Marxist Feminism Assignment PDF

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1 Marxist Feminism ​ Assignment Name: Hardika Roll no : 2017POL1044 ​Introduction Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory and politics that takes it’s theoretical bearing from Marxism, and focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way to liberate women. From the view of Marxist feminis...

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Marxist Feminism ​

Assignment Name: Hardika Roll no : 2017POL1044

​Introduction Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory and politics that takes it’s theoretical bearing from Marxism, and focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way to liberate women. From the view of Marxist feminists , the equality for women cannot be achieved within the substructure of capitalism.

Marxist feminism puts forward the political confusion, credence, economic inequality and conclusively unhealthy social relations between the genders become the root cause of oppression, as put forward by Engels concerning the current social context. Thus Marxist feminism distinguishes itself from several other modes of feminist thought and politics as

2 it is circumspect to treat ‘women’ with akin interests and aspirations as a stand alone group. Marxist Feminism historicizes reproduction in association to production in order to to get an improved understanding of women’s exploitation as well as oppression in capitalism. Marxist feminism also theoriizes radical subjectivity and prospects for an anti-capitalist future. The goal of the Marxist feminist framework is to emancipate women by revolutionising the conditions of their oppression and exploitation. ​Definition​ : Marxist feminism is an emancipatory, critical framework that aims at understanding and explaining gender oppression in a systematic way (Holmstrom, 2002). ​Main ●

Principles

​ Means of production The way Marxist define a class society beneath capitalism describes how one class dominates the means to produce goods. Wealth accrues to this meager group of owners because they hold what Marx calls the means of production- the components that harness profit accounting land , labor , natural resources, intellectual labor, raw material and systems of distribution. Since private property mainstays a class of society and forms the backbone, all of these facets are privatised and all of them are owned. The highlight is that ownership class gets to edict the way these resources can be bought to use by others. The ones that own the means of production and since are the nest eggs of production end up having abundant of the ​surplus value ( profit ) ​from the production of commodities; the particular socially advantageous goods that are bought and sold for the reproduction

3 of life. As subjects in capitalism, those who play a huge role in reproducing daily , generational life commodities aren’t given any sort of recognition for their labor whether in wages or social value rather they are concealed or are detected as a burden to the system. Marxist feminism tend to challenge the primitive capitalist values in order to determine social values . It scrutinises how gender ideologies of femininity and masculinity structure production in capitalism. The social reproduction of people and commodity end up electrifying capitalism rather than supporting anti- capitalist praxis. Marxism gave the concept of praxis to highlight a conscious and purposeful human activity which changes the physical world through human labor. The Marxist conception of praxis is a challenge to the liberal idea of abstract individualism. ​Theories of gender and political economy necessarily overlap with those about social reproduction in vital ways , not least because imperialism is pRedicated upon the primitive accumulation of unpaid work and the earth’s resources ( Simpson 2009 ) According to Marxist feminists , women are simultaneously placed in two separate ( but linked ) structures, those of class and patriarchy. ( it is their class position which actutes the levels of patriarchy that they are subjected to. In order to evaluate the linkage of patriarchy and capital , they tend to view that to establish social relations of human reproduction in relation to production is a way to conserve these structures in both , bourgeois and proletarian family. This defines the dual notion of patriarchy as it accords to the category class contradiction which in their view is a primitive contradiction of the

4 mode of production. This implicates that they perceive patrias as an important element in the capitalist mode of production. ●

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Frederick Engels

Engel’s feminist theory can be epitomised in two basic thesis : ● Women’s subjugation in relation to state and private property ● Women’s liberation in relation to participation in public production and development of productive forces. ‘The Origin of Family , Private Property and the State’ book by Engels written in 1884 can be called as the first methodical attempt in order to contemplate as well as analyse women’s subjugation in an encyclopaedic manner. Determinately , Engels has managed to clout many feminist theoreticians in a positive way attempting to build the theory of origin of women’s subjugation. Engels has set fourth two main propositions : primarily, he channels women’s subjugation to the monogamous system of marriage and next in order , he argued that in order to determine the relations between sexes , what’s essential is the division of labor where women did the reproduction work and men produce. Earlier it emerged as a biological activity which gave women edge over men where reproduction was a dominant activity however in later times it modernized into a social hierarchy. The invention and control over the ‘productive forces’ made men considered to be powerful thus gave them command over the creation of surplus wealth and hence reduced women to servitude. This led to women becoming slaves of men’s lust and being reduced to level where they were considered as mere objects meant for production of children. Engels argued that except for the sexual division pf labor changes and women join men in public

