Marxist Feminist Theory

In this presentation I have discuss about the Marxist Feminist Theory

1. Marxist Feminist Theory

2. Prepared by Nidhi Dave Roll no 16 MA Sem 3 Paper 104 Contemporary Western Theory and Film Studies Email I’d [email protected] Submitted to Department of English MKBU 2

3. Introduction Marxist feminism is a species of feminist theory and politics that takes its theoretical bearings from Marxism, notably the criticism of capitalism as a set of structures, practices, institutions, incentives, and sensibilities that promote the exploitation of labor , the alienation of human beings, and the debasement of freedom. Marxist feminism is reluctant to treat “women” as a stand-alone group with similar interests and aspirations. Marxist feminism thus distinguishes itself from other modes of feminist thought and politics by attending critically and systematically to the economic organization of societies, including stratification along the lines of class; by refusing to accord the category of “women” separate and special status, without regard to class; by its commitment to the overthrow of capitalism; and by its allegiance to working-class and impoverished women.

4. What is the Marxist Feminist Theory Marxist feminists are feminists who ally themselves with the philosophical and economic theories of Karl Marx, who discovered the economic laws underlying capitalism and wrote about them in his masterpiece, Capital. In this and other works, Marx and his lifelong collaborator Frederick Engels laid the foundations of Marxist economics, the philosophical concept of dialectical materialism, and the method of social analysis known as historical materialism. Feminism is a term used very widely in recent times and its definition has continuously been changed over the years to accommodate the changing needs of society. It essentially refers to any movement or a given set of movements to protect and uphold the various social, political, economic, or cultural rights of women and to provide them with equal opportunities to progress.

5. Karl Marx 5 Marx showed how the working class is exploited for profit by capitalists, who gain wealth by paying workers a bare minimum of the value they produce. Marxist feminists view the capitalist drive for profits as responsible for women’s second-class status and other forms of oppression such as racism and homophobia. Prejudice and privilege also aid the ruling class by inhibiting workers from organizing together. Women workers are exploited at a higher level than males, with women of color suffering the highest degree of exploitation because of gender and race discrimination. Women are also a source of unpaid domestic labor —an arrangement that allows the world’s capitalists to save trillions of dollars every year.

6. Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels did pay more attention to this issue in his writings and a year after Marx died, in 1884, Engels published The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Until the 1970s, when Marxist feminist approaches began to be developed, this provided the main outlines of the Marxian approach to the oppression of women and the inequalities within the family and household. For Engels, the patriarchal family emerged with the development of agriculture, where males began to develop private property in animals, tools, and land, and attempted to control more of the surplus. In order to “ensure the legitimacy of their heirs” (p. 31) and perhaps to control women’s sexuality, men established dominance within the household and society, and established patrilineal lines of inheritance. This resulted in the “world historical defeat of the female sex” and women were reduced to servitude and an instrument for the production of children.. Engels implies that male/female inequalities within the working class are minimal. 6

7. Margaret Benston’s Marxist Feminist Study Margaret Benston’s (1972) Marxist feminist study: ‘The political economy of women’s liberation’ emphasises the value of the unpaid labour women perform within the family. This labour, which sustains the current labour force and nurtures the next generation, comes at no cost to the owners of the means of production. Additionally, the responsibility of the male breadwinner to support his wife and children fetters his ability to withdraw his labour power in defence of his class interests. In so doing it helps reinforce the inequitable capitalist economic system. 7

8. Rosemarie Tong, Feminist Thought As Rosemarie Tong (1989) notes in her book Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction, Marxist feminists identify how work shapes consciousness, and women’s work shapes her status and self-image. Therefore Marxist feminists are primarily concerned with the division of labour that keeps women in the domestic sphere of the family and men in the workplace.
Woman’s position within the family may help explain the problem of developing working class consciousness. As with exchange relationships in general in capitalism, underlying these seemingly equal exchange relationships are power relationships. Various relationships, such as those between males and females, relationships in the family, prostitution, surrogate mother hood, etc. May appear to express equality, but because of the underlying unequal power relations conceal great inequalities. 8

9. Marxist Feminism, Part I: Labor , Class and Women The first half of Rosemarie Tong’s chapter on Marxist Feminism lays out the basics of Marxist theory in general. She then goes on to draw connections between Marxist ideology and feminist thought. Marxist theory attempts to explain the structure of modern industrial society with special emphasis on class and labor.Marxist feminists are primarily concerned with the division of labor that keeps women in the domestic sphere and men in the workplace (Tong, 110). In addition to this, when women do enter the workforce, they are delegated to jobs that are deemed appropriate for their gender and are usually underpaid for their work.

