded from the marketplace (unpaid housewives)
Women could be hired at lower wages than men because their primary responsibility was considered to be home and family.

23. To overcome gender inequality
Class oppression through reform/ending capitalism
Patriarchal oppression through challenging the traditional family

24. Area of interest/activism
Socialist feminist concentrates on the material and historical conditions in which women live
Heterosexuality is a structure that needs to be understood as part of women’s oppression
Employment conditions and recognising women’s unpaid work
State involvement in perpetuating women’s position (welfare organisation)
Access to contraception and abortion essential for women’s autonomy

25. Do you think the ideas of socialist feminism are more likely to explain women’s position in society?

26. Comparison to Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminism concentrates of formal mechanisms in the public sphere to challenge inequality
A level playing field?
It does not challenge the structure of society itself.
Marxist/Socialist feminism argue that the structure needs to change to end inequality

27. Summary Considered how feminist theory has interrelated with Marxism
Outline concept of ‘Reproduction’ of the workforce
Considered dual systems theories of capitalism and patriarchy