Tradition
Marxist feminism
Overview
Marxist feminism is a philosophical variant of feminism that incorporates and extends Marxist theory. Marxist feminism analyzes the ways in which women are exploited through capitalism and the individual ownership of private property. According to Marxist feminists, women's liberation can only be achieved by dismantling the capitalist systems in which they contend much of women's labor is uncompensated. Marxist feminists extend traditional Marxist analysis by applying it to unpaid domestic labor and sex relations.
Because of its foundation in historical materialism, Marxist feminism is similar to socialist feminism and, to a greater degree, materialist feminism. The latter two place greater emphasis on what they consider the "reductionist limitations" of Marxist theory but, as Martha E. Gimenez notes in her exploration of the differences between Marxist and materialist feminism, "clear lines of theoretical demarcation between and within these two umbrella terms are somewhat difficult to establish."
Marxist feminism is an offshoot of Feminist theory that argues that capitalism is the main contributor to women's oppression. Marxist feminists typically see capitalism and patriarchy as interconnected systems that mutually reinforce one another. In this framework, capitalism relies significantly on the unpaid domestic labor performed by women, which is often undervalued and neglected. This exploitation is see as perpetuating and strengthening the patriarchal structures embedded in our society. By highlighting how women's labor is essential to the functioning of capitalist economies, Marxist feminism reveals the impact of gendered inequalities and calls for a critical examination of both economic and social systems. Marxist feminism continues to be relevant today for examining the intersection of gender and political economy, particularly in how the social reproduction of individuals and communities perpetuates capitalism.
Elizabeth Armstrong[2] proposes that Marxist feminism theorizes subjectivity and possibilities for an anti-capitalist future with key elements such as imperialism, primitive accumulation, theft of land, resources, and women's unpaid labor to the reproduction of lives and generations. Marxist feminism challenges the precedence of capitalist value to regulate social values including the exchange value in wages and profit by making the value of reproductive labor visible.[2]
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
But when once their nature is understood, they can, in the hands of the producers working together, be transformed from master demons into willing servants. The difference is as that between the destructive force of electricity in the lightning of the storm, and electricity under command in the telegraph and the voltaic arc; the difference between a conflagration, and fire working in the service of man. With this…
Friedrich Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
States what Marxist feminism is; the author is tied to Marxist feminism in the knowledge graph.
I must call attention to the fact, by the way, that the views here set out were, for by far the most part, developed and established by Marx, and only to a very slight degree by myself, so that it is understood that I have not represented them without his knowledge. I read the entire manuscript to him before sending it to press and the tenth chapter of the section on Political Economy was written by Marx and…
Friedrich Engels, Landmarks of Scientific Socialism
States what Marxist feminism is; the author is tied to Marxist feminism in the knowledge graph.
In bourgeois society living labor is but a means to increase accumulated labor. In Communist society accumulated labor is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the laborer. In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past. In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent…
Karl Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party
States what Marxist feminism is.
Philosophers who discussed Marxist feminism
Related ideas
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Feminism
- Clara Zetkin
- Marxists Internet Archive
- Private property
- Imperialism
- Japan
- Marxism
- Patriarchy
- Antonio Negri
- Identity politics
- Google Books
- Liberal feminism
- Marxist philosophy
- Anti-capitalism
- Political economy
- Historical materialism
- Friedrich Engels
- Angela Davis
- Capitalism
- Oppression
- Verso Books
- Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy)
- Socialist feminism
Place in the tradition
Part of Socialism.