5 production, they cannot be emancipated. Thus the subjugation oof women became severe after the emergence of capitalism. Marx and Engels set fourth that the ruling class oppresses women , consigning them to secondclass citizenship in society and within the family. The Marxist traditions has from its beginnings, observing the writing of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels , stood for the emancipation of women. “ ​The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production...He has not even a suspicion that the real point aimed at ​ ​[by communists ]​is to do away with the status of women as mere instruments of production ” cited from the ​Communist Manifesto

Engels has given noteworthy attention to the personal aspects of women’s oppression inside the family which also comprise of extreme abasement suffered by women at the hands of their spouses , with a degree of inequality that had been unidentified in pre-class societies.

So one thing that emerges from the onset of Marxist tradition on women’s emancipation is that women’s concerns have never been viewed hypothetically as only the issues of women rather were a concern of all revolutionary leaders . Russian revolutionary Lenin generally attributed to women’s oppression within the family as “domestic slavery. ” The domestic slavery referred by Lenin is an essential Marxist theory on women’s oppression: The essence of women’s oppression lies in the portrayal of family as a reproducer of labor power for capitalism- as well as in women’s differing role inside the family.

6 In regard to the emergence of the women’s movement in 1960’s the abstract failures of Marxism became more probable. This decade saw various protests targeted at the trends of oppression and inequality faced by women which eventually forced Marxist leaders to address ‘women’s issues’ however the concerns were narrowed down only to childcare and household chores. Thus it faced a lot of criticism since the Marxist leaders only focused on the issues which didn’t precisely challenge the ‘male privilege’.

In order to prop up the family , ruling-class ideology condtrains women and men both to comply to precisely demarcated sex roles inclusive of the optimal nurturing homemaker for women, adjuvent to the family’s male breadwinner- regardless of how little these ideas actually mirror the real lives of working - class people. Pouring light over today’s Marxist feminism trends , rural agricultural women and men , not industrial workers as Marxism has predicted, drive the anticolonial fight against feudal social order as well as capitalism. For Marxist feminists today , these continuing facets of grind and struggle in rural locations of Mexico and Western Sahara paved their way in pursuit of new theories of revolutionary subjectivity. For a clear and better understanding, Marxist feminist theories tie labor to desire for perceptual and affective relations in capitalism. Marxism has resulted in acquiring sympathy towards concerns of women by entertaining their issues such as in countries like India , China , Cuba and Russia it led to impactful movements and India tends to continue it whereas western marxism feminism has outweighed by being contentious , in regard to the slogan “​personal is political and political is personal” ​the radical feminism resulted in being captivating and appealing.

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Conclusion Marxist feminist debates broaden compact possibilities for emancipation through analyses of who faces the greatest setbacks of capitalist brutality. Strategies meant for protection lift the sites of immense exploitation to better envisage strategies for liberation. Across a range of locations , Marxist feminits speculate forms of harmony that violate classes , gender affinities and communities to better foresee a future that demolishes the values of capitalism and mend our collectivities once again.

● Refrences ● https://www.academia.edu/5034677/Marxist_Feminism ● The Communist Manifesto ● https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-class/ ● https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-5583-7_682 ● https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-978019 0221911-0088.xml ● BOOK : Marxism and Oppression of Women by Lise Vogel https://books.google.co.in/books?id=RKbdfZvS3_IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=marxist+ feminism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDiMXEv_noAhXz6nMBHfwCDQ0Q6AEITz AG#v=onepage&q=marxist%20feminism&f=false ● https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qcsRzctCzXQ

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