Tong also brings up modern conflicts that Marxist feminists are attempting to resolve (Tong, 105). 9

10. Marxist and Socialist Feminism, Part II The later half of the chapter discusses the critiques and responses made on Marxist Feminism. Jean Bethke Elshtain is concerned that many Marxist feminists undervalue the ‘family’ in a capitalist context. Marxist feminists respond that they are in complete agreement that the family should be preserved but the family as an economic unit should be destroyed along with capitalism. Alison Jaggar takes a critical approach against Marxist feminism because it does not say enough about how women are oppressed by men in particular. Jaggar describes prostitution and marriages of convenience both as forms of economic oppression perpetrated against women in particular.Alison Jaggar again argues that work should be humanizing but under capitalism it becomes dehumanizing. She further states that motherhood like sexuality and reproduction has become alienating for women. 10

11. Feminist questions about Marxist theory The role of domestic labour First, in discussing how to determine the value of labour power, Marx continually refers to the average laborer , a concept which is interchangeable with that of the average male adult, and although he admits that “The employment of these different sorts of labour power (that of men and women, children and adults – Ed. Note)... Makes a great difference in the cost of maintaining the family of the laborer , and in the value of the labour power of the adult male”. Marx explains how the individual worker exchanges his wages against the means of subsistence and that “he supplies himself with the necessaries in order to maintain his labour power...”But women’s unpaid, individual domestic labour is obviously essential in the reproduction of male labour power. 11

12. The reproduction of the species and male domination A second major area of omission in Marxist theory is the absence of an analysis of the reproduction of the species – the physical, psychological and emotional caring for children, their socialization and education, and the reproduction of the social relations within which capitalism operates. Since Engels stated one hundred years ago that “According to the materialist conception, the determining factor in history is, in the final instance, the production and reproduction of immediate life... A final example of omission in Marxist theory which we would like to underline is the total absence of an analysis of the system of the domination of men over women. 12

13. Is Private the source of Women’s Oppression? But Marxism is not completely silent about women’s oppression. Marxists recognize the sexual division of the working class and see it as an obstacle to the unity of workers. Unfortunately, their solution is still the same one as was put forward by Engels one hundred years ago – the massive introduction of women into social production and the socialization of domestic tasks. This has led to a belief that women will be “returned” to a position of equality by the destruction of the private property system, as if this were a natural process of history. Engels believed that in primitive societies, there was no inequality between the sexes. Rather, there was a natural division of labour but it did not lead to any form of exploitation or oppression . 13

14. Marxist feminist theory in current times In the current times, Marxist feminist theory acts as a tool to understand the relationship between the social order, women’s labor , and the ownership of property. In the current times, this becomes even more important because the number of working women is increasing and there is a need to facilitate their work-life balance. In the current times, the Feminist movements put forth the demands for the development of a political system under which women’s liberation, class politics, issues of gender identity, and sexual preferences are given paramount importance. This is what Marxist Feminism directly emphasizes. It has inspired the current Feminist movements which demand the liberation of women in all economic as well as social aspects. 14

15. In India, Marxist feminism holds a lot of relevance for removing this perception of the gender-specific roles given to the male and the females in society. It reduces the employment opportunities available to women in the labor market. However, Marxist feminism focuses on the identification of Reproductive labor but nowhere did Marx mention how to achieve it. Still, in India, women’s work at home is considered inferior and they have no economic independence. They are dependent on the income of their husband and would be treated at their Husband’s whims and fancies. Yet in several other countries, the influence of this theory has been quite positive such as in Ukraine, Russia, the USA, etc. Hence it is fair to say that the relevance of Marxist feminist theory is not a decline in the current era of growing Feminism such as in India. 15

16. Conclusion The Marxist feminist theory aimed at combating the exploitation of women in a capitalist system. Based on the ideology of Karl Marx, it was partially successful in securing women’s rights.At the same time, it failed to provide an adequate explanation for the various contentions raised in the theory against capitalism.Yet , Karl Marx’s theoretical base of Communism which calls for collective ownership of property among all through government intervention still remains intact and many feminist movements to this date are based on it. The Marxist feminist Theory, despite all its drawbacks proved to be vital in igniting a sense of revolt among the women to fight for their rights. 16

17. Works Cited Gingrich, Paul. “Feminist Critique of the Marxian Approach.” Sociology 304. 10 Mar. 1998. uregina.ca /~ gingrich /mar1098.htm. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. Stefano, Christine Di . “Marxist Feminism .” Wiley Online Library . 14 Sep. 2014. doi.org /10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0653. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. Saba , Paul . "Feminist questions about Marxist theory ." Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line . 26 Mar. 1982. www.marxists.org /history/ erol / ca.collapse /feminist- questions.htm . Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. Thompson , Chris . “Marxist feminists .” sociologytwynham.com . 1 July 2013. sociologytwynham.com /2013/07/01/ marxist -feminists/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. Verma , Parth . “Marxist Feminism .” iPleaders . 6 July 2022. blog.ipleaders.in / marxist -feminism/?amp=1. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. 17

18. Thank you!